People of the Big River day 2

 

We arrived at the Spokane Fish Hatchery after 10 AM and met three very nice fish hatchery experts. First, we were greeted by Tim Peone the Fish Hatchery Manager. Then we circled up as a group and were introduced to Water and Fish Project Manager Casey Flanagan, she earned her BS in biology at Eastern Washington University. Then we met the Water Resource Specialist Calvin Fisher, he earned his BS in biology at a University in Arkansas. Tim took time and explained one of his major missions is to see Salmon return to Spokane. Grand Coulee dam has hindered Salmon’s ability to travel as far as they once had. So, this team focuses on checking water quality, creating drought resiliency plans and troubleshooting parasites, diseases and invasive species to ready the water ways and call the salmon home. Later in the afternoon the entire group along with the Casey and Calvin did fish counts using electroshock device they were hoping to see Red Band Trout which was a native species of fish there.  We netted a section of the stream off 100 meters in length so no fish can swim in or out. We then worked our way up the stream, wading in the stream behind Calvin who was using the electroshock device to stun the salmon. We had nets and would collect the stunned fish into a bucket which averaged about 2 inches in length. Casey separated the fish from the bucket into a tank and counted and measured them, we caught well over 150 fish in two separate sweeps. We finished the count around 4:10 PM and drove back to the fairground where we are camping. Walking in waders is tough and made me appreciate my regular hiking shoes a lot more. We looked at our control samples with Dr. Shuster checking for any signs of bacteria on the Bio Paddle Agar Slide we set up on the day we left.  We ate a delicious chicken teriyaki dinner prepared by Monet. We finally cleaned up and washed dishes and finish the day.

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