What have I been up to?

Sunset at SUNY Cobleskill on 1/27/2014.

The holidays have come and gone, winter break has ended, and I’m now back at SUNY Cobleskill taking classes. Over my “winter break”, I was hardly relaxing. I was taking an online statistics course and finishing up the last hundred or so hours of my internship at the DEC! It’s been busy for me and I haven’t had much time to update my blog. But today I found time!

This semester I am taking: Chemistry I, Fisheries Science, Evolutionary Biology, and Herpetology. It’s not a bad schedule, and they’re all pretty interesting. Although, Chem I is going to give me a run for my money!!!


I’m also an officer for our student chapter of The Wildlife Society on campus. We have a great club, and we’re really active on campus and in our community. It takes some work to manage the club because we are so active and our department faculty really impress on us the importance of an active chapter.

Last week in Fisheries Science we began learning about standard methods of “sampling” for fish. This is so an agency, for example, in Nebraska can conduct a research project similar to one running in New York, and we can compare data because it’s been taken in a standard way. Our first lab for the class entailed us driving over to Otsego Lake to conduct ice angler surveys. We’re interested in how much in resources (time and money) anglers are investing in their fishing trips, as well as what kinds/ages/sizes of fish they’re catching. We have the opportunity to go out on our own for extra credit, so my friend Ben and I headed out immediately after class, and spent all day Saturday on the ice of Otsego Lake.

A freshly caught Lake Trout on Otsego Lake, NY

Myself and classmate Ben attempting to measure the total length of this Lake Trout.

In Evolutionary Biology we’re reading this fascinating book, “The Naked Ape” by Desmond Morris.

The first text we’re reading

 in my Evolutionary Biology course, 

The Naked Ape.

Read this immediately.

It’s so interesting to read about ourselves in a totally different way. It was published in 1967, so it’s dated, and theories have changed. Regardless, read it. It will make you think about where we came from, how we got “here”, why we are the way we are.

I purchased it for the Kindle app and have it on my iPad, which is making for a whole new reading experience. Normally I like to read a physical book, but for my last semester, I decided to purchase as many books as I could via Kindle and just tote around my iPad. Six books cost me $63, and the iPad is less than a pound. I wish I had been able to do this from the beginning!

In herpetology last week we learned how to “probe” a snake to determine it’s sex. I have to say, I’m not a “herp” person. I like salamanders and turtles, I don’t mind frogs or toads, but I really don’t like snakes or lizards. It’s not that I’m afraid of them in the sense of getting bitten or scratched, it’s that I imagine them to be crawling with germs. I’m sure mammals have just as much or more germs, I just have this irrational thought in my head that I WILL get salmonella or coccidiosis when handling a herp. SO, when Dr. Losito asked who wanted to probe a snake first, I volunteered right off the bat. I wanted to prove to myself and others that I could do it, and guess what: I’m still alive.

Here I am, with the help of classmates, probing an adult female pine snake.

Here I am, with the help of classmates, probing an adult female pine snake.

To be brief, a small metal probe is inserted in the vent of the snake, and you kind of feel around in there for resistance. If you meet resistance, it’s a female. If not, it’s a male. We have a nice collection of snakes and turtles at SUNY Cobleskill used for teaching and for community outreach. I’m eager to learn more about them.

I’ve had this beautiful Red-bellied Woodpecker visiting my feeders lately as well. I love watching the birds come!

Red-bellied Woodpecker in Cobleskill, NY

SUNY Cobleskill Fish and Wildlife Students at the SCCA Fishing Derby

Wildlife Students at the NYPA

Wildlife Students at the Huyck Preserve

(PS I just set up a camera trap in a really neat spot…hopefully I will have something cool to report in a few days!)

Lake Trout Acoustic Tagging on Hidden Lake

During my stint in Alaska this summer (2012), working out of the USFWS Kenai Field Office (Soldotna, AK), I've been involved with several projects. One of the projects I've been involved with is the tracking of acoustic-tagged lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) on Hidden Lake within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

To see another entry I wrote about this project, see: Tracking Hidden Lake & Kokanee Otolith Removal.

Hidden Lake has been historically sport-fished for lake trout, and apparently over the last 'X' number of years, there have been complaints by anglers that the fishing is drying up. So, the task has been given to the biologists out of this office to do some research and try to get a population estimate, and also where the trout are hanging out throughout the year, specifically during the fall spawning season.

During this entry, I'm going to share this project and what I literally get paid to do.

Go fishing.

My last few days of work this week consisted of heading to Hidden Lake, which is about an hour from our office, loading gear into a boat, and going fishing. All lake trout that were caught had measurements taken, and some had acoustic tags surgically implanted.

Our days began at 5 am at the office, which is early for me. As the boys I work with learned, this girl is NOT a morning person. But, I had an hour drive to wake up and prepare myself. After unloading the boat and finally getting on the water it was around 6:30 each morning...and we had a gorgeous morning on Thursday (8/15/2012)...

Sunrise over the mountains surrounding Hidden Lake.

