Yesterday was my first official day at Fish and Wildlife. When I went in for my interview, I was introduced to everyone (they seem to be a very selective group of fish huggers) and shown around the office and work shop. Yesterday, I was shown my assignment but Krystal, the woman I was working with, had to leave so I watch Sarah create maps on the computer. We ended up talking about what goes on there and our infinite love of bunnies. My assignment is to catalog their collection of over 700 preserved fish and document which fish need to be replaced because they are in bad condition. This is going to be a long task but I feel I’m up for it.
Wednesday was absolutely action packed. I got two whole shelves of fish filed! Ever incredibly exciting. Not only did I get so much done, I listened to National Public Radio. Actually, I like listening to it so I won’t be sarcastic. There was a section about six word novels (for example, Hemmingway wrote “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) and I made me think about what I would write. Over all, it was a productive, if tedious, day.
On Tuesday I sorted more fish. Crystal (one of the people in charge of making sure I’m busy) made me a new list that is much easier to use. Before, the fish were in order by how they were originally placed on the shelf under family names (scientific Latin names). This list was difficult to work from because some of the fish did not have a code number. Code numbers consist of the initials of the location they were caught (such as CH for Charlotte Harbor), the routine (F for fishery), the date (082494 for August 24, 1994) and which trip it was (4 for fourth trip). Now, the list is in alphabetical order, followed by family, common name and code. There is also a space for me to write notes about each fish, such as if the fish was dried out (no more alcohol in the vile) or if it was missing. I finished A-B and now I am half way through C.
I was allowed to skip school on Wednesday in order to go on a trawl. I had to be there at 7:30 and I stayed until 3:30. We loaded the boat and the trucks with waders and buckets and the nets and the documents we would use to record the fish information. We left for the Navagator (sic) around 8:30. It was really windy and cold! First, they dropped the nets (and Sarah and I) and we dragged the nets (they were 200 ft and really heavy) to shore while the boat drove in a semi-circle down stream. Then we had to drag the net, while pulling it toward shore, and meeting in the middle. In the middle, the fish were trapped and we emptied it into the bucket. On the second trawl we lost the bucket and had to drive around to look for it. After we collected the fish, we pulled the net back into the boat. We did eight 200 ft trawls and two 70 ft trawls. It was very physically demanding and my hands were rubbed raw by the end of the day. I now have much more respect for the people who work at FWC because they are so hardcore.
Technically, I didn’t need to go to my internship yesterday because we didn’t have school but I decided to go just in chase they caught something cool on their boat trip. When I got there, Julia and Guy (and some other person who I don’t remember his name but he’s married to Crystal) were the only people there. Toni was there too but she’s always there because she’s the secretary. I brought some paperwork I had done in order to be accepted as a volunteer (aka intern). There wasn’t much going on so I took my list (the magnificent fish list) and started working on sorting them again. I decided to work on the bottom shelf (absolutely packed with fish) because it was really horrible. I only got through half of the shelf before it was time to go because there are a lot of fish that are not recorded properly or not recorded at all so I’ll have to start my very own list soon. I’m actually finding some crustaceans (crabs and shrimp) and I don’t think that we shelf those. So a new adventure awaits everyday!
So I am very close to being done with my fish list! I only need to catalogue 25 more fish and then I am finished. It’s so exciting to be almost finished but I think I might miss it. I created my own system for sorting and documenting that is very effective and efficient. I am a little nervous about moving on to another project though because I want to do well. The other day, Amy (she’s awesome) called me asking if I wanted to go to Pine Island with her and Julia to set up a booth at a fair. I’ll be helping to man the station and answer questions. More tomorrow about how it goes!
