Tuna Research Volunteers Needed

[Seelicious]

Bill Monroe is working with the same gal from last year who is collecting tuna stomachs for her research. They went out with Nalu Charters a year ago and she is very excited about the tournaments.

We're looking for 3-4 teams for each tournament that will save the stomachs of the tuna they catch (coolers provided for storage)for the benefit of Albacore research.

If your team is willing to help out...please PM Bill Monroe here or you can call him at 888-222-8231.

Thank you-

Oregon Tuna Classic

[Bill Monroe]

Here's the exchange from today (most recent first, etc.) between myself and Sarah, who's down at Scripps in S.D. (included is a current report on albacore down there, although it's scant)...

I hope at least a few of you skippers can find someone aboard to help her out. This is outstanding research for the future of albacore fishing. Several of you were willing to help last year and Mike(Nalu)will attest this is a very gritty young lady.
Note that although there seems to be a lot of information she would LIKE to have, it's not involved if you don't want it to be...And she'll be at each event (or I will) to collect the tuna tummies.

Thanks all for the help.

Bill



Well, about 2 weeks ago some commercial boats were reporting them
about 200 miles out. We thought they'd be here for now, but the last
few weekends have turned up only bonito and yellowfins. I'm heading
out for a 1.5 day this weekend and hopefully we'll hit the beginning
of them. Or I might just have a few nice days of sun and puking -
we'll see! I'll let you know how the fishing is this weekend.

Sarah

On 5/30/06, Bill Monroe <billmonroe@news.oregonian.com> wrote:
> Thanks Sarah...How close?
> I'll pass this along to everyone...gotta see whether (and how many) I
> round up first...
>
> >>> "Sarah Glaser" <sarahmglaser@gmail.com> 05/30/06 11:36 AM >>>
> Hi Bill,
>
> this is great - thank you! I checked out the post on Salty Dogs.
>
> It would probably be easiest for me to be there in person to get the
> dry ice and get the coolers when the boats come back from the
> tournaments. If there is a team(s) that volunteer, I can make
> arrangements with them personally. The Astoria tournament does
> coincide with Corky's wedding party, so that may require more
> finagling.
>
> Basically, in terms of data I need and a protocol, this should work:
>
> Measure length of fish from nose to V-notch in tail fin.
> If a reliable weight can be taken (it's hard when the boat is
> rocking), that is helpful too.
> Slit belly and remove stomach (or gut however they do it).
> Put full stomach (or entire gut tract) in plastic bag. The important
> part is to get the full valve at the top of the stomach - not to cut
> it off somewhere below where it joins the throat. Also put heart
> and/or small part of liver in bag.
> Use knife to scrape off 5-10 scales from narrow part of tail (the
> caudal peduncle - the part you grab onto to hold the fish up). Put
> scales in bag.
> Write time, date, lat, lon, and length on outside of bag (or can
> record on a sheet of paper and write a code number on bag to ID the
> stomach).
> Put in cooler with dry ice - cover with ice for faster freezing.
>
> If this is more work than the participants want to do, just the
> stomach in a bag with length, lat, lon, and time/date is fine. The
> liver, heart, and scales are bonus and help me with further analysis,
> but aren't absolutely necessary.
>
> In Newport there is dry ice available at the 24-hour market where the
> highway comes into town (can't recall the name - Jaycees?). Not sure
> about Astoria and Tillamook, but I will start looking into it.
>
> As far as delivery, hopefully I can work it so I'm there to get the
> coolers as they come off the boats. I would make it a priority to be
> there. If I couldn't for some reason, and you do have room in a
> freezer, I would pick them up from you at your convenience. As a last
> resort, I can provide a FedEx shipping code for them to be shipped to
> Scripps, but that's a lot of hassle for the shipper.
>
> This is great - thanks for your help! Hopefully I'll be catching
> albacore this weekend down here - they're getting close.
>
> Sarah
>
> On 5/30/06, Bill Monroe <billmonroe@news.oregonian.com> wrote:
> > Sarah,
> >
> > Call or write when you can to either email address:
> >
> >
> http://www.ifish.net/forum/showflat....page=0#1224490
> >
> > I have some coolers.
> > I think the dates are July 22 in Newport, Aug. 19 in Astoria and Sept.
> > 2 in Garibaldi (Tillamook).
> > We can try to get you out on a boat on the other days, just not the
> one
> > I'm on (it's full).
> > I'll need some directions for these guys on the data you'd like (lat,
> > long?, time, wx? etc.?) and locations for dry ice...
> > Also how and where to deliver it all to you (my freezer at home?).
> >
> > Bill
> > 888-222-8231
> >
> >

