The End of a Fun Summer

Hello everyone and welcome to the last blog post of the summer! I can’t believe that it has been more than two months since I arrived in Madison and started my internship. These past two months have had their fair share of highs, lows, and hilarious moments, some of which I hope to share with you. I think probably one the most mortifying moments of my whole internship came during my second day in the field. We had just finished inspecting a bucket of brook and brown trout. The big 10-gallon bucket was filled to the brim with live fish that needed to be carried down a short, steep hill and dumped into a recovery tub until they were ready to be put back into stream. In my waders and slightly unwieldy wading boots, I lifted up the bucket with both my arms and silently wondered why I had spent so much of my time at the gym on the treadmill and not lifting weights. Carefully I started making my way down the hill, taking each step very slowly and mumbling to myself that I would not, under any circumstances spill the bucket of fish. After I had made it down the hill without any issues, I had less than 100 feet before I reached the recovery tub. On with the bucket I went, only to notice a few seconds later that one of my boots had gotten tangled with a long root. Before I knew it, I was falling face down towards the ground, desperately trying to save the bucket of fish from “hitting the deck” with me. But to no avail; a few milliseconds later I was sprawled out on the ground surrounded by over 20 fish struggling to breathe without water. Frantically, I started gathering up fish only to realize that collecting all the fish wasn’t enough, they needed water and they needed it fast. Thankfully one of my coworkers came to the rescue with a bucket of water and most if not all the fish were retrieved and placed in the recovery tank. Although it was so embarrassing to spill the entire bucket of fish and seriously traumatize them, I am glad it happened because afterwards it never happened again. Even though there have been a lot of great moments over the past two months, one of my favorite experiences was learning different techniques such as extracting otoliths, electrofishing, and tagging fish. I really enjoyed being exposed to an area of science that I have had little experience with so far. Extracting otoliths was definitely more of a challenge than I had anticipated. Others had made it look so simple; cut along the jaw on both sides, make a small cut with the scissors into the head, and BOOM there are the otoliths. However, when I tried those three simple steps, I had variety of results. Once I pressed too hard on the head and white brain matter started leaking everywhere, making it almost impossible to find the white otoliths. Another time I cut too close to the eyeball and had black fluid dripping into where I was looking for the otoliths. After enough practice, I finally started getting into a rhythm and finding the otoliths in three steps. Learning how to take out the otoliths and understand their role in fish was a new yet really fun experience. Another part of this internship I enjoyed, was having the opportunity to meet and work with a wide variety of people from different backgrounds and with different roles in fish management and research. I had the chance to meet the crew that works at one of the state fish hatcheries. Learning about the hard work and care that goes into raising fish was really interesting and combined with their hilarious humor, made for a great time. I also met fisheries biologists and technicians who helped me to better understand the relationship between science and management. This really allowed me to understand how the DNR works and the importance of research, being able to effectively communicate that research, and implementing the best decisions for the environment and the public based off of that research. Throughout these past two months working for the DNR, I have learned an incredible amount, had some amazing opportunities, and my fair share of fun along the way. Thank you for taking the time to read!