Saturday was not only an adventure, but a time of bonding as well. It was probably one of the more laid back activities I’ve done with FWC. Amy, Julia and I left the office at 8 in the morning so we could be set up at Pine Island by 10, when the festival started. It was more of an arts and crafts fair/environmental awareness expedition all rolled into one. I’ve never been to Pine Island before so the drive was nice. When we got there, we hunted for a spot in the shade so that when it got hot that afternoon, we wouldn’t be in the sun. Unfortunately, that never happened. It was a windy, cold day despite the ever present sun. Amy and I contemplated moving the table out of the shade so we could be warmer but the area was so crowded that if we did that, we would be in the middle of a kayaking demonstration (as if that isn’t straight forward). The general concept of setting up the table was to better inform the public on what FWC does. FWC’s main concern is the sawfish population in the surrounding counties. Sawfish are so rare that they live predominantly in the lower Caloosahatchee and the lower Peace River and the surrounding reefs though occasionally they have been found near the Bahamas. The main way that FWC conducts their research is through the local anglers who sight or catch sawfish. Once caught or sighted, they are asked to call a hotline and answer some simple questions such as where they were, the size of the fish, the bait used and the health of the fish. We also include general information about the sawfish such as how it is a type of shark but more closely related to the rays because, among other reasons, the mouth if located on the bottom side of the fish. They can grow to about 18 feet long; their rostrum is about 1/3 of their length and they are generally gentle creatures despite their relations and impressive saws. When born, the baby sawfish is about two feet long and double in length in the fist year in order to evade predators. Mothers give live birth in estuaries, the main reason for being close to shore. Also, the younglings are born with a sheath over their saws that will fall off within the first two weeks of life (Julia explained that the purpose for this is that, frankly, no one wants to give birth to a hedge trimmer). Over all, I had an awesome and educational time on this trip and I hope I’ll be able to do it again. Highlights of the day included the “her-nal” at Dairy Queen and having one-on-one time with Julia’s mom.
Monday, I was able to spend a lot of quality time with Bill, Amy, Julia and Sarah. For most of the afternoon, Bill and I proof read field data. Proof reading field data is immensely important because it is very easy to misrepresent the information, either through recording errors or technical mistakes. Bill has the original, handwritten information and I have the typed copies. He then reads the numbers and data out loud and I read along, making sure there are no mistakes. Field data is used to record how many types of fish are in a certain area and how large they are. Also, it helps to interoperate the salinity, weather conditions and environment different species prefer. After helping Bill, I spent a while talk to Amy about how we could recycle the massive amounts of cardboard boxes FWC uses for equipment and containing documents. After a long discussion, we decided that a cardboard castle would not only put the boxes to good use but also provide for a relaxing environment, highly important in such a high strung and high speed office. While speaking to her, one of the reserve police officers came in asking for gloves. Apparently, when there is high tide out in one of the parks on the Peace River, a bunch of people go out and shoot alligators. They leave the carcasses on the bank to rot. Frankly, this is very pointless as a show of protest or what ever they are aiming for. Florida Fish and Wildlife already have a few people of interest and I told them I would love to go out and help them though I don’t think that suggestion will go very far.
Wednesday was a normal day in the office work wise; I proof read field data with Bill for a while and there wasn’t much else to do. A lot more people were there yesterday because one of the boats broke down and they wanted it to be fixed that day. Eventually, after a lot of emotional turmoil, the boat started running again. Julia showed me the trawls she is going to do on Friday with Phil, our boss. She’ll start at Burnt Store Park, go to the other side of the bay, then work her way to another park two hours away, creating a triangle. It’s going to suck. Everyone seemed really stressed out yesterday but I like to think that I help make things better.
This week hasn’t been the most exciting, unfortunately, but I know that it will get more exciting closer to summer. On Monday, I wasn’t feeling well so I didn’t go to school but I decided that I should try to go to FWC because I didn’t get any hours over spring break (I did go, but we just went bowling). Well, that wasn’t such a great idea. Scottie was filleting fish. I could smell it as soon as I walked into the office. After half-heartedly helping for a few minutes, I just sat on the other side of the room feeling sick. I talked to Scottie about how it isn’t necessary for us to capture and kill (however inadvertently) all of these fish and he absolutely agreed. Both of us think that its is more of a necessary evil at this point because we don’t have the technology, the organization or the resources to just catch and release them. I think I’m going to start plotting out a better way to do things around here.