The crew: Ken (project biologist), Lucas (seasonal technician), myself (SCA intern/seasonal technician), and last and least, Kevin (seasonal technician)  :)

Captain Ken manning the helm and watching the fish finder...

Lucas

And Kevin teaching me how to "reel down"...

So not to be immodest, but before a series of unfortunate events (which I will eventually get to), I was whooping butt on the fish catching. Ken gave me several options of lures, and I picked the "pretty" one, since I have no idea what works and doesn't. Well, apparently pretty worked!!! I chose a single-hook, blue/silver, KwikFish lure. And the fishing was hot! I have to give credit to Ken for figuring out where the fish were hanging out, and guiding me...but I caught 4 nice lake trout that day that I was pretty proud of!

Photo credit: Ken Gates

Photo credit: Ken Gates

As this was my first lake trout, they initiated me into the "club"...and strongly urged that I kiss my fish!

Photo credit: Ken Gates

I'm an "instant gratification" type of person, one who enjoys seeing a tangible result of effort. So, catching fish when they're biting is really satisfying!

If we caught a female, she would get processed on board the boat. We were only tagging healthy males, and the reason being apparently females can/will skip spawning some years. The biologists are really interested in knowing where the lake trout are spawning in Hidden Lake, so tagging a non-spawning female would be a waste of time, effort, equipment, and stress on the fish.  

Photo credit: Ken Gates

We'd fill a tote with lake water, and that was the holding tank for the fish. We'd try to keep them in the water as much as possible to lessen the effects of being handled.

Photo credit: Ken Gates

We'd then take 4 measurements: a fork length (tip of snout to the fork in the tail), total length (tip of snout to the tips of the tail squeezed together), girth (just forward of the dorsal fin), and a weight.

All of that would take about 5 minutes, with each of us with a "job". Getting the fish in/out of the boat as fast as possible, safely, was key. Of course handling a wild animal always causes some amount of stress and damage, but it's a necessary cost to be able to study and learn.

When one of us caught a male, the protocol was a bit different. We had the processing station set up on an island, as there was too much stuff and not enough room on the boat.

The fish that were deemed healthy enough and of course male, were brought to this spot in their tote, and then were subjected to a bit more than the females.

The same set of measurements were taken (FL, TL, girth, weight), but the fish were also anesthetized to render them still and I'm sure ease the pain of the implant.

A solution of mainly clove oil and water was used, and then the fish was placed in that for a few minutes for it to take effect. The whole thing was really interesting to watch. I couldn't really help, other than take down data, so I was able to really pay attention to the whole procedure. I admire Ken's ethic and attention to detail. He has a protocol, assigned us all a task, and the whole effort moved smoothly. I'm reassured that my personal need for this type of organization and control is necessary.



Ken taking measurements on the left (fish in the clove oil solution), and on right, Ken instructing Kevin on keeping the gills irrigated. There was one container with the clove oil solution, and then when they were finishing, one of fresh water to begin bringing the fish out of it.

After measurements were taken, the fish was then implanted with the Lotek acoustic tag.

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Then Ken stitched the incision back up, and applied a kind of "super glue" to keep the suture knots tight. The thread will eventually dissolve.

After all of this, the fish was moved to the "recovery" cooler, filled with fresh water, and was given probably between 5-10 minutes to come to.

Nurse Kevin, tending the fish :)

The last piece was to get the fish some final bling-bling. The fish would get one of these placed near it's dorsal fin, and the gray part is outside of the fish, so it can be visually identified by us, or another angler if it's caught.

The "Series of Unfortunate Events" that I mentioned earlier HAD to be shared on my blog, as they will make tagging lake trout forever memorable to me.

On our second morning, there was less down time for us. We knew exactly where the fish were hanging out, what lures were working, and we got to business. Within 5 minutes, I had a nice male on my line. We brought him in, and proceeded to implant him with the monitoring devices. When we were back on the water, and the fish was revived, Ken asked for someone to release the fish.

Lucas started to lift the tote, but I jumped in and wanted to release "my fish" back to the wild.

Photo credit: Lucas Young

The tote had more water in it than I expected, and when I lifted it over the side of the boat to dump, it quickly filled with lake water and pulled me off the boat.

I fell OFF the boat!

Photo credit: Lucas Young

Who does that?! I've taken the NYS Boating Safety Course, and the Department of the Interior's Motorboat Operator's Certification Course, American Red Cross life guarding courses...and grown up in/around water. And I fell off the boat! In the middle of the lake, fully clothed and in rain gear/boots too. I was wearing a life jacket though, and popped right up and stared at the guys in the boat in complete disbelief that I was no longer in the boat. It was like slow-motion too, as I was dumping the tote, I said out loud "Haha, I'm sooo going to fall off this boat!". And then I did.

After a beat, I was offered help (amongst much laughing), and I denied it opting to swim to shore instead. It wasn't that far and I was so beyond mad at myself I needed to cool down (literally, figuratively). The water was in the low 50's and the air temp maybe in the high 50's, low 60's, so it was breath-taking, but not immediately debilitating. Many thanks to coworker, Lucas, for acting quick to capture the following moments forever...

