Shocking Fish and Connecting with Nature

By Anonymous -

 

            Ever heard of fishing with dynamite? Well, we fish with something that may sound just as crazy but is much less destructive, electricity! Mixing water and electricity sounds like trouble, but it is actually a widely used method to collect and monitor fish communities in freshwater systems around the world. Our boat-mounted electrofishing set up allows the driver to control the output of electrical current to temporarily immobilize the fish and give the netters a chance to scoop them up and place them in a livewell.  Once the transect is completed, each fish is measured, weighted, and released with the exception of non-native species. Our work focuses on how community assemblage and species abundance changes with hydrology at the marsh-mangrove interface of Shark River, or Shark River Estuary (SRE). Shark River Estuary acts as an important dry season refuge for freshwater species driven out of the drying marsh and thus provides foraging opportunities for marine and estuarine consumers.

            Due to the remoteness of our study area, we typically opt to camp out for 2 – 4 days to cut travel time and more efficiently sample our sites. We start early and work for as long as the daylight allows, but our long days end with amazing meals and good company. Although over-nights take a bit more prep and at times can be brutally hot and buggy, they provide a refuge from the craziness of Miami, amazing stargazing, and a chance to connect with people that have been visiting Shark River for years.

            Conveniently nestled in the middle of our study area is one of the most remote campgrounds in the Everglades, Cane Patch. Cane Patch is one of a few areas of elevated land throughout SRE that remains dry year-round. In fact, the only reason for the elevated ground is because it is a Native American shell midden. Shell middens are created from discarded shells which build elevation over generations. Cane Patch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 for its Native American/Aboriginal history and acts as one of Everglades National Parks Archeological Resources. Actually, if you look closely, you can still see a number of oyster, conch, and clam shells that were used to build the shell midden right off the dock of Cane Patch!

            The Coastal Fish & Fisheries lab, headed by Dr. Jennifer Rehage, just wrapped up our seventeenth year of electrofishing sampling in Shark River! The dataset is part of the FCE LTER and is our lab’s longest dataset, comment your lab’s longest continuous dataset below!

Picture 1: Getting ready to release a Florida Largemouth Bass. Note the shocking electrode dangling in the water on the bottom right of the photo.
Picture 2: Crew members on dock leading to Cane Patch. Left to right: Lauren Padron, Dr. Jennifer Rehage, Jordan Massie, & Natasha Viadero. 
Picture 3: Birds-eye view of Cane Patch. Left to right: Jordan Massie, Natasha Viadero, & Joshua Linenfelser. PC: Lauren Padron.

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