Again, Wednesday was not very exciting. All I did was talk to Bill and tall guy #2 (I never remember his name, but he’s not as tall as Guy so he’s number 2) about solar power and scarfs. Well, that’s not necessarily true, I got them interested in looking at the collection I have been organizing and they helped identify some species like the cigar fish, a tiny armored catfish and some rock shrimp. They said they would try to figure out the last few ones for me so that was cool. In conclusion, scarfs are for girls and sally and rock shrimp smell.
Even though yesterday I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, it was very exciting. On Monday, I found out that National Geographic is going to be with the FWC for most of next week! They’re filming our sawfish research and we’ll be out on the boat for two days trying to catch sawfish. I’m so unbelievably excited! This is not only a great experience for me but it also looks good for the school and FWC. It’s a win-win-win situation.
To say the very least, Wednesday was not just a regular day at the office. I got there at 6:14am and started getting my gear together. I needed booties, a life vest (because I’m underage) and a water proof jacket. Once we had the boats loaded, we split into three teams: team one consisted of Phil Stevens, Amy Trimmers, Gregg and the host for National Geographic’s show Dangerous Encounters, Brady Barr; the second team was Crystal, Dave and the camera crew. The third team (my team) had “Smoothie” Dave, Julia, Sara (this was the first sawfish trip she was in charge of) and I. Since it was Sara’s first time being in charge for one of these, they didn’t expect that we would get anything so we got the crappy equipment. Although everyone was under the impression that we would be sticking together and, therefore, all with the camera crew, we ended up being split up to heighten our chances of catching something. So it kind of turned into a competition; who ever got the sawfish got on TV. I was pleasantly surprised that when we got to our first spot how much easier it was than the trawls that I did before. We used gill nets (which are potentially lethal, more later) and all we had to do was set them out and let them “soak” (sit in the water) for 30 minutes, check them, record what ever is in there, leave it and check it again 30 minutes later. Very simple. And very boring. After two uneventful sights, we were sitting on the boat at the third sight after we laid out the nets. Smoothie was bored so he started walking in the water (it was chest deep). Julia thought she saw something in one of the nets so we hoisted anchor and headed over. When we pulled the net in, there has a female cownose ray completely tangled in the net. We got her on the boat and we had to break off her spine (the dangerous stinging bit) since she was thrashing so bad. Since it was likely that there were more stingrays in the water and a detached spine by the boat, Smoothie had a very hard time coming back. Only after we had untangled the ray (she was a bloody mess) did smoothie get on board. That’s when we saw the other ray. She was obviously very pregnant and missing most of her tail. We had to cut the net in order to get her out and she was bleeding profusely. By this time, the rays had been out of the water for at least 15 minutes and they were having a hard time breathing. Since Gregg was doing his PhD on the cownose rays reproductive system and he needs female adults for research, we had to put the rays on ice. It was horrible. They would shift in the ice, making a crunching noise that sounded like a heart beat. The others were talking to them, trying to make them comfortable. It was defiantly one of the most disturbing experiences of my life.