[skein]

Bill/Sarah,

Since I routinely gut my fish, I would be glad to save the innerds. :grin:

I'm thinking on the lat/lon part, it would be easy to mark a quick waypoint on the gps with the corresponding number on the baggie, i.e. Waypoint 129 would be #129 on the bag, then fill in the lat/lon when everything quieted down (the fire drill was over).

As for the scales, did you want them in a separate bag, sort of a bag within a bag?

Oh, and were you asking for ANY volunteers, or did you specifically want those who can catch fish? :grin:

Anyway, glad to help.

Skein
Team Irish Wake

[kamloops]

She can come along on my boat as long as she does her own things on the fish, she can clean and gut all the tuna she wants. I don't want her to count as one of my 6 fishers though.
Offer good on Garabaldi and C.R. only.

[Bill Monroe]

That would be great out of Garibaldi (she can't make Astoria) and thanks very much...I'll pass it along. She does not fish at all...gets seasick every trip no matter what, but is so committed to this she works through it.

Thanks Skein...I'll get all the details and put you at the head of the list. Will supply a cooler on site at Newport and you can keep it when Garibaldi is done...

No, you don't have to actually CATCH anything...that's what a good crew does.

[kamloops]

I'll get her a patch if she want's.

[Bill Monroe]

She's had patches, pills, wristbands with buttons, wristbands with batteries, breakfast, no breakfast...nothing seems to work for her. I will tell her not to bring bananas, though...

[Bait O' Eggs]

Also put heart and/or small part of liver in bag.

Would love to see here face as she looks the hearts over and sees bite marks out of them well not the ones from my boat, but some here might only have partial hearts left over

Sounds like my kinda girl; choosing to scrape scales, gut tuna, and do it all while puking over the side of the boat.

[crabbait]

Sounds like my kinda girl; choosing to scrape scales, gut tuna, and do it all while puking over the side of the boat.

I don't recall her saying anything about "over the side of the boat", Roy. How's your washdown working? :tongue:

[CATCH AND EAT]

Tom I puked on your boat and you never offered me a patch. Favoritism to the ladies aye?

[Mark Mc]

I realize that this research is "for real." But on the humorous side, this could easily be the script for a new story...about how someone gets free labor on a tuna boat.

Kamloops has it right....hehe...."not part of my 6 man crew"

However!!!! What assurance do you give us, senior Kamloops, that your "science observer" will not provide any labor that makes your tuna harvesting more efficient ??
I can just hear you saying... "if you want that liver, you gotta take the fish off the hook yourself. And when you;re done with it, put it in that thar tote. Oh and cover it with ice. Oh just one more thing....don't talk about what you did today."

The plot thickens............

[kamloops]

I have a particular member of my crew (me) who just realized that cleaning/gutting a tuna during a live bait stop is a big no-no. Can you say "BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL ON ISLE
4" for Mr. Blue or Mr. Mako.

Besides that it tends to make the tuna a just a bit skittish

Full tote lids do make a dandy disection table.