Photo credit: Lucas Young

Photo credit: Lucas Young

I think Ken was in disbelief that I wasn't accepting his offered help!

I was SO mad at this moment, but now that I'm reliving it through pictures, I'm cracking up!

No harm, no foul! A great way to end the season and my work time here in Alaska!

Tracking Hidden Lake & Kokanee Otolith Removal

...I couldn't come up with a better title than that, sorry! But that's pretty much what this entry is going to be about in a nutshell.

Before I begin, let me tell you that this is going to be another gory posting, so avert your eyes if you don't like blood.

Also, I'd like to define 2 terms:

1. Kokanee: Another name for a land-locked sockeye salmon (More Info)
2. Otoliths: The 2 "ear bones" of the fish, which aid in stabilization within the water column, and other various sensory input.

Over the past few weeks I've gone out with Jim (biological science technician), and Ken (fishery biologst) to track previously tagged lake trout. I'd rather not get into the nitty gritty of that project, so I'll keep it extremely brief:

This is looking towards the bow of the tracking boat, and that vertical pipe is the hydrophone, which "hears" or receives the signal. And this is acoustic tracking, for those "in the know". I wish I could do a whole entry about the different methods of tracking fish, but at this point, I'm not learned enough about it all.

Anyway, here's Ken, watching the software recording the strength of the signal being given off of nearby tagged fish.

Apparently there have been comments from anglers of this lake over the past several years-->decade, that the size and quanity of available lake trout has decreased. Research is being conducted with tagged fish to determine where and when they're spawning. About once a week we go out to track the 13 tagged fish, and also once a week (a different day), we go out fishing for lake trout to tag new fish.

My office. Seriously!

As a side project, kokanee are being collected, if caught, to do some work on determining where the stock is coming from. As the definition above says, kokanee are just land-locked sockeyes, which can and do occur naturally on the Kenai Peninsula. And they even occur in Hidden Lake as well. The confusion is that a kokanee can and will leave the lake system to spawn upstream. Some of the kokanees in Hidden Lake are not leaving. They grow up, spawn in the lake, and then die. The thought is perhaps some of the kokanees found in the lake are hatchery fish. The biologists called hatchery-raised fish "stupid". They do some weird stuff, because they're not wild. They have the intuition to carry out their biological duties, but not the perspective to know when/how/where to do it.

Apparently the kokanees (and other hatchery raised fish) are marked in several ways. In my CON 102 Fish & Wildlife class, we learned that if it has an adipose fin:

...it's in the Salmonid family (salmon, trout, char, freshwater whitefish, and graylings). Well, hatchery-raised Salmonids have their adipose fin clipped off when they're very young, so they can be distinguised later in life. The adipose fin seemingly has no purpose, and the fish can manage fine without. Yes, I'm sure it does "hurt" them to a degree to have it clipped off, really removing any part of ones body (unless it's dead tissue), can hurt. But I imagine it's no different than tagging the ear of a bear, or sticking a PIT tag under the skin of a squirrel. It's superficial pain.

The second way they can be marked is to go through some kind of thermo-treatment. I probably should have asked more about this, and I will, before writing this entry. What I understand it to be, is some kind of heating, perhaps infrared, of the fish when they're tiny. Again, this doesn't harm the fish, but it leaves a mark on the otolith. It's kind of like aging the scales- rings and ridges are left on the otolith throughout life.

When a kokanee is caught, it's kept so that the otoliths can be removed, and then determined if it was hatchery released.

On 6/27/12 we went fishing, and I'm happy to report that I (the NON fish head) caught the only fish :) even if it wasn't the primary target species, it's nice have that small success! This is a kokanee.

Woo! I tried to get through all of that as thoroughly as possible, but quickly...because the removal process is the fun part I ACTUALLY wanted to write about!

I was charged with the task of otolith removal. I think the biologists thought they were teasing me and giving me something gross I wouldn't LOVE to do...but I actually was really into it. This is the first time I've done a dissection completely by myself, on a semi-fresh specimen. The biology class dissections are always done on 30 year old _____ that have soaked in goodness only knows what chemical. I've also watched the dissection of a fresh river otter, bobcat, and raccoon...which was pretty gross, but interesting.

So I was excited to learn what to do:

Once the top of the head is removed, the brain must be pulled out.

My turn! The fish I'm working on is the same kokanee I caught on Hidden Lake.

After the brain is removed, you have to dig around the cavity with tweezers to feel for these tiny little pieces of bone. The fish were still half frozen, so it was tricky. I'd get a chunk of ice and think I'd gotten the otolith...and it was just ice!

Here they are though:

About an 1/8" of an inch wide. Very tricky to maneuver out!

The pair of otoliths are then stored in a vial with the fish's tag number on it. Eventually someone (me?) will look at these otoliths and be able to determine if the fish were released by a hatchery or not.

Tomorrow I'm going birding with an acutal birding club! The "Keen Eye Birders" and I are going out to Hope, AK to search for birds. I'm very excited to be going with people who know what they're doing, and know local birds! Hopefully I'll have some good pictures to share afterwards.

Have a great weekend!