Amy called us and asked if we could do an extra sight, the Negros Head (pronounced nay-gross). This sight had mangroves and some overhanging foliage so it looked perfect for sawfish. Now it was Julias turn to be bored and she walked around in the water. I fell asleep on the bow and Sara and Smoothie just talked about stuff. Since we weren’t paying attention, we didn’t see Julia making the international sign of a sawfish sighting, raised arms in a circle, because sawfish are easily spooked by loud noises. Since she couldn’t get our attention, she clapped her hands and it swam away. Since it was probably right there, we picked up the other net and laid it near the other. Not 5 minutes later, the sawfish was caught. Julia was trying to hold it so it wouldn’t get tangled anymore. What I didn’t know was how difficult it is to hold sawfish. They tend to thrash their long, sharp noses about until they can get away. So we had to drive Smoothie over so he could hold her. We filled up the net well with water so we could get the sawfish on board. Since we weren’t expected to catch anything we didn’t have any aquifers to keep the dissolved oxygen levels up so I had to continuously empty and fill the well. It was very difficult but I knew it was important. While we were trying to get him the boat, there was a huge splash right in front of us. What ever it was that scared us was large enough to scare the sawfish (they are top predators) and it got caught in our net. We had to get the first sawfish in the boat and untangle whatever got in our net. When we pulled it up, we found that it was yet another larger sawfish. We noticed that the smaller one (about 5 ½ feet) was a male so we named him Walter and the larger (about 6 feet) was a female so we named her Wendy. Wendy had a large gash on her back and was missing teeth from her rostrum so she was visibly upset. After a hour and a half of holding Wendy in the water and repeatedly emptying and refilling the net well with fresh water to keep the dissolved oxygen levels (DO) up, the rest of the crew came. It took them so long to get there because the other team had caught a baby sawfish that couldn’t have been more than two weeks old. They were filming it and taking measurements and DNA samples. When I had previously heard about National Geographic filming us and saw some of the shows that Brady Barr hosted, I was immensely excited about working with him because he seemed to be the new Steve Erwin. When we met, however, he turned out to be a complete disappointment. Let me explain. After we worked up the two adult fish, he placed the male fish BACK in the gillnet (again, gillnets are dangerous because the fish could seriously harm themselves if they get too entangled). This needlessly stressed out Walter and it made it unsafe for the crew to handle him while he was thrashing. After he was in the net, he made the rest of FWC leave and proclaimed loudly to the camera that HE caught something. And it was a beauty. Strike one. Next, he wanted to take the female out of the boat and take some shoots of her in the water which wasn’t a big deal. When we were trying to figure out how to get her out of the boat, he just walked over and tried to pick her up by the tale which can seriously harm the fish’s back and cause it to lash out with its sharp rostrum. Julia told him to put her down and help lift her from the middle but he threw his hands up, throwing a fit about being told what to do. I later found out that when they caught the baby sawfish, he held it out of the water, enabling it to breathe so the cameras could get better shots. This guy is a slim covered, cantankerous wart.
I’m highly disappointed that National Geographic (my long time favorite institution) has employed such a horrid and obviously self-center tool. Through out my time at FWC, I’ve been trying to overcome my feelings that we’re doing something incredibly perverse when we kill fish for research. After my encounter with this man who doesn’t seem to care in the least about the organisms that surround him, I’ve realized that I would rather be with people who care greatly for the animals they come in contact with, even if they do end their lives. Also, I feel lucky to have been able to help record the existence of these endangered animals, an experience many people will never have. So even though this was a bad experience, I feel I gained priceless information not only about myself, but also about those around me.
On Wednesday, I proof read the last half of the April trips with Bill. I always have interesting conversations with Bill, this time pretaining to shag carpeting and scones. He is a very interesting person. And, of course, the merits of a finely made pizza arised since we are both pizza advocates.
Tuesday was kind of slow. I talked to Phil about this being my last week and we agreed that I’m still a volunteer at FWC so I will be going on trips with them over the summer. Julia and Bill assured me that doing water trips in the summer was much better than doing them in the winter because its warmer and we some times “fall” in the water . So I’m happy that I get to go back.
Wednesday was my last official day (as far as this class is concerned) and I spent the whole time talking to Julia about why I should go to college single. We had a huge meeting with Bill, “Smoothie” Dave, Amy 1, Amy 2, Other Dave, Other other Dave, Phil, Sarah and Toni. They debated why going to college single is better than not. So it was lively :). I decided that I’m going to make them a cake and a big card thanking them for the knowledge they have passed on to me. "Heres lookin at you, blog" -Darth Vader
Yesterday was my first official day at Fish and Wildlife. When I went in for my interview, I was introduced to everyone (they seem to be a very selective group of fish huggers) and shown around the office and work shop. Yesterday, I was shown my assignment but Krystal, the woman I was working with, had to leave so I watch Sarah create maps on the computer. We ended up talking about what goes on there and our infinite love of bunnies.
