Observations on the 2013 Seattle Boat Show

CenturyLink Field in Seattle is known as the home of the 12th Man and 72,000 screaming Seattle Seahawks fans that regularly set the Richter scale twitching during every home football game. A typical trip to CenturyLink Field leaves you excited after watching the home team cruise to victory.

But CenturyLink Field also plays host to many other events. From January 25 through February 3 this year, I represented the USFWS at the 66th Annual Seattle Boat Show. This being my first boat show, I didn’t know what to expect. Coworkers shared stories of their experiences from last year, but each experience was unique. With attendance expected to be around 50,000, along with 600 exhibitors and more than 200 free seminars, I knew there was going to be lots of action.

Two young visitors testing their casting skills

My first day on the job was exciting and busy from the start. Wide-eyed kids were rushing to our casting booth with high hopes of catching some of our laminated fish (with magnets instead of hooks). After they reeled in a fish, I helped them identify what species of fish they had "caught" (they ranged from bull trout to largemouth bass). Not only were these kids having fun fishing, but they were also learning about sportsmanship, fishing skills, and fisheries conservation.

There were plenty of "older" sportsmen eager to share fishing tales and boaters who were amazed looking at our maps that show the rapid spread of zebra and quagga mussels west from the Great Lakes. Travelers from all over the state of Washington visited our booth, along with some folks from Alaska and Maine. I even ran into people I know from my prior residence in Sitka, Alaska (the king salmon fishing capitol of the world). I would like to think they all walked away with more information about what USFWS does and how they can enjoy and conserve America’s great aquatic resources.

Educating the public on invasive species

By the end of the boat show, we had shared time with nearly 1,000 young fishermen and fisherwomen in our casting activity and had close to 3,000 conversations with interested and amazed individuals about invasive species. With informational brochures and invasive species literature running low, the Seattle Boat Show came to a close.

Reflecting on my experience at the show, I found the atmosphere of the Seattle Boat Show to be fun, exciting, energetic, and even crazy at times. The USFWS presence, thanks in large part to Biologist and Outreach Coordinator Dan Spencer, was a great success. The experiences I had during the Seattle Boat Show were priceless! My only regret is not signing up for more shifts so that I could educate more people on the potential threat of invasive species to our pristine Pacific Northwest waters and teach another young boy or girl how to cast a fishing pole for the first time.


--Timothy Grun, Biological Science Technician

 

USFWS Internship - Working on the Elwha River Restoration Project

Sarah Gabel

Greetings! My name is Sarah Gabel and I’m a biology major at Saint Martin’s University and an intern for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). I began pursuing internship opportunities last fall in order to gain field and lab experience and exposure to the application of scientific research and methods in a professional setting, as well as to bolster my resume. The USFWS offered an opportunity associated with the Elwha River restoration project which appealed to me because of the lab experience and focus on the environment, a branch of biology I’ve had an interest in. I have often enjoyed going fishing, camping, hiking, kayaking, biking, and partaking in various other outdoor activities which have given me a strong interest in nature and a desire to learn more about it.

The Elwha River restoration project is a study of how the deconstruction of the Elwha Dam is affecting the fine sediment concentrations in salmon spawning habitat. Data will be used to monitor changes in the quality of salmon spawning habitat during and following dam removal. This data will be important for understanding factors limiting salmon recovery in this system. My lab work includes filtering water samples, burning off the organic material, and measuring the difference in order to determine how much fine sediment is being added to the spawning gravels in the river. It’s an interesting process observing the differences between the samples taken before and after deconstruction of the dam. It has been a great learning experience for me and has given me the chance to practice lab techniques in a professional environment while earning college credits toward my degree.
 

Filtering a water sample

In addition to developing my lab skills and understanding of the Elwha River restoration project, I find it exciting to have the opportunity to provide needed support for this important research project studying the effect of human activities on the environment. It is our responsibility to make sure that our actions do not disturb the ecosystem; projects such as this help to sustain the environment for the use and enjoyment of generations to come. This internship opportunity has piqued my interest in this field of work and I am now considering pursuing a career in biological research.



Placing samples in drying oven



To the Service With Love: Why One Biological Science Tech Loves Her Job

Kira collecting genetic samples from
Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon

I have a confession. I love playing in the dirt and mud; I love coming home exhausted and dirty from a hard day working in a river; I love going out and collecting information; and I love getting paid to work outside. I currently work as a Biological Science Technician for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Lacey, WA, and I have also worked for the National Park Service (Crater Lake National Park and Biscayne National Park), several state agencies, and the private sector. My job makes me work my mind and body in ways that test my mental and physical endurance, and at the end of the day I always have something to show for it, be it information gathered, a new tracking or monitoring device placed, an invasive species removed and a native replaced, and/or a sore muscle to remind me that I worked hard today!

