Field Work Frenzy!

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Sam Thiede

Hello all!
I’m so excited to update you on my week! This past week was all about field work, which is my favorite part of any job. Monday we kicked off the week heading down to Indian Point where Jim, my officemate and colleague, and Scott, my mentor, had previously placed two crab pots filled with pit tagged cockles. Our goal was to dig up the crab pots (no easy feat in such coarse sand!) and retrieve the cockles to measure their growth over the previous two weeks. Unfortunately, many of the cockles had died but we could still collect all the growth data we needed from them, such as shell length, height, fatness, and clam weight.

A typical day at the ODFW in Charleston, OR

Wednesday I had the opportunity to venture outside of shellfish biology and got to ride along and seine with the marine fish department. Our target species was Chinook salmon but we also found many other species of fish such as greenlings, sand lances, English soles, staghorn sculpins, and smelts. We also found hundreds of small Dungeness crabs and comb jellies. A few people held one end of the seine on the beach and the boat was driven around in an arch until the boat reached the other end of the beach. We then pulled the seine up to the shore and then sifted through the bag for fish.
We sampled 4 sites along a seven mile stretch of water, from Charleston to North Bend. We measured lengths and weights of our target species in order to later be able to calculate a condition factor (K) which is used to estimate the condition (health) of fish. We also identified which salmon were hatchery salmon by checking to see if the adipose fin was clipped. Clipped fins indicated hatchery spawned salmon.

Thursday’s field site in Port Orford

Thursday was by far my favorite field work day of the week. Jim and I drove out to Woodruff Creek near Port Orford. After scaling down a sharp cliff-face in waders to get to our sampling site my adrenaline was definitely pumping. We sampled eight, random, 1m^2 quadrats. Our target species was littleneck clams. Digging through all the tide pools was amazing and we found some cool intertidal species; my favorite find was a clown nudibranch (sea slug). The tide pools were teaming with diverse fauna: several species of crabs, gunnels, peanut worms, sea stars, sculpins, the list goes on and on! Though we were out sampling in the warm sun for three or so hours I enjoyed every minute of lifting cobble and boulders and digging through sand to find littleneck clams. When you love what you do, it never seems like work!

A clown nudibranch (sea slug) I found in one of our quadrats in Port Orford

And what’s work without a little play? I have made some good friends at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) where I am being housed. All the students are friendly and always ready for adventures. After dinner, rain or shine, we’ll get together to play volleyball or Frisbee or go hang out on the beach. Thursday was particularly fun, as I swam in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It took a few minutes to get used to the cold water but soon we were having the time of our lives swimming through the breakers.

A typical night at OIMB

This weekend, a few friends and I drove over to Sunset Bay where we spent our day climbing through the cliff sides where we found some pretty stellar tide pools. As the tide began to roll in, so did the fog. The fog is a unique part of the Oregon coast that I have come to love. In Indiana, fog is something you wake up to and it appears as a boring, thick sheet. Here in Oregon, fog comes in at random times throughout the day and it rolls in looking like thick cumulus clouds gliding across the ground and pouring like falls over cliff sides. It’s a beautiful event that I’ve fallen in love with and there is something very relaxing about the whole occurrence. On our way back to OIMB we stopped at an overlook of the cove and ended up sighting some sea lions and even a whale, which was the cherry on top of a good day. I can’t wait to see what adventures this week holds!

Starting Fieldwork

Posted on July 1, 2013 by James Kralj

It has been another great week here in Oregon! I’ve done so much and cannot believe I have already been here for two weeks. These past few days were filled with fieldwork at the EPA. Myself along with two researchers started one of our experiments in the Yaquina Estuary here in Newport on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Thursday we traveled and hour north to Pacific City, Oregon to collect data on the Nestucca Estuary and on Friday we went three hours south to Bandon, Oregon to do the same data collection on the Bandon Marsh.

It was a week full of very long days, but it was great to be doing fieldwork. I had never done any fieldwork before and didn’t know what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. Plus, I got to ride in the EPA’s hovercraft which was pretty awesome! In the Yaquina Estuary we placed clear boxes in the sediment to see the different rates of soil oxidation, while in Nestucca and Bandon we measured how quickly sediments have been building up over the past few years.

In addition to that, I cleaned and measured the macro-algae that was covering the sites where our clear boxes were placed in the Yaquina Estuary. We are interested in seeing how much macro-algae is on the estuary and if that correlates to the oxidation layer in the sediment. After collecting the algae from our plots in the estuary I had to wash off the sediment and weigh it to see how much we had collected. During this process I realized how great it is to be working at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. While I was cleaning off my algae another researcher came into the lab to do her work. She turned out to be a professor from Oregon State University and an expert on algae who, just last week, gave a presentation at Hatfield about the algae that comes to the Oregon Coast on the debris from the Japanese tsunami. She has been responsible for collecting and identifying the foreign species. We were able to share the same workspace and we talked for about two hours all about marine science. It was a great experience and made me realize how lucky I am to be working at such a unique and intellectual place.