ReplyDeleteMy assignment is to catalog their collection of over 700 preserved fish and document which fish need to be replaced because they are in bad condition. This is going to be a long task but I feel I’m up for it.
Wednesday was absolutely action packed. I got two whole shelves of fish filed! Ever incredibly exciting. Not only did I get so much done, I listened to National Public Radio. Actually, I like listening to it so I won’t be sarcastic. There was a section about six word novels (for example, Hemmingway wrote “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) and I made me think about what I would write. Over all, it was a productive, if tedious, day.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday I sorted more fish. Crystal (one of the people in charge of making sure I’m busy) made me a new list that is much easier to use. Before, the fish were in order by how they were originally placed on the shelf under family names (scientific Latin names). This list was difficult to work from because some of the fish did not have a code number. Code numbers consist of the initials of the location they were caught (such as CH for Charlotte Harbor), the routine (F for fishery), the date (082494 for August 24, 1994) and which trip it was (4 for fourth trip). Now, the list is in alphabetical order, followed by family, common name and code. There is also a space for me to write notes about each fish, such as if the fish was dried out (no more alcohol in the vile) or if it was missing. I finished A-B and now I am half way through C.
ReplyDeleteI was allowed to skip school on Wednesday in order to go on a trawl. I had to be there at 7:30 and I stayed until 3:30. We loaded the boat and the trucks with waders and buckets and the nets and the documents we would use to record the fish information. We left for the Navagator (sic) around 8:30. It was really windy and cold! First, they dropped the nets (and Sarah and I) and we dragged the nets (they were 200 ft and really heavy) to shore while the boat drove in a semi-circle down stream. Then we had to drag the net, while pulling it toward shore, and meeting in the middle. In the middle, the fish were trapped and we emptied it into the bucket. On the second trawl we lost the bucket and had to drive around to look for it. After we collected the fish, we pulled the net back into the boat. We did eight 200 ft trawls and two 70 ft trawls. It was very physically demanding and my hands were rubbed raw by the end of the day. I now have much more respect for the people who work at FWC because they are so hardcore.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, I didn’t need to go to my internship yesterday because we didn’t have school but I decided to go just in chase they caught something cool on their boat trip. When I got there, Julia and Guy (and some other person who I don’t remember his name but he’s married to Crystal) were the only people there. Toni was there too but she’s always there because she’s the secretary. I brought some paperwork I had done in order to be accepted as a volunteer (aka intern). There wasn’t much going on so I took my list (the magnificent fish list) and started working on sorting them again. I decided to work on the bottom shelf (absolutely packed with fish) because it was really horrible. I only got through half of the shelf before it was time to go because there are a lot of fish that are not recorded properly or not recorded at all so I’ll have to start my very own list soon. I’m actually finding some crustaceans (crabs and shrimp) and I don’t think that we shelf those. So a new adventure awaits everyday!
ReplyDeleteSo I am very close to being done with my fish list! I only need to catalogue 25 more fish and then I am finished. It’s so exciting to be almost finished but I think I might miss it. I created my own system for sorting and documenting that is very effective and efficient. I am a little nervous about moving on to another project though because I want to do well. The other day, Amy (she’s awesome) called me asking if I wanted to go to Pine Island with her and Julia to set up a booth at a fair. I’ll be helping to man the station and answer questions. More tomorrow about how it goes!
ReplyDeleteSaturday was not only an adventure, but a time of bonding as well. It was probably one of the more laid back activities I’ve done with FWC. Amy, Julia and I left the office at 8 in the morning so we could be set up at Pine Island by 10, when the festival started. It was more of an arts and crafts fair/environmental awareness expedition all rolled into one. I’ve never been to Pine Island before so the drive was nice. When we got there, we hunted for a spot in the shade so that when it got hot that afternoon, we wouldn’t be in the sun. Unfortunately, that never happened. It was a windy, cold day despite the ever present sun. Amy and I contemplated moving the table out of the shade so we could be warmer but the area was so crowded that if we did that, we would be in the middle of a kayaking demonstration (as if that isn’t straight forward).
