“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” may be the unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service, but those same words also could well apply to the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) scientific technicians that ‘man’ the rockfish tag removal station at the Westport Marina six months out of every year.
The techs
Head technician John Pahutski and his co-worker, fellow tech Jacob Crawford, have been on duty aboard their WDFW tag removal station barge at the end of Float 6 every Thursday through Monday for at least 8 hours each day and for much longer on many days. Pahutski set up their floating workshop in mid-March and the two will continue to work there through mid-September.
Pahutski has been with the Department of Fish and Wildlife for the past 25 years. Until major budget and subsequent program cuts in 2009, he was involved with youth fishing education programs for WDFW. Crawford was hired by the department in mid-April, following graduation from college. Both work out of the Montesano WDFW office.
The hardworking duo climb aboard their barge at noon each day to collect rockfish carcasses from returning charterboats. They then process each one individually, gathering key information to determine population dynamics for rockfish stocks between Cape Falcon, Oregon and Cape Flattery, Washington.
They handle an average of 1,200 fish on weekdays and upwards of 3,000 on weekends and holidays. Recently, the dynamic duo broke department records with 3,356 fish carcasses processed on Saturday, July 20.
That particular day also broke the technicians’ shift-length record. By the time they were done with all their duties, they had pulled a 14-hour shift, leaving the research barge at 2 a.m.
Program objective
The overall objective of the tagging program is to produce estimates of rockfish abundance, growth, survival, and mortality. These statistics are then incorporated into population models for coastal rockfish used by fishery managers to determine fishing regulations and season settings that insure conservation of each species.
The first state black rockfish-tagging project began in 1981. Early tagging concentrated on biological information, such as movement and growth. In the mid-1980s, tagging began for all rockfish species. Through the years, objectives for the program have been expanded and revised, along with tagging protocols to gathering much more information on rockfish.
Popular fishery
Rockfish are widely distributed along the Pacific coast from central California to the Gulf of Alaska, inhabiting nearshore areas at bottom depths of less than 50 fathoms. Large schools of adult fish are attracted to rocky bottom habitat or other underwater structures, although they also actively feed on the surface.
Recreational and commercial fishers have harvested rockfish in nearshore areas off the Washington coast and in Puget Sound since the early 1940s. Concern for declining populations has resulted in increasingly restrictive regulations for commercial fisheries, such as closing state ocean waters inside three miles to all commercial groundfish gear.
Rockfish are targeted by local charter vessel skippers. Both professional and volunteer fishermen use traditional bottom fishing gear with barbless hooks.
Tagging trips
The fish tag study program cycle actually starts in the winter of each year. The collection of scientific information requires tagging thousands of rockfish annually. Rockfish tagging starts in late February and the project continues until the assigned number of electronic tags are implanted, usually in mid-March, but some years lasting until early April.
Most tagging trips depart from Westport, however, boats also go out from Ilwaco, La Push and Neah Bay with a typical load of 10 to 12 volunteer anglers that are tasked with catching as many rockfish as possible.
Along for the ride are WDFW biologists and technicians that scan each rockfish caught to detect previously placed tags and collect biological data.
If no tag is detected, the fish is tagged using a PIT (Passive Integration Transponder) tag similar to the kind used for pets. The tag number is recorded electronically and biological data are collected on those fish, as well. Once quickly tagged and measured, the fish are released.
According to Pahutski, approximately 10,000 fish were tagged last winter and early spring.
Back to the barge
Eventually, tagged fish are caught by anglers onboard charter and private recreational vessels. Because rockfish remain an important natural resource to the recreational fisheries that coastal communities rely on to help support their economies, WDFW and coastal recreational charterboat fleets collaborate on tagging projects for the conservation of rockfish and other coastal groundfish species.
That’s where Pahutski and Crawford enter the local scene from mid-March to mid-September. Returning charterboats deliver their rockfish carcasses to the WDFW barge at the end of Float 6 in the Westport Marina, where the technicians process them.
Pahutski and Crawford work together like a well-oiled machine. They offload 25-gallon plastic containers filled with rockfish carcasses from each boat that stops by the station at the end of its charter trip.
