Red King Crab Survey in SE Alaska Leg II 6/16-6/26

I recently got hired as a Shellfish Biologist with the AK Department of Fish and Game and on my first survey we dropped crab pots across SE Alaska around the Southern Tip of Admiratly Island in Pybus Bay, Gambier Bay, Holkham Bay, and Seymour Canal. On the pots I attached temperature sensors that recorded the temperature of the water and when the pots were pulled I measured crab carapace lenghts, assessed their age my looking at their shell condition, looked for parasites, measures claw heights (chelae heights), and took note of any bicatches. Here are pictures from that trip. I will be going on another survey in about a week.

Adam another biologist thought he had a large halibut, but it ended up being this huge skate.

Crab pots being put on the pot launcher getting ready to set

Cone crab pots and bait jars filled with chopped herring on the sorting table.

Pulling up a pot filled with some Red King Crab and Tanner Crab

My first Halibut ever!! Caught it in Pybus Bay on 6/18, it was 46 inch and ~ 50lbs. After fishing all night every night I woke up to everyone telling me to go check my halibut line and here it is.

Sunflower sea star found in one of the pots

Jackpot!!!

Measuring crab carapace lengths, determining shell condition, leg count, and if it has any parasites.

A Scaled crab found in a pot, it is part of the Lithodid crab family, which also includes King Crabs.

Pacific Octopus was found eating shrimp and crab in a pot.

Decorater Crab

Largest Red King Crab we caught during the whole survey with a carapace length of 204mm and on avg we were usually getting between 150-180mm

Rose Sea Star

Spot Shrimp

Male Dungeness Crab

Great Sculpin I caught when I was fishing for halibut, they live on the bottom and there are many different varities of sculpins

Snail Fish

Golden/Brown King Crab we caught when are pots were set really deep in the water and they have a few more spines than the Red King Crab. They live much deeper than the Red King Crab.

Sea Cucumber, not sure what kind

Boat Name R/V meaning Research Vessel Medeia

Red Irish Lord Sculpin

Brown Box Crab, also part of the Lithodid crab family. To protect itself and boxes up and looks almost like a rock.

Underside of brown box crab

Second halibut I caught getting pulled up it was 52.5 inches and 70lbs. Our second day in Holkham Bay, near Tracy's Arm. Everyone caught at least 1 halibut for a total of 7 halibut caught in just a few hours after anchoring. These fish really pull on the line and it is quite a fight to get them to the surface!

Ice Bergs near Tracy's Arm

Sea UrchinBrittle Stars

Fusistriton Snail

Fishing in AK

I just had the best day of fishing in Juneau today. I saw almost every wildlife you can in a day, I saw a marmot, black bear, mom and calf humpback whale, a pod of killer whales about 40 yards away and sea lions. The fish I caught is a Dolly Varden it is part of the salmon family. I almost caught two more but it was difficult reeling one in and getting the net close enough without losing them.

Xbox 360 Modifications

I recently obtained an Xbox 360 that had an overheating issue, so i fixed that and decided to install a new fan that glows green and makes the xbox cooler by ~5 degrees and is much quieter than the stock fan. I also researched how to paint it online so I just took it apart, cleaned the pieces with rubbing alcohol and painted it with plastic spray paint that required no sanding. The most difficult part was taping the small areas and cutting out the stencils I used using an X-acto knife.