Friday, April 12, 2019

Fish Slam-Vero Beach

The participants at the Spring 2019 USGS Fish Slam

On February 26th and 27th, a fellow intern and I got the incredible opportunity to participate in the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) springtime Fish Slam. This bi-annual event helps monitor new introductions and document range expansion of known non-native fishes (usgs.gov). The spring 2019 Fish Slam was hosted in Vero Beach, Florida and 35 scientists from federal and state agencies, universities, and other research institutions participated (veronews.com). It was an amazing experience that helped me make new connections among the fish world and taught me a bunch of new species of fish!

The nets we use to scoop up the stunned fish
On the first day of the event, I was on an electro-fishing boat, which is a regular boat equipped with giant electrodes that stun fish with electricity, with three other people: my fellow intern, a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) member, and a member of the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center. My group was located in Blue Cypress Lake. It is about 6500 acres of pure beauty. It was the perfect day for a boat ride and although we started slow, we ended up catching a cooler full of non-native fishes. This was a particularly good day because the FWC member taught my fellow intern and I a new skill: cast netting! Cast netting is essentially the art of catching fish with a net. It is a small mesh net that you throw across your body in the hopes of catching a good amount of fish. It was definitely a learning experience, which had some fumbles, but a successful one as we both ended up catching some fish!

Me, as I figure out how to work the cast net

Once we finished fishing for the day, we had to go "check-in" our cooler. This was a simple process of giving our data sheet, with our 5 different species of fish recorded, to the head biologist and laying out our fish for a photo shoot. One of the coolest things about this event was the attendance of a museum curator from the Florida Museum of Natural History located in Gainesville, Florida. The photo shoot was the curator's way of documenting all of our fish finds. After check-in, it was time for happy hour! We ate at American Icon Brewery which had great food, craft beer, and fun people. It was the perfect environment for networking and hearing about all the cool projects other researchers are working on.

Our catch from day two






On the second day of the event, I was on an electrofishing boat again, but with a different crew. This crew consisted of another FWC member, another member of the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, and a researcher from the University of Florida's Nature Coast Biological Station. Our location for this day was a canal with South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) water control towers on each end. This is important because these control towers control the water flow into the canal which can have an effect on the types and numbers of fish found in the canal.





Me, holding two large Sailfin Catfish (Pterygoplichthys sp)
There were many native fishes in this canal and it was cool to see how the electricity affected those species compared to the non-native species. However, our target was non-native fishes and this day we caught some BIG fish. In particular, we were catching some large Sailfin Catfish (Pterygoplichthys sp) which was good because this species is found throughout central and south Florida in very high numbers (myfwc.com). So after spending the day on the canal it was time to head back to once again "check-in" our catch. We ended this day with 7 different species and won an award for the most species of the day.


Overall Fish Slam was an amazing experience that helped solidify my passion for freshwater fisheries. It also helped me hone my networking skills and meet new people in the fisheries field. I would happily attend this event again.

Me, holding a Tilapia (Oreochromis sp)
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