Day One For The Fishies!

My first day as a Bio Aide at Clearwater Fish Hatchery went really well! They wasted no time as my day started with a quick morning meeting and a short training in the vat room before being thrown right into work alongside everyone else. I started the day cleaning the raceways where the little baby salmon live. This process includes sweeping the waste down to the drain, and collecting/counting morts (the dead fish) and ensuring you don't contaminate any of the tools along the way. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but after one or two raceways I had it down and was moving along at a faster pace. After our 10am break, I had to do a bit of new hire paperwork but was able to get back to work after lunch. I spent the rest of the day with Andy scrubbing egg trays. Turns out I'm not the only Floridian here- Andy is from Florida too, and he also has a degree in Marine Biology! Small world! Scrubbing the trays wasn't too bad either- I got to use a pressure washer and the water in the scrubbing tub was warm so my hands didn't have to freeze. It reminded me a lot of my Stingray Bay internship at the Jacksonville Zoo.

All in all, definitely a solid first day and I'm looking forward to the new experiences this job will bring!

Just a portion of the trays I got to pressure wash and scrub!