What have you been up to during your 5^th week of the internship?

Firstly, I have to say I can’t believe that it’s already been 5 weeks since we started in this role. It’s definitely true what they say; time flies when you’re having fun!

This week has been more desk and office based, in both Horncastle and London, because let’s not forget, we do also have quite a few projects to get working on.

Have you only been working on your projects in week 5?

No, not at all! And I doubt in this position there will ever be a whole week where all your time is spent on the projects – there are so many cool and exciting opportunities to be involved in.

We also had to prepare a presentation of our time at ReMeMaRe for the interns that were unable to attend. The whole of the marine team at The Crown Estate were also invited to attend and it was recorded for them to watch at their convenience. It was a great opportunity to work closely with most of the other interns and was really well received as we got some great feedback!

We’ve also started brainstorming for the video that we will be producing for Marine Week and I can safely say we are very excited about the ideas that were brought up. I’m sure we will have lots more to share once we have finished it; for now, it’ll remain top secret!

What about your 6^th week in the internship?

It has been jam packed with fun and exciting field work opportunities. Monday and Tuesday we were in Martlesham and Bawdsey Quay in Suffolk. We were on site helping Jessica Ratcliffe and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT), as well as members of the River Deben Association (RDA), Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) and both Steve and Jill Colclough and Tanya Ferry. We were doing fish surveys in saltmarsh and foreshore environments of the Deben Estuary. Tanya and Steve were there training members of the RDA and SWT who intend to conduct these fish surveys more regularly and frequently to monitor which fish populations use the Deben estuary.

In the saltmarsh we used push nets, fyke nets and seine nets to sample the channels and the mouth. The fyke nets were set up at low tide and then left until just after high tide. The seine nets were conducted while the tide was coming in.

What is the difference between the nets and why use different ones?

The fyke nets are ideal for the channels in the saltmarsh because of their special design. They are set up to catch fish swimming back out to sea, to avoid getting stuck, as the tide is turning. At this time the fish swim very close to the bottom and therefore they get funnelled from the width of the channel by the extended pieces of net that stretch to the bank and are forced to swim into the net. The mesh size decreases from 10mm, at the largest ring, to 6.5mm at the smallest.

Top tip: Closely monitor the nets because if they’re left too long after high tide the consequences for the catch are catastrophic.

The push nets function exactly how you imagine they would; one or 2 people stand in the sampling location and then walk while pushing the net in front of them.

Lastly, the seine nets have buoys on the surface and a lead line on the ground. Two people walk the net out into the water and then make a U-shape on their way back to shore. To bring the net in they drag the lead-line closer to themselves until the middle of the net is back to shore where the sample is extracted and processed. This net is great for larger bodies of water where you can access the shore easily. The one we used measures 15m long with a mesh size of 3mm.

Top tip: These nets aren’t effective in fast flowing water and they rely on slopes and smooth substrate.

What fish species did you catch and how did you process them?

In the first day alone, we caught over 700 fish! In fact, team members that did this survey last year were surprised by the amount caught because that catch had much fewer numbers.

We caught sea bass, common goby, sand goby, sand smelt, golden grey mullet, herring, sprat, sea gooseberries, sand eel, jellyfish, shrimp and crabs.

During the processing phase we recorded the time, the salinity and the water temperature. For the fish we recorded the species, the number of individuals and a subsample of lengths for each species.

How involved in the survey were you both?

We both had a great couple of days as we were very much involved with the survey work. The only thing we didn’t do was wade out with the seine net or set up the fyke nets, HOWEVER we did absolutely everything else, including identification!

It was such a great opportunity to learn new practical, hands-on skills in the field which with time will hopefully become more in demand as this kind of survey spreads around the UK. We also met incredible people from many different organisations who we got to speak with about this work, their own individual projects and some of our own.

Thank you to everyone at these surveys for your time, knowledge and skills but most importantly for having us along!

AND THAT WASN’T EVEN THE END OF OUR 2 WEEKS

On Saturday and Sunday Ed and I went to Chapel Point at the North Sea Observatory to do some whale and dolphin watching as part of Sea Watches National Marine Week!

The weather was amazing both days which meant conditions were ideal for spotting cetaceans, if they were out there. On Saturday we saw common seals and a big bull grey seal but unfortunately no cetaceans – which is part of the difficulty with nature watching. On Sunday however, as well as more seals, we also had an incredible 10minutes watching two harbour porpoises offshore where we expect they were feeding. These cetaceans are a relatively small species and can be quite shy. So, you won’t see them jumping and following boats the way dolphins and whales do! This can make them difficult to spot in more rough conditions.

The best part of today, aside from seeing the seals and porpoises of course, was the fact that so many people had travelled from all different parts of the UK to join in! Given that the porpoises were around for so long, quite a few members of the public that came to the event got to see them. Seeing the joy that a glimpse of a cetacean fin can put on everyone’s faces really is the best feeling. You aren’t always guaranteed that feeling but when you get them, there’s nothing better!

Kiera