The field of science has allowed me to travel many places already and it could take me anywhere in the world in the future. At Biscayne, I was privileged to scuba dive on some of the most pristine coral reefs in the U.S., removing invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans and Pterois miles), monitoring algae growth on coral heads, and documenting the population dynamics of the Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus). At Crater Lake, I worked to assess the chemical and biological health of the lake by netting and trapping invasive fish and crayfish, collecting water samples for lab analysis, and installing equipment that will allow scientists to monitor the lake year-round.

Currently my job is to go out into the field and gather information for new and ongoing projects. The best part of my job is that I don’t have one set thing I do. Here is a short list of things I could be asked to do on any given day:

• Work on the urban stream WRIA-8 project (collecting fish and habitat information)
• Organize/fix/maintain field equipment
• Strap on my waders for a river survey
• Don my dry suit to snorkel for freshwater mussels or for a night fish survey in the lake
• Collect fish for brood stock at a hatchery
• Collect genetic samples,
• Bio-sample and retrieve coded wire tags (CWT’s) from adult fish and enter information into an international database
• Remove and relocate endangered fish
• Work in the lab
• Assist other departments on projects they have going on

In short, my job is to be versatile.

Kira assisting with an elk capture with state
and tribal employees  

I have a great feeling of accomplishment when I consider all the information I have gathered and all the organisms I have helped. You always hear "one person can make a difference" and sometimes that is hard to believe when you think of how big the whole picture is. My job has allowed me to experience that one person CAN make a BIG difference! I see positive changes in the world because of things I have done.

I tell everyone to follow their dreams. I am living my dream.


--Kira Mazzi, Biological Science Technician

 

Determining the Age of Sculpin Using the Otolith Burnt Cross-Section Technique



Prickly sculpin

The prickly sculpin (Cottus asper) is a native and little-studied freshwater fish found throughout western Washington. Over the past few weeks, Roger Tabor, Kira Mazzi, Mike Elam, and I have been trying to unlock the information found in a small ear bone (otolith) hiding inside these fishes' heads. The otolith contains a record of a sculpin's growth, much like rings in a tree--the growth of the fish influences both the size and density of the otolith. Through our analysis of these otoliths, we hope to discover if different populations of prickly sculpin are growing faster and living with or without competition from other fish, at different elevations, and consuming different diets. To do this, we removed otoliths from roughly 200 preserved specimens of prickly sculpin and prepared them using a common aging method called the "otolith burnt cross-section technique."

The first step in preparing the otolith is breaking it as closely through the center as possible. I used my fingers to break them in half, but many people use forceps or a hard surface to crack them open. A good break will allow you to view each annulus (yearly growth ring). Next, and most importantly, is the burning procedure. Using lighters, we burned the otolith until we achieved a uniform dark brown. This turns the annuli dark brown and keeps the remainder of the otolith light, giving you distinction between years. Then we added a dab of mineral oil for clarity and had a perfectly prepared otolith to read.

Sculpin otolith

In the photo above, you can see the distinction between the dark brown annuli and the light summer growth. This otolith is from a mature 13-year-old prickly sculpin. As fish mature, they experience a change in growth rate. You can see this by the small separation of annuli in this adult. In juvenile fish, the translucent growth zones are much larger than those later in life (see center of the image).

We have finished all the aging for this study and will now move on to analyzing our data with the environmental and biological information we collected about the fish and their habitats early this year.
　

--Timothy Grun, Biological Science Technician

 

What is an Otolith and Why Do I Care About It?



Fish otolith

An otolith (inner ear bone) can be found in any animal with a vertebra---mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, etc. Otoliths are sensitive to acceleration and gravity; these organ and bone structures tell the brain how the body is moving in relation to the surrounding environment. We are currently looking at kokanee salmon otoliths to evaluate whether hatchery-reared kokanee are helping us recover the native kokanee population in Lake Sammamish. 

Fisheries scientists have figured out that fish otoliths grow much like the rings of a tree trunk. In the summer, when growth is high, the fish lays down a lot of otolith material. In contrast, during the winter when growth is minimal, the fish lays down very little growth material, resulting in the “ring” pattern. Much like a tree, if you count the “rings” you can determine the age of the fish.

Now, bear with me on this one because what I am about to tell you is kind of hard to believe but it's true . . . .

In the hatchery, the temperature of the water the fish are reared in can be controlled. By controlling the water temperature over a short time period (usually a few weeks), a barcode-type pattern is created in the rings of the otolith. This technique is called marking and is permanent. After the fish’s death, the otolith can be extracted, shaved down, put under a microscope and read. By collecting the fish and reading the otoliths, we can tell how old the fish is, what stream its parents came from, whether the fish strayed from its natal stream. That is really, really cool! And all of this from an inner ear bone about 1-4 millimeters in length!

