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!
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