THIS IS THE winter of Peninsulites’ discontent.
It was bad enough that the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby was canceled Christmas Eve.
Now we’re looking at the possibility of Hurricane Ridge winter sports going bye-bye for the next six weeks or more (see story on home page).
What’s next?
Is someone going to dynamite the Sol Duc and Hoh rivers just in time to wipe out its native steelhead runs?
Can we expect a new outbreak of NIX (Nuclear Inclusion X) at Kalaloch Beach, meaning the end of razor clam digging?
Does this mean I actually have to care about the Winter Olympics in Vancouver?
Without Alberto Tomba, Dan Jansen or Jeff Gillooly involved, that’s going to be a difficult proposition.
Even proximity can’t make up for the sheer boredom inspired by wall-to-wall biathlon coverage. Globs of frozen snot entertain for only so long.
Here’s something, however, that should keep one spellbound:
Looking for fish
Olympic National Park fisheries biologist Sam Brenkman will discuss fish monitoring within the park during a presentation Saturday night at Feiro Marine Life Center on Port Angeles City Pier.
The hour-long discussion begins at 6:30 p.m.
It will examine the different ways park biologists account for fish on the Peninsula.
Brenkman gave a similar presentation to a crowd of approximately 90 at last week’s Perspectives program at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center.
“There’s going to be some overlap with the other night, but there’s a lot of information,” Brenkman said.
“We’re going to put a few new pieces in it [as well].”
Park biologists use a wide variety of techniques to count and track fish.
Among them are radio telemetry, ear-bone chemistry, redd counts and snorkel surveys.
The ear-bone method has been used to monitor Hoh River bull trout — sometimes mistakenly call dolly varden — in recent years.
By extracting a small bone from the trout’s ear and examining it, biologists can learn how old a fish is, whether it is anadromous, whether its mother was anadromous and how many times it migrated to the saltwater.
Combined with information gathered from radio tracking — small transmitters are inserted into wild fry — biologists can get a thorough understanding of the movement of Peninsula fish.
Snorkel surveys account for the relative health of various Peninsula rivers by providing solid counts of fish encountered during each foray.
Snorkelers have conducted intensive monitoring of eight different river systems in recent years.
There have also been three separate riverscape surveys done in the last three years.
Biologists cover the entirety of a river over a five-day period during such surveys, giving them a snapshot in time not much unlike the various bird counts done in this region.
Separate riverscape surveys of the Elwha were done in 2007 and ’08.
The Quinault was covered during a five-day period in 2009.
Pictures and data from the snorkel surveys will be shared at the talk.
“We’re so used to seeing them on our dinner plate or at the end of our hook,” Brenkman said.
“Seeing them in their habitat sort of brings them to light a little bit more.”
A $5 donation is suggested from those who wish to attend the talk.
Pre-registration is also suggested.
To reserve a spot, or for more information, call 360-417-6254.
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column appears on Thursdays and Fridays.