This week wasn’t all about the work, however. Yesterday, I traveled south of Newport to Waldport where, along with some fellow residents, I collected fresh clams and mussels straight from the water! We also went to Cape Perpetua and Devil’s Churn, both of which over look the Pacific and have rocks the create huge waves. It was so beautiful to be perched up above the beach and to look out and only see the ocean.

Next week I am looking forward to spending the 4^th of July along the Oregon Coast and hope to do some more sight seeing around the area.

Off to a Great Start!

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Catherine Courtier

My first full week in Bandon began with a surprise visit from my beloved school’s mascot! After setting eyes on this gorgeous gastropod, I knew it was going to be a good week…

After a full week in the office I think I’m starting to get a better handle on what it is I will be helping Wild Rivers Coast Alliance with in the next ten weeks. For the past week and a half my main priority has been to create a master database that details what activities, lodging, restaurants, shops, and places to visit, are available to tourists in each of the four cities that WRCA works with (Bandon, Brookings, Gold Beach, and Port Orford.) Thus far what I have learned from my research is that while each city advertises many places to stay and eat, most of the four towns are seriously lacking when it comes down to detailing what there is to do (i.e. such as whale watching, hiking, and kayaking). In the end, all the information I have been collecting will eventually be input into Travel Oregon’s website. To me this is particularly exciting because I want to reinforce the knowledge out there that one of the main reasons people should visit Oregon is to take advantage of the astounding environment! My hope is that by strengthening the information that’s out there about activities to do in nature, each city will be able to not only increase their sustainable ecotourism, but educate locals and tourists alike about each particular habitat, species, and conservation issue relevant to the coast.

In the coming week I believe I will be meeting with some city officials from the representative four cities to fine tune the information I have collected, as well as determine what the best way is to implement any desired changes. I also plan on continuing my research on what South Coast Oregon’s presence is in facebook, twitter, and smartphone applications; because we live in a society that is so driven by technology and instant access to information I believe this is a great chance to captivate and educate!

This past weekend we had, without doubt, the best weather since I’ve been here! So with warm weather, sunny skies, and some visiting friends I set out again to explore Oregon’s charismatic South Coast. Since my position as a coastal tourism intern requires me to research what the towns of Bandon, Brookings, Port Orford, and Gold Beach have to offer (such as various activities, restaurants, etc.) I have decided that I should probably experience them myself; after all, why should I expect other people to be interested in all these places if I myself haven’t even been to them?

My day began at the Bandon Baking Company and Deli, which had cinnamon rolls that looked so appetizing I think I actually started to drool… The Baking Company is a cute place that’s the perfect stop for some morning coffee and a delicious homemade pastry. After breakfast my friend and I traveled a short distance down the 101 to the West Coast Game Safari Park, an awesome place for people of all ages to not only have close encounters with exotic animals that they would otherwise probably only see in pictures, but to learn about them as well. We spent the afternoon petting and learning about animals such as the lynx and white tiger, and wishing that we had our own pet Wallaby.

After we had our fill of cute furry animals and loud annoying peacocks, we headed back to Bandon for some smoothies from the Bandon Cofe Cafe which has quite an impressive menu including sandwiches, a variety of coffee drinks, and homemade pie (not to mention free WiFi!). While it’s fun exploring, on a hot summer day there really isn’t anything better than relaxing on the beach and exploring the intertidal. We weren’t the only ones taking advantage of the lovely weather, and saw both locals and visitors surfing, beach-combing, tide-pooling, and birdwatching. We ended our tough day of exploring with some delicious seafood at Tony’s Crab Shack! This is an awesome place to sit outside, enjoy the beautiful weather and view, and enjoy some fresh seafood.

This week will be a short one since the 4th of July in on Thursday. While I will not be spending it in Bandon, my weekend will still be spent exploring Oregon’s coastline, but this time I’ll be in Seaside. Stay tuned for more updates on my adventures and progress with Wild Rivers Coast Alliance!

Week Two

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Chelsi Burger

It’s been another great week on the Oregon coast! The sky was a little bit more grey than I’m accustomed, but I hear it’s all sun shine after the 4th of July.

