Gunpowder and Middle River Survey

Type: Tidal
Region: Central
Location: Gunpowder and Middle River

Last week I went out with Alexis Maple and the Fisheries Habitat and Ecosystem Program (FHEP) to survey Gunpowder and Middle River. The survey consisted of four seines and four trawls on the Gunpowder River and three seines and four trawls on the Middle River. I left Tawes around 7 am to drive to Baltimore and meet Alexis around 8:30; I was about a half hour early. When they arrived, the boat was put in the water immediately and we launched around 9 am.

When they first told me we were doing four seines and four trawls, I expected to be out there half the day, but this was not the case. There was five of us on the boat and we worked fast and efficiently as a team all day. The work was split up into two jobs, two people manned the trawl, two people took data, and Alexis drove the boat. I worked with a guy named Paul Parzynski on the trawl, and then we switched with the other group to do data. This was the first time I was allowed to actually throw the trawl out and pull it in. I was nervous at first, but the job turned out to be fairly easy. The only problem with the trawl is if the foot plates aren't put out properly, the trawl can get twisted and no fish will be caught. I have been seining a good amount this summer on many different field opportunities, so that was not a problem.

While trawling the Gunpowder and Middle River we caught the usual fish being spot, croaker, tons of white perch both young and adults, yellow perch, bullhead catfish, bay anchovies, silversides, American eels and more. There was more of a variety of fish caught while seining. We caught all the same as trawling plus pumpkin seeds, blue gills, needle fish, gold fish, blueback herring, silvery minnows and one beautiful looking chain pickerel in the Middle River.

I have never liked writing down data while people yell types and numbers of fish at you all at once. Paul let me try it and I found out it's not too hard, you just need to stay alert and know where everything is on the data sheet. It also helped that half the fish we caught were white perch. It was pretty cool looking back on it, knowing I have completed a data sheet on my own, made me feel like I contributed and helped with the project.