Chris' fisheries research company is working on some pretty cool and relevant fish topics----on this project they go out in the field and collect data on fish populations in this Central Valley River. Armed with a fly rod, he fishes, and when he connects and lands a fish, the scientific research begins. On this day he invited me along (unfortunately I don't get paid-but at least Chris does!
) to float a river and help collect scientific data. After he catches a fish, they place it in this custom built holding tank and take a picture. When he gets back to work, he downloads the picture into a database that takes the image, and using the orientation marks in the background, "maps" the fishes spotting pattern and loads it into a database and classifies the fish. The fishes spotting pattern is a unique mark, much like a human's fingerprint, and can be used to identify a specific fish. By tracking each specific fish over time, they can gain insights into the health and number of fishes in this tailwater fishery. Chris hard at work
Finally some scientific data!
A nice scientific specimen