Today I got down and dirty trying out some really coastal living. One of many things I have been excited about living on the coast was all the fresh sea food, and of course there is nothing fresher than harvesting it yourself. As tasty as tuna and even rockfish are they are slightly out my reach as a boat is required. However, many species of shellfish are easily harvested from the shore.

Having never clammed, crabbed or shrimped I was a little befuddled as to what to do once I bought my permit. Luckily enough on my way out of the office that day I noticed a flyer, by the Oregon State Park ranger, advertising a free clamming, crabbing, etc. workshop for beginners, and so this morning I attended workshop. The other attendees and I learned how to work a crab trap and how to bait it. I learned how a shrimp pump worked and that the shrimp it catches are best used for fishing bait. The clamming is what I was most interested in learning about. I learned the gapper clams have long “necks”, sometimes up to three feet long, and so the body/shell of the clam can sit as far down as a yard under the sand. It was advised that two to three people dig for one gapper clam at a time and they all close in around in it. Talk about team work!

After the workshop the ranger took us all down to the mud flat and help us dig for our first purple varnish clams. It only took a few minutes before I got the hang of in and within an hour I had hit the bag limit of 72 purple varnish clams a day. It was recommend that before cooking the clams be left to soak in a mix of sea water and flour from several hours. So I hurried them home to set them to soak for dinner that night.

While letting them soak a few of my fellow Hatfield residents and I took a drive about 30 miles south of Newport to Cape Perpetua and the Devil’s Churn. On that portion of the coast lava rock juts out of water just in front of the beach and the tidal waters get just high enough to fill the voids in the rock. These salty pool were dotted with anemones and mussels. Interestingly enough the pools closest to the mainland where filled with tadpoles, meaning they were fresh water. I must have been filled by rain and just outside the reach of the tide.

After leaving them to sit for a few hours my fellow Hatfield residents and I steamed the clams in white wine, garlic and parsley and served them over linguine. A delicious way to end the day if may say so. The only thing I would have changed is that I would have left the clams to sit for just a bit longer because they were just a bit sandy still on the inside come dinner time.

Week 2: First Day in the Field!

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Sarah Heidmann

My work this week has been defined by many miscellaneous tasks I have done for various members of my mentor’s lab, almost none of which are related to my project, but I had a lot of fun with them. I have done analysis of videos taken in an estuary in Washington, measured tiny mud shrimp recruits (juveniles) after sorting through mud to find them, and measured, sexed, and examined adult mud shrimp to look for parasites and infection. I also “tested” the GoPro cameras we will be deploying in July to record the fish and crabs found in the invasive species of eelgrass.

A picture of the video I’m analyzing. You can see a full-sized Dungeness crab.

Mud samples on a tray that I sorted through looking for small mud shrimp recruits (juveniles)

Today was the first day I went out in the field to do sampling, on the mudflats near Hatfield Marine Science Center. Thank goodness it was a beautiful day today, so we didn’t have to wear heavy rain gear. We got very muddy, and I wish I had pictures but I don’t have a camera I wouldn’t mind getting dirty. We were looking for mud shrimp to measure and look for parasites. We used what is called a bucket core, which looks like a giant stainless steel bucket without a bottom and is about three feet tall. We pushed it all the way down into the mud, and shoveled the mud out into sieves, sorting through them and pulling out the shrimp as we found them. It was hard work, but the most fun I’ve had so far, and a great excuse to get outside and play in the mud!

Overall, it was a great week. I also bought a new camera, so hopefully I’ll have some higher quality pictures from now on. Next week I’m looking forward to building the mounts for our cameras and testing them in the field, and the Fourth of July, of course!

Hello HMSC!

Posted on June 24, 2013 by cousinep

Hello all! What an incredible opportunity it is to be a part of the marine science community here at Hatfield Marine Science Center (HSMC) in Newport Oregon. My name is Patrick Cousineau, I was born and raised in Southern California and grew up surfing, sailing, and swimming off the coast of Los Angeles. All my life I have been drawn to the peaceful tranquility of natural places. The ocean has molded and shaped my personality, educational and career interest, and has served as a place for personal thought and reflection. The ocean, however, places immense barriers to human exploration, but the intrinsic curiosity in humans to explore new places will always overcome difficulties. Oceanographers, marine biologists, atmospheric scientists, geologists, and other scientific research teams are making new discoveries about our oceans every day. It is an amazing experience for me to be studying and working alongside prominent marine researchers and helping to better understand the natural processes of our oceans.