[Bill Monroe]

C'mon now, be nice. :tongue:

a) I've been with her a couple of times and she's always gone over the side.
b) She doesn't have a clue about how they're caught or tactics. By the time the boat gets to the tuna grounds, she's not paying attention to anything but her knife, data and stomach (hers)...in that order. She does pick up the hose and clean up after the surgery...but she knows how to hand a fish to someone else to deal with.
c) She's reading these posts carefully, has registered to become an ifish member (in spite of some of you ) and, most important, is tracking the schooled albacore up and down the coast and may part with information that could help everyone.

Soon as I can figure how to downsize the pictures, I'll put up a few of her in action last year out of Newport.

Any other teams wanna help?

And thanks again for all of this, BTW...even the light side

[Nalu]

There is no doubt that the crew on the Sea-J will be helping out in this worthy cause! I hope to have the chance to take Sarah out fishing again this year, perhaps on a tournament day, a day before the tournament, or another of the many days I intend to tuna fish this year.

I really enjoyed having Sarah on the boat last year, and can attest to the passion and conviction she has for her research. Having Sarah on board even tempered my emotions about having a Beaver aboard at the same time.... :grin:

If you have the chance, please get involved. Just taking the opportunity to glean some of her knowledge is a worthwile reward. This is good stuff.

[Maverick Maxcat]

Maverick will be fishing all 3 legs, and will be glad to help. I've had people puke, for sure, but 2 hulls are generally better than 1 for the greenies.....

[San Anita]

We will be taking gut samples for the cause on all three events and Ive commited to take her out on the second leg 8-19-06. I carry patches, pills and even a syringe with a square needle for those greenies.
Bill

[albiebelly]

Hi everyone - thanks for all the interest in my project! Sorry for the slow replies - had to get registered, then spent the weekend albie hunting down here off San Diego. No luck yet - just yellowtails an bonito. But lucky me - not an ounce of seasickness. Just luck, or maybe I finally found my sea legs. Not sure.

To reply to a few posts: skein, your idea for marking the bags sounds just fine. However works for people - a piece of paper, record in the GPS, write straight on the bag - any way is great. The scales can go in a separate bag - I use paper coin bags personally. But on a wide open bite I'm not going to ask people to bother - if possible, just a few scrapes and put in the bag with the stomach would suffice. I'll find them evenutally.

And Bill's right: I don't touch a rod, reel, or hook. For one thing, captains let me on for free and I don't want to bother the paying customers on charters. For another, I'd just mess something up. I leave the fishing to the experts.

As for gutting, I only take what I need, put that in a bag, and leave the rest in the tuna. Nothing over the side except my breakfast.

Thanks so much for the enthusiasm - I look forward to meeting you all at the tournments. And if anyone gets the gumption to keep stomachs during the rest of the year, I'll be in OR many times through the summer and can happily take them off your hands. The important thing is that they're frozen as soon as practical - not necessarily the moment the fish is dead, but waiting until you get home and gut ths fish is probably too long. Just depends on your technique. Thanks!

I'm happy to answer any other questions. And thanks, Bill, for getting me hooked up!!

Sarah

[Bill Monroe]

ttt.
All you skippers:
Sarah will be in Newport for the first event and is looking for a boat with space for her. She doesn't fish. We'll also be in touch with those who want to help with this research. As I understand it from her, she can collect stomachs after she returns to port. We'll try to get some coolers and dry ice on boats as well during the day.
I'll talk more with her Wednesday (she's winding up the SoCal season), but for now would love to find her a ride that day. She's a hoot to have aboard (sick or not) and knows a ton about how tuna work...
Thanks in advance for your PMs and emails.

[Bill Monroe]

ttt

[Pilar]

Very cool. I have a full boat on tourney day in Newport but we will be prefishing a day or two prior to the tourney day to test out our secret weapon. I might be able to get her out then.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Does it have to be a tourney boat?

[Bill Monroe]

Not at all...I'll talk with her Wednesday (she's at sea right now)...Would love to be able to offer her rides Friday and/or Saturday of next week...Regardless, we're gearing up for her to collect stomachs either during and/or after next saturday...thanks all!