This past month things at work have gone from “well, this is
exciting!” to “oh my god I can’t believe this is what I get to do for
work!!!!!!!!!!” One of my main reasons for wanting to join this project for my
master’s degree is that every day brings new things and I’ve absolutely come to
expect that.
We’ve got multiple things going on in the lab right now.
Donald and I successfully got most of the eggs to hatch, fed them tiny algae
eating organisms (rotifers) until they grew a bit, switched them to artemia
(sea monkeys, slightly larger than rotifers), and now they’re eating dry feed.
It takes a LOT of work to get larval fish through their first few weeks of
life. Now that caring for them is easy again, the mummichogs should lay more
eggs.
(see pictures of the eggs just days before they hatched!!!)
Also, we’re working on acquiring fish from fish traps owned
by two different commercial fishermen off of the beaches up here and going tuna
fishing ourselves (we haven’t had the best luck because for some reason this
year offshore fishing just hasn’t been very good).
Last Monday we built the absolute coolest thing I’ve ever
worked on in my entire life. We constructed an “aquapod,” which is a 26 foot
diameter geodesic sphere (sphere made up of triangles, one of the strongest
structures around) used to transport fish. It’s essentially an enormous cage
that took 10 of us about 10 hours to complete. The idea is to have a couple of
boats offshore, fishing, who will work on filling the cage, and then to have a
tugboat tow the cage (once filled with fish) back to shore where we will then
move the fish into the tank on campus. With acquiring and constructing the
aquapod, we certainly have run into some difficulties! People drove down from
Maine, and two flew in from Puerto Rico and Peru to help us construct it. After
they left, we determined that we still have some things to figure out, like what
the towing bridle will look like, how to cut all of the bolts, what lift bags
to use and how to attach them, etc.
(see pictures of the aquapod being constructed!)
What’s pretty cool about this project is that even though
I’ve been working on it just over two months, I’m treated with the utmost
respect and I can tell that I am both highly appreciated as well as trusted in
my decision making. Dr. Bradley’s been in New Zealand, Taylor’s been in
Tanzania, and Donald is leaving the project end of next week, so I’ve been
“stepping up to the plate” according to Dr. Bradley. I LOVE the added
responsibility- there’s a lot of pride in the work that I do because I’m seeing
things from start to finish. I’ve also been working closely with Peter (the person
that created this project), Chris the tug boat captain, and Roger and crew from Pointview
Marina.
Never a dull moment in this job- today Peter and I went to
meet with makers of infinity pools- those pools that are only like 12’ long
which generate a current to keep a swimmer swimming. We may have to look at
getting something like that for tuna, as tuna need to keep swimming in order to
breathe.
Also, last week I went to Block Island with the folks and
Josh for one night to get away from work stress and spend some time with the
family. I absolutely loved it- Block Island is definitely one of my favorite
places in the world because for just a few days, my world slows down and I can
relax, in the company of the three people I love most in all the world.
Hopefully we can get back out there for at least another night before the end
of the summer.
Also, I made a new friend! His name is Billy. (The picture is from a sunset swim down at Camp Cronin in Point Judith.)
I’ll post more soon.
