Issue #39 April 2008
Spring Brings Change
I’ve always thought that at some point I could get to
where I was able to produce a newsletter that was truly monthly. Alas,
that still has not happened,and probably won’t in the near future, but I
will keep trying!
Spring is quickly approaching and field work has already started. This
is always an exciting and hectic time of year for us. WE have plenty of
field work, and the hatchery is getting busy. Early spawners have
already started now that water temperatures and daylength have
increased. We hope to send out updates on these spawning triggers
as we learn more.
With regard to temperature and lighting, we have upgraded our system to
reflect natural changes more accurately. Pat found an astronomical timer
that we installed in the main hatchery room. This timer advances the
“daylength” in the hatchery in sync with the advancing natural daylength.
In the past, we had to advance the timer manually, usually just taking a
jump in daylength every few weeks.
We have also made an effort to keep hatchery temperatures cooler than
the past. We have always felt that temperatures should be allowed to
fall in the winter. In times past, we had been keeping these records by
simply writing down the hatchery air and water temperatures each
morning. Now, we have also automated this record keeping process and
thrown in a few extras to boot!
After some searching as to the best method to log this, John suggested
we try using a personal weather station (he had just gotten one for
Christmas!). These nifty little units will measure a variety of weather
parameters, and with the proper software will upload this information to
various websites. We were able to add several additional temperature
probes, including a submersible one to monitor hatchery water
temperature. Now, our little weather station logs hatchery water and air
temperatures and uploads these hourly to an ftp site we can access from
any computer connected to the internet. These data can be imported into
a spreadsheet, allowing us to keep graphs of what’s going on in the
hatchery. One bonus is that we can specify upper and lower alarm
parameters. If these parameters are exceeded, the system will send us a
text message alerting us to a potential problem. Pretty cool! Another
bonus is that the weather at CFI is now available for anyone to see (not
the hatchery info…just what’s happening outdoors). There is a link on
the CFI website that will take you there! Again, thanks to John for
helping to get all of this set up!
We have also had some personnel changes around here.
Meredith
has gone back to school to get her Masters Degree. She is at Coastal
Carolina on the South Carolina coast. We miss having her around, and we
wish her all the best in her pursuit of higher education!
Crystal
will be going for a graduate degree at the University of West Virginia
starting this year. Fortunately for us, she will be doing her research
at CFI. But, she will have to be gone from August through December to do
course work in WV.
So, we have had to have more help around here! We have a new Aquatic Biologist and two new Hatchery Technicians.
Melissa
Petty has recently re-joined CFI as an Aquatic Biologist after a
seven year stint at Virginia Tech. Missy received her MS degree studying
the James River spiny mussel and worked at the Freshwater Mollusk
Conservation Center in Blacksburg, VA. She is already familiar with our
work and with the fishes of this region. She will be of great assistance
in the hatchery and in the field. We’re happy to welcome her back!
Becky Franklin started at CFI in summer 2007 as a
Hatchery Technician. As a student at Appalachian State University in
Boone, NC, she was active in environmental issues. Becky envisioned,
created, and chaired Team GREEN (Growing a Responsible Environmental
Education Network), a club that promoted environmental awareness through
creative educational programs.
Jessica Hendricks started with CFI in the winter of 2008
as a Hatchery Technician. She received her degree in Microbiology
from the University of Florida. Jess has always wanted to get
involved in environmental work. She is quickly learning her way around
the hatchery. We hope to have her assist in fieldwork this summer.