Counting fish

June Casagrande

Question: How many school children and environmentalists does it take

to count all the sea creatures in the Back Bay? Answer: As many as

you can get.

Every month, the Marine Studies Center at Shellmaker Island

conducts a “marine life inventory.” Student groups help state

Department of Fish and Game professionals scoop up, count, weigh and

sometimes tag sea creatures.

“They help us with our surveys, and it’s good experience for kids

who normally wouldn’t be exposed to this kind of stuff, and they earn

community service hours, too,” said Sarah James, a staff member at

the Marine Studies Center.

The Boy Scout Sea Base has recently gotten in on the act, handling

the volunteer groups and coordinating the events.

The surveys take place by trawl or seine, specialized terms that

both boil down to: rile up the stuff on the bottom and scoop it up

into a net.

Trawling means setting out on the Marine Studies Center’s trawl

boat and dragging a net through the water. To seine, people stand on

the shore holding a pole with a net attached to it. Others are on a

boat in the water holding the other end of the net. The boat swoops

around, catching critters.

Then, the sea animals are taken aboard the boats and weighed,

measured and counted.

“We get a lot of flat fish and sharks, and invertebrates like

sponges,” James said.

Some, such as sharks, get tagged so that marine workers can keep

track of how many stay in the Back Bay. Then the no-doubt relieved

creatures are returned to their homes as if nothing ever happened.

For more information about Marine Life Inventories, visit

seabase.ocbsa.org/Seabase.htm or call (949) 642-5031.