IFW Summer Fisheries Worker Shares His Summer Story

[caption id="attachment_2486" align="alignright" width="502"] A nice Baxter State Park brook trout.[/caption] By IFW Summer Fisheries Contract Specialist Jacob Richard Hello, my name is Jacob Richard and I am the summer fisheries contract worker for Region F.  I first volunteered for IF&W in June of 2015 when I was a sophomore at Penobscot Valley High School.  I was extremely interested in fisheries work, so in the beginning of my junior year I started an internship at the Cobb Fish Hatchery in Enfield. I volunteered around 300 hours during that school year. Regional Fisheries Biologist Nels Kramer then asked me if I was interested in helping out a couple days during the summer of 2016.  I was very excited for the chance, so I occasionally would take a day off from my summer job to go assist the biologists in the field. [caption id="attachment_2487" align="alignleft" width="435"] Cold Stream Pond produces some large landlocked salmon.[/caption] I interned again at the hatchery during my senior year of high school, where the dedicated fish culturists educated me about raising fish, fish propagation, and stocking.  Near the end of my senior year, I was hired as a seasonal fisheries contract worker.  I couldn’t have been more excited. I started my summer electro-fishing for invasive species.  There were reports of illegally introduced largemouth bass in a couple of Region F waters. Unfortunately, we verified their presence.  As the summer progressed, I assisted with biological pond surveys which consisted of setting gill nets, water quality work, fish identification, documenting fish size, age, and condition. [caption id="attachment_2489" align="alignright" width="460"] Clipping fins at the Enfield hatchery. Fin clips on hatchery fish allow us easily identify the age of stocked fish.[/caption] The highlight of my summer work would have to be the several days I assisted the biologists with surveying remote ponds in Baxter State Park.  Most of the park ponds were loaded with native brook trout, but the fish were fairly small in size.  A handful of park ponds produced quality sized trout; hopefully these ponds can maintain the quality sized fish for years and years to come.  Other park ponds that I surveyed this summer were fishless.  Those ponds were way up in the mountains and required a difficult bushwhack hike to reach them.  These ponds had never been surveyed before, so it was a very cool experience. [caption id="attachment_2488" align="alignleft" width="489"] The electro-fishing boat allows us to sample large bodies of waters. Occasionally we use the boat to indentify the presence of invasive species.[/caption] As the summer of 2017 comes to an end and I reflect back on my past experiences with Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, I realize that this has been an opportunity of a lifetime for me.  Not only did I receive a great educational experience in the field of freshwater fisheries biology, but I also got to meet and work with some outstanding professionals. Now it is time that I wrap my summer work up and get ready to attend my first year of college at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.  I am especially grateful to have this knowledge under my belt.  This experience has solidified my career goal to become a State of Maine Fisheries Biologist.