ReplyDeleteThe general concept of setting up the table was to better inform the public on what FWC does. FWC’s main concern is the sawfish population in the surrounding counties. Sawfish are so rare that they live predominantly in the lower Caloosahatchee and the lower Peace River and the surrounding reefs though occasionally they have been found near the Bahamas. The main way that FWC conducts their research is through the local anglers who sight or catch sawfish. Once caught or sighted, they are asked to call a hotline and answer some simple questions such as where they were, the size of the fish, the bait used and the health of the fish.
We also include general information about the sawfish such as how it is a type of shark but more closely related to the rays because, among other reasons, the mouth if located on the bottom side of the fish. They can grow to about 18 feet long; their rostrum is about 1/3 of their length and they are generally gentle creatures despite their relations and impressive saws. When born, the baby sawfish is about two feet long and double in length in the fist year in order to evade predators. Mothers give live birth in estuaries, the main reason for being close to shore. Also, the younglings are born with a sheath over their saws that will fall off within the first two weeks of life (Julia explained that the purpose for this is that, frankly, no one wants to give birth to a hedge trimmer).
Over all, I had an awesome and educational time on this trip and I hope I’ll be able to do it again. Highlights of the day included the “her-nal” at Dairy Queen and having one-on-one time with Julia’s mom.
Monday, I was able to spend a lot of quality time with Bill, Amy, Julia and Sarah. For most of the afternoon, Bill and I proof read field data. Proof reading field data is immensely important because it is very easy to misrepresent the information, either through recording errors or technical mistakes. Bill has the original, handwritten information and I have the typed copies. He then reads the numbers and data out loud and I read along, making sure there are no mistakes. Field data is used to record how many types of fish are in a certain area and how large they are. Also, it helps to interoperate the salinity, weather conditions and environment different species prefer.
ReplyDeleteAfter helping Bill, I spent a while talk to Amy about how we could recycle the massive amounts of cardboard boxes FWC uses for equipment and containing documents. After a long discussion, we decided that a cardboard castle would not only put the boxes to good use but also provide for a relaxing environment, highly important in such a high strung and high speed office. While speaking to her, one of the reserve police officers came in asking for gloves. Apparently, when there is high tide out in one of the parks on the Peace River, a bunch of people go out and shoot alligators. They leave the carcasses on the bank to rot. Frankly, this is very pointless as a show of protest or what ever they are aiming for. Florida Fish and Wildlife already have a few people of interest and I told them I would love to go out and help them though I don’t think that suggestion will go very far.
Wednesday was a normal day in the office work wise; I proof read field data with Bill for a while and there wasn’t much else to do. A lot more people were there yesterday because one of the boats broke down and they wanted it to be fixed that day. Eventually, after a lot of emotional turmoil, the boat started running again. Julia showed me the trawls she is going to do on Friday with Phil, our boss. She’ll start at Burnt Store Park, go to the other side of the bay, then work her way to another park two hours away, creating a triangle. It’s going to suck. Everyone seemed really stressed out yesterday but I like to think that I help make things better.
ReplyDeleteThis week hasn’t been the most exciting, unfortunately, but I know that it will get more exciting closer to summer. On Monday, I wasn’t feeling well so I didn’t go to school but I decided that I should try to go to FWC because I didn’t get any hours over spring break (I did go, but we just went bowling). Well, that wasn’t such a great idea. Scottie was filleting fish. I could smell it as soon as I walked into the office. After half-heartedly helping for a few minutes, I just sat on the other side of the room feeling sick. I talked to Scottie about how it isn’t necessary for us to capture and kill (however inadvertently) all of these fish and he absolutely agreed. Both of us think that its is more of a necessary evil at this point because we don’t have the technology, the organization or the resources to just catch and release them. I think I’m going to start plotting out a better way to do things around here.
