Week 7 (July 8-July 12)

I’m halfway through my internship here at Maine Coastal Islands NWR.  I have mixed feelings, missing my family and friends at times but I’m also enjoying all the new experiences and many first’s. 

Started the week off with boundary control at Corea. Did I mention this area is REALLY THICK?  As operator, I was given the brush saw, safety equipment and started in a thick corner. As I was sweeping the brush back and forth cutting the vegetation I heard this loud crack and felt pain in my neck, bicep, side. After finishing the area I investigated the pain. Apparently, I had hit a piece of rebar and pieces of metal had ricocheted hitting me. Thank goodness for the safety mask as it could have easily been my eye.  After a good look and the best cleaning I could do I returned to the task at hand. 

Next day, we launched from Lamoine with a packed boat. Our chore was to open, clean and refresh the “secret cabin” tucked in the middle of The Twinnies for our staff retreat. The Twinnies are two islands similar in size and shape. After cleaning the cabin we made our way to Egg Rock Island. There are a lot of islands named Egg Rock, but this one is the most visited in the Bar Harbor (Bah-Habah) area because of the daily whale and puffin tours. It is the first island the visitors see when they go out of the harbor. We stopped on the island to check on the lighthouse and noted a corner of the house was blown off because of a winter storm.  From the top of the lighthouse it was a beautiful sight seeing the town of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park from the Atlantic.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Next stop was to pick up firefighters and transport them to Baker Island to retrieve their prescribed burning equipment and a four-wheeler from the island. Baker Island is a historic island and long ago had a light keeper family living on the island who provided for themselves by sea farming and crop farming. There are three structures on the island that are open to the public. On our way back to the boat ramp I witnessed the most beautiful view of Acadia National Park from the water! 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Another cool thing I got to do this week was to travel to one of the furthest islands off the coast of Maine. Matinicus Rock is another island we own with interns from the National Audubon Society living, researching and managing the seabirds. The Rock, as it’s fondly called, is roughly 26 miles off shore and took an hour or so to reach. The cliffs on this island are 50 plus feet tall. I was told in the winter, waves get so large they wash over the cliffs and over the lighthouse. I wouldn’t want to be stranded on this island in the winter time! We, along with the contractors walked into lighthouse. They wanted to view the lighthouse to bid on it for future restoration. Back on the mainland my supervisor gave me a tour of the visitor center at our main office in Rockland as I will be working there as part of my internship in the near future.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The next day had us back out on Ship Island carrying out another ground count on the returning Tern colony. We found about 40 more nests on our run through the island, banded a chick, and then decided that it would be a good time to set up productivity plots along the shore of the island. We put up productivity plots so that we can have a concentrated area that we can take data on every day to depict if the colony will do well or not. To set up a productivity plot we first find a reasonably small but concentrated area of Tern nests. At that point, a fence is constructed around the plot to keep the chicks inside to band and track their progress and growth. Two plots were set up that day and at one of those plots I got pecked twice under my ponytail by a mad Tern!!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

On Friday, I was sent to Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery for the day to view their operations. After arrival, I geared up in hip high boots, rain shorts, and a rain jacket and into the wild sea-run Atlantic Salmon pen I went. The crew were loading the salmon onto a truck to be transported and released in the Penobscot River. As I studied a caught salmon I soon learned that these Atlantic salmon were silver with about a dozen spots running down their backs. Unlike the Pacific salmon’s pink and green coloring with a different shaped mouth. I also learned the Atlantic Salmon don’t die after spawning like the Pacific Salmon do. After a tour of the facility I was taken to the isolation tanks. These tanks contain sea-run salmon that have not been tested for ISA (Infectious Salmon Anemia), they test the fish by collecting a vial of blood from the fish and sending it off to be tested, if the fish passes it gets moved into the pens and if it fails it is culled by collecting all the blood. In every tank, they place salt blocks where the salt acts like “Gatorade” to the salmon and helps them heal and keeps them healthy. The salmon kept in the “Mods” have been there their entire lives, from egg to adulthood of about 3 years old for brooding stock. This is to increase the numbers of Atlantic Salmon growing and after 3 years of being in the “Mods” they will be released back into the rivers. All the eggs collected by the Mod Salmon are placed in egg trays until they hatch into Sac-Fry. Then at that time they are placed in little pools until they lose their sacs and become Parr. About half of the Parr are kept at the facility while the other half are put back into the rivers. Since the Atlantic Salmon are considered an endangered species, Craig Brook Hatchery’s mission is to keep good gene pools running through the facility. As I was helping clean one of the Mod tanks there was an observation window. A crowd of little kids with their faces pressed against the glass wanting us to catch a salmon for them. We slipped around and attempted to catch a salmon freehanded but once the fish get crowded into a corner they begin to dart out and will knock your feet out from underneath. We ended up grabbing a net and caught a monster 3-year-old. The difference between sea-run and the domestic Mod salmon is that the sea-run are longer and lean while the domestics are super fat because get fed throughout the day. We held up the monster salmon and the kids went crazy saying “That’s so cool!” and “I want to grow up and be like them!.” It was very rewarding seeing the sparkle in the kid’s eyes watching us as we worked in the tank.  

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I was also able to visit Green Lake Hatchery. Their mission is production. At this facility the tanks were larger and held more fish than Craig Brook. At Green Lake, they do not keep brood stock.  They receive their eggs from Craig Brook and raise them until they are old enough to be released into the rivers. When the fish are released into the rivers, they get two holes punched in one of their fins so that a fisherman knows that this salmon is federally protected and must not be taken out of the area it has been caught in.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Quote of the week: “nice day for it, huh” ~random guy on the boat dock