The Detroit and St. Clair Rivers were originally full of fish, but in the last century the stocks have been decimated by habitat destruction and overfishing.
As a fisheries research technician for the United States Geological Survey based at the Great Lakes Science Center, you’ll find me out on the water for most of the year, driving a 28’ research boat on Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers. I conduct larval fish tows, which is collecting the tiny baby fish swimming at the surface, and I do demersal egg sampling, or gathering eggs that fish are depositing on the riverbed. Our team also builds artificial reefs in the rivers for sturgeon, walleye and lake whitefish spawning.
I love working in fisheries not only because it is fun, but it allows me to practice field biology while still contributing something to the greater good. I want my research to mean something, to actively affect the decisions people make on how to manage our oceans, and fisheries management does that.
My favorite project to date has to be when I helped out with the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s adult sturgeon tagging program in the Detroit River. We set out long lines of 50 baited hooks, waited two days, and then pulled in dozens of adult sturgeon! The endangered lake sturgeon is the largest fish in the Great Lakes, reaching over 350 pounds, over 9 feet in length, and over 100 years of age! Needless to say, wrangling an adult sturgeon into a small boat is definitely a challenge! After we land the sturgeon, we take its weight and measurement and a DNA sample. We also tag them with an external “spaghetti tag” on their dorsal fin and an internal PIT tag, which can be scanned later if it is caught again. This lets us track the sturgeon’s movements and learn what areas they like to visit. This year, we also deployed several scanners in the river, which will alert us when any of our tagged sturgeon comes within half a kilometer of the scanner. Sturgeon are fascinating fish, and they look positively primeval. I love being able to work with such a rare, unique species.
Fisheries biology is a demanding job, often requiring you to work long hours in cold, wet, windy, and sometimes snowy conditions. You get covered in fish guts and your wet hair freezes to your face. Icebergs get in the way of the boat and rip up your nets. I routinely have to lift heavy equipment, pull up huge anchors, walk on a slippery rolling deck and sometimes hang on for dear life! In order to not only survive this job, but also to love it, you have to be passionate about working in the outdoors and have the outdoor experience to match.
My semester abroad in the Turks and Caicos Islands with SFS definitely helped me get where I am today. SFS offered me the best chance to do hands-on research during my study abroad, which is essential experience for a future field biologist!
As a junior in college, I knew that I wanted to eventually work in marine fisheries and conservation, and the classes that SFS offered were a perfect complement to my regular curriculum, enabling me to custom-fit my education to my career goals. Plus, who wouldn’t want to live and SCUBA dive daily in a place as beautiful as the Caribbean?
On one occasion, which happened to be my 21st birthday, we were diving and heard a strange sound. We surfaced, and the divemaster yelled, “Get in the boat – there are humpback whales singing!” After a short ride we found them, and immediately jumped back in with our fins and snorkels. Although we stayed fairly far away to avoid stressing the whales, the crystal-clear water made it seem like they were right next to us. We swam with them for at least twenty minutes. Later that night the kitchen crew made me a huge chocolate birthday cake, complete with an icing drawing of a whale and me. It was truly a birthday to remember!
SFS definitely helped me focus my interests, and ultimately decide what I wanted to do with my life. The research experience was involved and intensive – not only did we participate in a variety of projects through our classes, but the last third of the semester was entirely dedicated to the Directed Research Project. Being able to tell future employers that I have field sampling, research diving, statistical analysis, paper writing and presentation experience is absolutely invaluable. Better yet, I felt like I was truly contributing to the research from start to finish. My Directed Research Project focused on assessing tropical fish diversity in marine protected areas, which I am now choosing as my focus for graduate school and hopefully my future career!
I also gained the unique experiences and perspective that comes with living in a culture so different from your own. The Caribbean can be a strange and wonderful place, with the romantic allure of tropical resorts set right alongside crumbling concrete shacks. It was shocking – and enlightening – to realize that not everyone feels the same way I do about conservation and the environment. However, this is an essential thing for natural resource biologists to realize early on: no matter how interesting or well-designed your research project, it is worthless unless there is the strong understanding and community connection necessary to actually use that research to effect policy.
And to think, I almost passed on studying in the TCI because it was so far away, so new, and so remote. True, there were no showers or laundry, no movie theaters or ATMs. But I quickly learned that it’s easy to wash your clothes in a bucket, “sea-baths” are extremely fun (where else can you have a backflip competition while shampooing your hair?), and interesting classes and miles of beautiful beaches are much more entertaining than the movies!