ReplyDeleteAgain, Wednesday was not very exciting. All I did was talk to Bill and tall guy #2 (I never remember his name, but he’s not as tall as Guy so he’s number 2) about solar power and scarfs. Well, that’s not necessarily true, I got them interested in looking at the collection I have been organizing and they helped identify some species like the cigar fish, a tiny armored catfish and some rock shrimp. They said they would try to figure out the last few ones for me so that was cool. In conclusion, scarfs are for girls and sally and rock shrimp smell.
ReplyDeleteEven though yesterday I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, it was very exciting. On Monday, I found out that National Geographic is going to be with the FWC for most of next week! They’re filming our sawfish research and we’ll be out on the boat for two days trying to catch sawfish. I’m so unbelievably excited! This is not only a great experience for me but it also looks good for the school and FWC. It’s a win-win-win situation.
ReplyDeleteTo say the very least, Wednesday was not just a regular day at the office. I got there at 6:14am and started getting my gear together. I needed booties, a life vest (because I’m underage) and a water proof jacket. Once we had the boats loaded, we split into three teams: team one consisted of Phil Stevens, Amy Trimmers, Gregg and the host for National Geographic’s show Dangerous Encounters, Brady Barr; the second team was Crystal, Dave and the camera crew. The third team (my team) had “Smoothie” Dave, Julia, Sara (this was the first sawfish trip she was in charge of) and I. Since it was Sara’s first time being in charge for one of these, they didn’t expect that we would get anything so we got the crappy equipment.
ReplyDeleteAlthough everyone was under the impression that we would be sticking together and, therefore, all with the camera crew, we ended up being split up to heighten our chances of catching something. So it kind of turned into a competition; who ever got the sawfish got on TV.
I was pleasantly surprised that when we got to our first spot how much easier it was than the trawls that I did before. We used gill nets (which are potentially lethal, more later) and all we had to do was set them out and let them “soak” (sit in the water) for 30 minutes, check them, record what ever is in there, leave it and check it again 30 minutes later. Very simple. And very boring.
After two uneventful sights, we were sitting on the boat at the third sight after we laid out the nets. Smoothie was bored so he started walking in the water (it was chest deep). Julia thought she saw something in one of the nets so we hoisted anchor and headed over. When we pulled the net in, there has a female cownose ray completely tangled in the net. We got her on the boat and we had to break off her spine (the dangerous stinging bit) since she was thrashing so bad. Since it was likely that there were more stingrays in the water and a detached spine by the boat, Smoothie had a very hard time coming back. Only after we had untangled the ray (she was a bloody mess) did smoothie get on board. That’s when we saw the other ray. She was obviously very pregnant and missing most of her tail. We had to cut the net in order to get her out and she was bleeding profusely. By this time, the rays had been out of the water for at least 15 minutes and they were having a hard time breathing.
Since Gregg was doing his PhD on the cownose rays reproductive system and he needs female adults for research, we had to put the rays on ice. It was horrible. They would shift in the ice, making a crunching noise that sounded like a heart beat. The others were talking to them, trying to make them comfortable. It was defiantly one of the most disturbing experiences of my life.
Amy called us and asked if we could do an extra sight, the Negros Head (pronounced nay-gross). This sight had mangroves and some overhanging foliage so it looked perfect for sawfish.
