Exciting Fish Seine with Tina August 13, 2007 · 13 August 2007, 09:51 by Julie Loyd
This fish seine was both the most successful and most chaotic we’ve done. I was only there for the first part. Please note that there’s a comment button below.
Briefly, we did two tows, pulling the net straight out into fish areas, waiting four minutes for the fish to forget about the change in water pressure, then bringing it around and back to shore and pulling it in. The first tow netted a 60 cm sculpin.
The second tow netted probably over 1,000 fish, mostly about 100 cm. As I remember, about 500 were herring, about 50 were pinks, and about 20 were chinook, which were mostly bigger than the other fish, I’m guessing. Also another 60 cm sculpin. The rest got away.
In addition, the net also contained a head-sized and several fist-sized rocks, which caused shocking damage to the fish. We were not prepared to deal with so many fish calmly, nor were we well organized enough to keep from interfering with each other. Experience will be useful, of course, but I suggest that we have a few contingency plans in place to save more fish and dignity next time around.
1. Keep a list of who’s interested in fish handling. Once it’s clear when the event will be, contact each person individually and get a count of likely attenders.
2. Keep a list of equipment needed, where it’s kept, and who’s responsible to get it to the event.
3. Before starting, review and understand the plan. Counting? Measuring? Gastric lavage?
4. Before starting, review and understand the procedure to get the plan done. Know who is responsible for what. Rope pulling crew clear about where to take net? Gloves handy? Buckets filled with fresh water and kept cool and refreshed regularly? Float and lead line people clear about what to do? Boat people ready to check and record salinity and temperature? Etc.
5. Know where your body is and what it’s doing. This will reduce stress on other people and protect the fish. Don’t shout, keep a cool head, listen to what others are saying. Keep clear of net, handle scoopers and fish gently, know where the buckets are and which is which, follow the plan.
6. Debrief. This may not always be necessary but when new contingency plans are clearly needed, we ought to get together to decide what worked, what didn’t, and what changes to make.
Given that we were caught flatfooted, I think things went remarkably well. We have a way to net fish that actually works. We’re accustomed to working together as a team, and humane treatment of the fish is of concern to everyone. Everyone now can identify a herring and possibly the difference between a pink and chinook. And we will never forget this evening!
Just as I left a seal came by, a deadly hunter happily sowing destruction in amongst the oodling fish.
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