Crawford then empties each container — one fish at a time — first marking its species on a tally sheet and then sliding each carcass headfirst into an R8000 Detector, an electronic device that emits a loud beep when the presence of metal is detected.
That’s when Pahutski takes over. He grabs each carcass that beeps and sweeps the fish in the muscle tissue below the gill area with a handheld scanner to verify that the detector actually identified a microchip as opposed to a hook in the fish.
He then places the carcass on his workbench at the opposite side of the barge, where he measures its length from it mouth to the fork in its tail, records that information and then removes the microchip from the head, recording its identification numbers.
Once the tag is removed, Pahutski then removes the two fish ear stones, called otoliths, from the carcass. Like the rings on a tree that show each year’s growth, otoliths produce annual bands that scientists can count to determine the age of the fish from which they came.
Pahutski’s last task for each individual carcass is to place the microchip and otoliths from each fish together in a labeled preservation tray for later study.
Microchip recovery rates
The two recover an average of more than two-dozen microchips on an average day, with derby Saturdays bringing in three-dozen or more.
According to Pahutski, it’s been record-setting year for tag retrievals, as well. More microchips have been found and catalogued to date that at this time last year and even more impressive the techs had one day recently when they processed 65 microchips in one shift — albeit a very, very long shift.
Feeding the food chain
Each carcass is then tossed into a huge fiberglass tank attached to the front of the barge that holds up to a ton of processed fish carcasses. When the bin is full, the two techs pilot their research barge out into Grays Harbor to recycle the rockfish remains where they drop to the sea floor and once again become an integral part of the food chain.
On busy days, they make as many as four trips out and back to release their ‘catch’, with their little barge pushed by an old 50-horsepower outboard that Pahutski recycled from a WDFW Enforcement Division Zodiac when it got an upgrade.
Walking the dock
When the last fish is scanned and processed for the day, most often after dark, Pahutski and Crawford pressure-wash their barge and the carcass containers. They then load the containers onto hand trucks and walk the docks, returning the big empty buckets to each individual charter boat, ready to be loaded with carcasses from the next day’s rockfish catches for delivery to the tag removal station, where the processing cycle will begin again.
‘New’ barge
Pahutski and Crawford are working aboard a small barge that’s new to their operation this year. Last winter, Pahutski totally revamped and refurbished a 30-year-old barge that was previously used to plant kokanee in Banks Lake in Eastern Washington.
Equipment and workspaces were configured for greatest efficiency, with a small enclosure added at the stern of the barge where collected samples are packaged and stored for transfer to the WDFW lab in Montesano at the end of each workday.
Pahutski also revamped an old fiberglass fish planting tank for storage of the processed carcasses. Mounted on the front of the barge, he cut a wide opening on the bow side and fashioned a door that can be latched while carcasses are loaded at the dock, as well as creating an opening in the top in which the fish remains are deposited, ready for eventual disposal.
Winter work
When the fishing season ends in the fall, Pahutski works at the Montesano lab from October through January compiling recovery data on all the microchips and otoliths collected during the previous six months.
After supervising the fish-tagging trips, Pahutski hauls the tag-removal station barge back to the Westport Marina in mid-March and the rockfish data collection cycle begins for another season.
Volunteer fishing opportunities
Volunteer fishing opportunities for the Coastal Rockfish Tagging Project are available. The following information comes from the WDFW website:
Volunteers primarily fish for rockfish. When needed, other duties can include assisting in the tagging process, returning fish to the ocean, or other tasks.
Volunteers are responsible for providing their own transportation to and from the port, their own boots, rain gear, accommodations and meals. Rods and tackle are provided.
All trips are weather dependent. The charter skipper, in conjunction with WDFW staff, will decide if ocean conditions are safe and suitable for tagging operations. Trips can be cancelled on short notice.
Occasionally, fish are killed in the tagging process. These fish are donated to food banks or other charities. Fishing for non-target species is not permitted.
A typical day starts at 6 a.m. and ends when the vessel returns to port around 4 p.m.
If you are interested in volunteering, contact John Pahutski at 360- 480-5177 or at: