Volunteer to help count Sturgeon!!!

[Smiling JOe]

“Sturgeon Hunters”!

The Panama City Field Office, Fish & Wildlife Service, will be conducting a Gulf sturgeon population census on the Choctawhatchee River beginning on October 10 and ending about November 7, 2008.

Study Details:

Site: Lower Choctawhatchee River (Bunker area) – about 17 miles west of Hwy 79
(directions available)

Project: - 4-6 gill nets are placed in the river, perpendicular to the bank (cover
about 75% of the river).
-Nets are set at daylight and pulled completely out of the water at about 8:00PM - nets are checked for fish about every 2 hrs.
-All Gulf sturgeon are weighed, measured and tagged (625 fish last year)
-We have a core group of biologist that lead the daily activities but depend on volunteers to assist (last year we had 50 volunteers!)
-We rent a 3 bedroom house that serves as our base of operations.
-Volunteers will generally arrive at 9-10AM and leave the following day at the same time.
-We encourage volunteers to spend the night due to the sometimes late schedule and putting out the nets again the next morning at daylight.
-However, a number of volunteers can not spend the night and day trips are fine and we will work with volunteers to accommodate their schedule.
-Overnight volunteers are asked to bring a sleeping bag and personal items.
-We will supply boots, gloves, rain gear and life jackets…and Food! (However, we do not discourage anyone bringing snacks, etc).

This is your chance to meet a living dinosaur “Face to Face”!


Please contact me for any additional details.

THANKS!

Frank Parauka
(850) 769-0552 Ext 237
Frank_Parauka@fws.gov

[Sand Angel]

This sounds like great fun!!! It is hard work, but very rewarding. These are really cool fish, and you do get the feeling of looking at a living dinosaur when you see one. Here are some photos from the Choctawhatchee a few years ago. Not to mention, pulling nets is like Christmas. You never know what you might pull up in a gill net, but it's always interesting. I'll be there if possible. I love this work!

[jodiFL]

Sorry but I have heard WAY TOO MANY stories (alot true) about these fish, dinosaurs, whatever, jumping up and killing folks. If you decide to do this, dont forget the LIFEJACKETS.... it would only take one 40-50 pound fish hitting you in the head to ruin the day.

[Smiling JOe]

jodiFL, I'd be more concerned with getting hit by a car when traveling to the monitoring site.

[DD]

I would love to do this!!

[Sand Angel]

Sorry but I have heard WAY TOO MANY stories (alot true) about these fish, dinosaurs, whatever, jumping up and killing folks. If you decide to do this, dont forget the LIFEJACKETS.... it would only take one 40-50 pound fish hitting you in the head to ruin the day.

I have never heard of even one biologist who has been hit in the head by a sturgeon. Although, when/if they woke up, they would have been excited to find one. I've heard of people being hit by flying grass carp while seining them out of aquaculture ponds, but that doesn't seem to happen often either, and it is a known hazard in that job. Since gill nets entangle fish, it isn't likely that anything will be jumping out of them. While working as a fisheries biologist, I carried a "net fork" to untangle fish from gill nets without severely injuring them. I'm with SJ. I would be more worried about being hit by a car. I'm still in! (And I'll probably get hit in the head by a flying sturgeon because I wrote this)

[Hop]

is this something elementary students could be a part of??? My kids would love this...and what great lessons, from conservation to gas mileage getting there and everything in between...

[ASH]

I did this a few years back on Lake of The Woods in MN. We were handling sturgeon that were approaching seven feet in length and it took a couple people to keep the fish still enough to measure them. I would rather handle the larger ones as the smaller they are, the more their bony plates are exposed. By the end of the day, your arms will look like hamburger if you don't have long sleeves.
I think I can work this into my schedule.
You may want to call the biologist as they may not offer this to anyone under 18. I wouldn't be surprised.

[jodiFL]

I havent heard of biologists getting hit put there have been many cases of boaters coming in contact with these beasts....
here
and here
and here.

[Romeosmydog]

jodiFL, I'd be more concerned with getting hit by a car when traveling to the monitoring site.

Whatever....
A few months back while on their way to check some trot lines, Uncle Roy and Uncle Gordon were going pretty fast down the river about a mile and half past Smoke House Landing when one of those suckers flung his massive self right in the boat. Darn thing came in like a freight train. Lucky for them Uncle Roy had just come into some money and bought a center console. The plexi-glass took the brunt of the attack leaving only minor scratches and a heckova fish tale for my favorite uncles.

[Miss Kitty]

Whatever....
A few months back while on their way to check some trot lines, Uncle Roy and Uncle Gordon were going pretty fast down the river about a mile and half past Smoke House Landing when one of those suckers flung his massive self right in the boat. Darn thing came in like a freight train. Lucky for them Uncle Roy had just come into some money and bought a center console. The plexi-glass took the brunt of the attack leaving only minor scratches and a heckova fish tale for my favorite uncles.

You have the best fish tails!

[Romeosmydog]

True story. My uncles have fished the river all of their lives. Granddaddy was a fish peddler. They are both really freaked out now about going up the river. It scared the tar out of them.

[Smiling JOe]

Great story Romeosmydog! I don't think these volunteers will be running full speed up the river on boats.

I wonder if Uncle Roy knows it is illegal to kill a Sturgeon around here? I also wonder if he could plead self-defense against an assault and battery by a Sturgeon?

[Romeosmydog]

Sweetie, of course Uncle Roy knows the laws about sturgeon. He may be from Freeport, but he doesn't live in a cave. He was a tug boat captain and has fished these waters long before you or I were even thought of. That darn fish flung itself into AND out of the boat. Uncle Roy was not up the river to catch sturgeon, geesh he was only in a bass boat! You need a bigger rig for those monsters . Uncle Roy was just doing what all crotchety old uncles do up the river, fishing for trout, flounder or possibly setting cat fish lines...hunting and stuffing elusive ivory billed woodpeckers. (just kidding don't get all flustered).

[Sand Angel]

Great fish story! Glad Uncle Roy is OK.

[Romeosmydog]

Momma says that I sound like a yankee, every good river rat knows that you don't fish for flounder up the river .

[jodiFL]

Glad to hear Uncle Roy is ok. But it seems that it doesnt happen near as much around here as it does on the Suwanee. They have reports of 6-8 every year it seems like.