This is what I and other federal, state, and county biologists are doing in the field and in the lab. We are collecting kokanee from Lake Sammamish streams, spawning them, extracting the otolith, collecting biological information on the fish, and then reading the otoliths to see if marking is present. The marking will assist with the research and progression of the Lake Sammamish kokanee supplementation program. This year we saw a larger kokanee run; this is also the first year that the hatchery-reared supplementation fish were old enough to return to spawn. The information we gather from these otoliths will shed new light on the future of kokanee in Lake Sammamish and the human efforts to save this unique population.
    

--Kira Mazzi, Biological Science Technician

 

Photo credit:  WDFW Otolith Thermal Marking Lab

 

Lake Sammamish Kokanee Salmon Observed in 13 Streams

  Map of Lake Sammamish tributaries. Those
  in red are tributaries where kokanee have
  rarely been observed in recent years until
  2012. Those in black are the four main
  spawning tributaries.

This past year’s return of kokanee to Lake Sammamish tributaries saw several thousand spawners in the four main tributaries (Lewis, Ebright, Laughing Jacobs, and Pine Lake Creeks). In addition, kokanee spawners were unexpectedly observed in other tributaries--George Davis and Zaccuse Creeks on the east side; Issaquah, East Fork Issaquah, Tibbetts, Pickering, and Schneider Creeks in the south end; and Vasa and Idylwood Creeks on the west side of Lake Sammamish. For most of these additional creeks, spawning kokanee have been recorded in the past but have not been observed in recent years. In two of the creeks (Pickering and Schneider) kokanee do not appear to have ever been observed before 2012.

Agency staff members from King County, WDFW, and USFWS, as well as private landowners, conducted periodic surveys of these creeks in 2012. In addition to counting the live spawning fish, surveyors also collected kokanee carcasses in order to remove their otoliths (ear bones). The otoliths will be analyzed in the lab to determine if fish originated from Issaquah Creek State Hatchery or were naturally produced. Tissue samples were also taken from some of the fish to determine their genetic make-up.

This past year’s results indicate that Lake Sammamish kokanee are spawning in tributaries on all sides of the lake, underscoring the need to protect and restore as many tributaries as possible in order to sustain this native population.


   Kokanee spawning area in Schneider
   Creek. Prior to 2012, kokanee were
   not known to use this tributary.



 

Lake Sammamish Kokanee Bursting Back into the Streams

Kokanee salmon in Ebright Creek

This season’s kokanee salmon are off to an early and exciting start at Lake Sammamish. After a late and very dry summer in western Washington, the spawning streams were down to a trickle and rain seemed like a distant memory. But when the rain finally returned in late October, the kokanee in the lake began their short journey upstream to spawn. Right now you can see hundreds of these bright red and green fish in Ebright Creek, Laughing Jacobs Creek, Tibbetts Creek, Lewis Creek, Pine Lake Creek, and perhaps other creeks surrounding Lake Sammamish. These land-locked salmon are swimming under roads, through yards, and into neighborhoods and parks to find the perfect spot to deposit their eggs. These fish are living in urban landscapes unfamiliar to their ancestors and the number of fish today is drastically reduced from historic levels. This decline prompted biologists, local governments, and individuals working and living in the area to combine forces to bring back the kokanee and provide evidence of a future where people and wild fish thrive together.


Kokanee salmon swimming up Ebright Creek

This year’s return is highly anticipated because it marks the first time both fish from the hatchery supplementation program and the natural lake population will return to spawn in tandem. The hatchery supplementation program, based at WDFW's Issaquah Creek Hatchery, boosts the numbers of kokanee in the lake by "head-starting" baby kokanee in the safety of the hatchery. This year we hope to see an increase in kokanee returning to and spawning in streams as a result of the supplementation program.

Female and male kokanee salmon looking
for the perfect place to spawn

Through all of this excitement, we and our partners in the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group continue to monitor kokanee numbers, collect a small number of wild fish for the supplementation program, and sample for genetics and health of kokanee in several Lake Sammamish streams. Careful planning and scientific methods are crucial to habitat conservation efforts--the ultimate tool for ensuring a bright future for Lake Sammamish kokanee.

USFWS biologists work their way up
Laughing Jacobs Creek looking for kokanee salmon

To learn more about the Lake Sammamish kokanee, watch these USFWS videos:

http://bit.ly/PprFHs
http://bit.ly/RuOj12

Check out our Flickr page for some great photos of Lake Sammamish kokanee. And take a peek into your local creeks and see what fish are calling it home. You might just find a kokanee.

To report kokanee sightings, give us a call at (360) 753-9440 or click on "Contact Us" on our web page to send an email.