I am working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, where I am helping conduct research in Oregon’s network of Marine Reserves. A few days ago I went on what was intended to be a multi day, overnight benthic survey. Unfortunately the turbidity in the water column and low visibility conditions cut our research efforts short and we were only able to stay out at sea for one day. On the vessel, I helped deploy and retrieve an underwater camera system that takes footage of the benthic community, allowing us to identify fish species, assess population density, and estimate fish size. This camera system, called a sled, is towed behind the vessel where it slides along the ocean floor on two skis. The footage is saved onto a standard SD card where it is later analyzed and compared with other study sites.

Outside of work, I have seamlessly bonded with my roommates and the many other interns. Already in the first week we have come to know each other so well and have bonded over trips to the aquarium, tide pools, and the beach. I am so excited for what is in store for the following nine weeks, but I know that my time here is short and that I must take full advantage of every opportunity to come.

Week 1: Getting Oriented

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Sarah Heidmann

Hello!

My name is Sarah Heidmann, and I am one of the Summer Scholars this year for Oregon Sea Grant. I attend Oregon State University, and will be graduating in June 2014. I’m majoring in biology with the marine option, and minoring in statistics. I am originally from California, but am loving my experiences so far in Corvallis and Newport studying marine biology. This past spring term at OSU I lived in Newport taking an intensive marine biology course, and am excited to put all my new knowledge to the test.

Although I am working in Newport, I am living in Corvallis. Since OSU’s main campus is there, it was easier for me to live in the house I will have throughout the next year, in addition to being able to be with my friends who are here this summer. It’s about an hour driving distance, and I’ve been riding in a vanpool that allows me to sleep both ways, but I still have to get up pretty early.

Part of the beautiful bike ride I have every morning and afternoon in Corvallis on my way to and from the vanpool pickup location

This summer I am working in Newport with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS) studying fish and invertebrate use of coastal estuarine habitats. We are focusing on the habitat provided by a non-native species of seagrass, Zostera japonica, using GoPro cameras to record video in different areas and analyzing the numbers of fish and crabs that appear in the field of view. I’ll be in the field a lot this summer, getting very muddy.

The outside of the EPA building, where I work

So far I’ve been mostly practicing analysis of video from past years, trying to find some ways of improving the sampling technique. Although I’ve had some previous research experience, I still have so much to learn! I have been getting some training in Microsoft Access databases as well as statistics using R, which has a very steep learning curve when you have never programmed before. It seems like I’ll gain a some skill sets this summer that will be very useful farther down the road in my career.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my adventures! I am greatly looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Bandon or Bust!

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Catherine Courtier

Hello readers!

My name is Catherine Courtier and I have recently graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Marine Biology. During my time as an undergraduate I was not only fortunate enough to work in the labs of some truly inspiring professors, but got the chance to take part in field study classes that enabled me to get a taste of what exactly it was that I was spending my undergraduate career working towards. Now I am one of six lucky Summer Scholars chosen by Oregon Sea Grant to work with Wild Rivers Coast Alliance. My main focus has always been on marine organisms, (specifically invertebrates) however I have recently become interested in the issues that surround coastal conservation, something I hope to learn more about through WRCA.

I was born and raised in Southern California, so you could definitely classify me as a sun, sand, and sandals type of girl. So naturally when I found out that the town of Bandon Oregon (where I will be spending the next ten weeks of my life) typically reaches a summer high of 68° I was a bit concerned. However, when I arrived in this cozy coastal town my worries seemed to disappear as I caught glimpses of the landscape on my way down the 101.

My first stop in Bandon was at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, and home of the Wild Rivers Coast Alliance, where I had lunch with my mentors Marie Simonds and Jim Seeley while overlooking the Bandon Reserve Course. Aside from its spectacular beauty, this course is of particular interest because all its proceeds go to funding Wild Rivers Coast Alliance.

Now that I am all settled in, I’ve had some time to begin exploring Oregon’s South Coast. Despite the questionable weekend weather and encroaching storm, I ventured out to the beach and was rewarded with mild temperatures and amazing tide pooling! In addition to the vibrant anemones and adorable sea stars, I caught a glimpse of some sunning sea lions and quite a bit of what I believe to be an orange sea sponge washed up on the beach.

Sadly the storm eventually caught up with me, so my plans to explore the various hiking and biking trails Bandon has to offer will have to wait till next weekend! While I’m not by any means an expert cyclist, I hope to improve my riding over the course of this summer so I can help with the final stages of a new coastal scenic bike pathway. Tomorrow marks week two of this amazing experience and I can’t wait to see what adventures are in store for me!

Coos Bay: My New Frontier

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Sam Thiede

Hello, all!