ReplyDeleteNow it was Julias turn to be bored and she walked around in the water. I fell asleep on the bow and Sara and Smoothie just talked about stuff. Since we weren’t paying attention, we didn’t see Julia making the international sign of a sawfish sighting, raised arms in a circle, because sawfish are easily spooked by loud noises. Since she couldn’t get our attention, she clapped her hands and it swam away. Since it was probably right there, we picked up the other net and laid it near the other. Not 5 minutes later, the sawfish was caught. Julia was trying to hold it so it wouldn’t get tangled anymore. What I didn’t know was how difficult it is to hold sawfish. They tend to thrash their long, sharp noses about until they can get away. So we had to drive Smoothie over so he could hold her. We filled up the net well with water so we could get the sawfish on board. Since we weren’t expected to catch anything we didn’t have any aquifers to keep the dissolved oxygen levels up so I had to continuously empty and fill the well. It was very difficult but I knew it was important. While we were trying to get him the boat, there was a huge splash right in front of us. What ever it was that scared us was large enough to scare the sawfish (they are top predators) and it got caught in our net. We had to get the first sawfish in the boat and untangle whatever got in our net. When we pulled it up, we found that it was yet another larger sawfish. We noticed that the smaller one (about 5 ½ feet) was a male so we named him Walter and the larger (about 6 feet) was a female so we named her Wendy. Wendy had a large gash on her back and was missing teeth from her rostrum so she was visibly upset.
After a hour and a half of holding Wendy in the water and repeatedly emptying and refilling the net well with fresh water to keep the dissolved oxygen levels (DO) up, the rest of the crew came. It took them so long to get there because the other team had caught a baby sawfish that couldn’t have been more than two weeks old. They were filming it and taking measurements and DNA samples.
When I had previously heard about National Geographic filming us and saw some of the shows that Brady Barr hosted, I was immensely excited about working with him because he seemed to be the new Steve Erwin. When we met, however, he turned out to be a complete disappointment. Let me explain.
After we worked up the two adult fish, he placed the male fish BACK in the gillnet (again, gillnets are dangerous because the fish could seriously harm themselves if they get too entangled). This needlessly stressed out Walter and it made it unsafe for the crew to handle him while he was thrashing. After he was in the net, he made the rest of FWC leave and proclaimed loudly to the camera that HE caught something. And it was a beauty. Strike one.
Next, he wanted to take the female out of the boat and take some shoots of her in the water which wasn’t a big deal. When we were trying to figure out how to get her out of the boat, he just walked over and tried to pick her up by the tale which can seriously harm the fish’s back and cause it to lash out with its sharp rostrum. Julia told him to put her down and help lift her from the middle but he threw his hands up, throwing a fit about being told what to do. I later found out that when they caught the baby sawfish, he held it out of the water, enabling it to breathe so the cameras could get better shots. This guy is a slim covered, cantankerous wart.
I’m highly disappointed that National Geographic (my long time favorite institution) has employed such a horrid and obviously self-center tool.
ReplyDeleteThrough out my time at FWC, I’ve been trying to overcome my feelings that we’re doing something incredibly perverse when we kill fish for research. After my encounter with this man who doesn’t seem to care in the least about the organisms that surround him, I’ve realized that I would rather be with people who care greatly for the animals they come in contact with, even if they do end their lives. Also, I feel lucky to have been able to help record the existence of these endangered animals, an experience many people will never have. So even though this was a bad experience, I feel I gained priceless information not only about myself, but also about those around me.
Monday, there wasnt any one in the office so I got some of my paper work taken care of and talked to Toni and Bill.
ReplyDeleteOn Wednesday, I proof read the last half of the April trips with Bill. I always have interesting conversations with Bill, this time pretaining to shag carpeting and scones. He is a very interesting person. And, of course, the merits of a finely made pizza arised since we are both pizza advocates.
ReplyDeleteTuesday was kind of slow. I talked to Phil about this being my last week and we agreed that I’m still a volunteer at FWC so I will be going on trips with them over the summer. Julia and Bill assured me that doing water trips in the summer was much better than doing them in the winter because its warmer and we some times “fall” in the water . So I’m happy that I get to go back.
ReplyDeleteWednesday was my last official day (as far as this class is concerned) and I spent the whole time talking to Julia about why I should go to college single. We had a huge meeting with Bill, “Smoothie” Dave, Amy 1, Amy 2, Other Dave, Other other Dave, Phil, Sarah and Toni. They debated why going to college single is better than not. So it was lively :). I decided that I’m going to make them a cake and a big card thanking them for the knowledge they have passed on to me. "Heres lookin at you, blog" -Darth Vader
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