Core Prep

Well for the first time in a long time, I've managed to find a little time to do some core prep from the samples that I took from the Elwha near the fish hatchery. As can be seen in the photograph, this is a core that is in the process of being sanded down to expose the growth rings, of which are the elements of interest for tracking growth over long periods of time. A single core can take over an hour to sand down to the level that the growth rings are clear enough for accurate assessment of age. The process takes 4 differnet grain sizes of sand paper, with the last being 400 grade (or grit) paper. For a little bit of dendrochronology 101, grit refers to the number of abrasive particles that can be found on one inch of said sand paper. This means that the 400 grit paper that is nessisary for this work is extreemly fine, and extreemly slow to work with. Hopefully in the next few weeks my blog will give way to more extisive discription of how dendrochronology works (or at least some more tree and core pictures, hah!).

Its that Fyking net!

Well, truth be told, scientific research is not always that sexy superstar life that I know we all believe it to be. Today was, in contrast to the high paced life of scientists everywhere, quite slow. We went fyke netting at the Pysht. Fyke netting is a meal of two things: boredom spiced with a dash of tedium.

Fyke netting, (for those who are not aware) is where a particular channel of water is completely blocked off by a series of nets: consisting of two 'wings' and a central trap section. Also known as a Trap Net, Fyke netting relies on the movement of the tides going out to force unsuspecting fish into the single opening in the channel, directly into the welcoming nets of researchers such as us. The problem with this is that it's sample time relies heavily on the size of the channel and the movement of the tides, all of which prove to go slower than a turtle on tranquilizers. the result is a 9 hour day of sitting and waiting for the tide to empty, trying our best not to go out of our minds with tedium.

One of the positive aspects of this type of sampling is that we did get a more-than-average amount of salmonids during the course of the day. With a host of juvenile Chum and one fat Chinook (pictured below) it was interesting to see how this new sampling method contrasted with a seine net, in both the time spent at-site, as well as the representative nature of the collection. Tomorrow should be interesting as well, wish us luck and creativity!