Thanks for joining me on my adventures in the Pacific Northwest this summer! Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Sam Thiede. I’m an undergraduate student at Purdue University majoring in Fisheries and Aquatic Science and minoring in Wildlife Science. I’m a senior and will be graduating May 2014 and plan on pursuing my masters and Ph.D. in either fisheries sciences or aquatic resource management. Currently, I am working at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) as a technical research assistant to Scott Groth through the Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholars program, but you will all hear much more about that topic throughout the summer.

I’m a Midwesterner, specifically from Indiana. Before my arrival in Oregon I had never been farther west than St. Louis, Missouri and the trip here was quite a shock. My plane had a short layover in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have never seen desert before and I was in true awe of the scenery throughout my short hour there. Seeing the Great Salt Lake and all the desert salt flats in between the mountain tops looked like something out of a painting! As I flew out of the desert and into the mountains of Oregon, again I was in for a total shock. Mountain tops covered with snow, gigantic confiners leaning over open ocean, I was in love before I even stepped off the plane.

Upon my arrival into Coos Bay, my mentor, Scott Groth, gave me a tour around the area. As we drove up Cape Arago highway we stopped off at an overlook of the bay to check for tsunami debris. Sure enough, all the way down at the bottom of the cliff face was a washed up Japanese plastic pallet. Much of the debris from the tsunami that struck Japan several years ago has been floating up on the coast of Oregon and biologists have been avidly collecting samples and trying to remove live specimens to avoid the spread of Japanese invasive species.

Within hours upon my arrival I was already scaling down the side of a cliff, sample bags and scraper in hand, to retrieve samples off of Japanese tsunami debris and at that moment I was assured I was in for an interesting and informative summer. We scraped off many kinds of unknown shellfish and algae (we are still processing the sample) and I was given a tour of the surrounding tide pools at the base of the cliff—full of shellfish, anemones, sculpins, etc.—to the soundtrack of sea lions (which I had never seen outside of a zoo!) barking on a nearby island. It was truly an exciting first day on the job.

As the week went on I had begun to learn the ropes of the ODFW’s shellfish program. This week was all about collecting data on pink shrimp, cockles, and spot prawn. Local fishing boats and clammers offer samples to the ODFW in order for us to keep track of size structure and monitor age class trends over the years in order to ensure sustainable fisheries. Not only did I learn how to measure carapaces and sex shrimp but I also had the pleasure of meeting with the local fishermen and hearing their tales of their times out at sea, which is always very colorful! This coming week’s project will be littleneck clam surveys and will bring even more excitement as good stories always seem to come from field work.

I hope you will all continue to tune in as I delve more into the science of marine life here on the Oregon coast with the ODFW! I will post weekly about my experiences here in Coos Bay and am excited for the coming weeks as well as having you all following me along in my journey!

Week One

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Chelsi Burger

I am super excited to have the opportunity to be living in Newport Oregon this summer!
For the next nine weeks I will be working with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to develop new outreach material regarding Pacific Rockfish conservation and the use of descending devices. I will be using this blog to share my experiences while on the Oregon coast, both at work and recreating. This is my first time living near an ocean, having grown up in the Chicago area and attending university in Michigan. I intend to use the next nine weeks to enjoy the experience to the fullest.
My time with ODFW has gotten off to a great start! Last Friday I was able to volunteer my time with ODFW’s rockfish PIT tagging crew. As a volunteer it was my responsibility to catch as many Black Rockfish as possible with a rod and reel. Having never fished the ocean before I was skeptical as to whether or not I would be able to catch any fish. However, after just a short time of fishing I caught my first Black Rockfish and by the end of the seven hours I had caught nine fish in total. I feel the boat captain deserves a lot of the credit though, considering he’s the one that had to find where the fish may be lurking under water.
Yesterday, some of the other residents at Hatfield and I were treated to a special tour of the Oregon Coast Aquarium. The guide took us behind the scenes to see where they culture jellyfish and brine shrimp as well as the pinniped training pools. Lucky for us, as we arrived two of the harbor seals were just beginning their training session. It was the cutest thing to see the seals bounce around the pool deck on their bellies. My favorite exhibit at the aquarium was the Passages of the Deep, where visitors walked through a tunnel surrounded by rockfish, sharks and other deep sea life found off the coast of Oregon.
Mother Nature planned an additional surprise for my first week on the coast as well, a tide of -2.38 on Sunday morning. So a fellow Hatfield resident and I went tide pooling at seal rock. The rocks were covered with green anemones, starfish and mussels. The mussels made the rocks seem alive, hissing and wheezing whenever they were disturbed. Tucked between rocks where purple shore crabs and sea sponges and when we looked closely through the sea grass we even found a nudibranch (a fantastically colored sea slug)!
With such a successful first week I am really looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Sea Grant Scholars

Learning through experience, for the future of our oceans