study done in 1997 just upstream from where the present project is being carried out. Through my involvement with the Duck Creek project I learned about some of the devastating affects of urbanization and glacial uplift on a small creek.At ABL, I also helped Mitch Lorenz in his research on estuaries and performed transects of different zones (supertidal, subtidal, and intertidal) for the ShoreZone database. Our crew collected fish data in the estuaries with beach seines and otter trawls. For the ShoreZone project, I assisted in measuring the gradient of different transects at below mean low low water (MLLW). For each transect mapping and identification of the biobands, Habitat classifications, and component identifications (substrate: cobble, sand, silt), were made as well.

I assisted Pat Harris and Darcy Neff with similar work on eel grass beds many times during my internship. We seined beds at Fisherman's Bend, Auke Rec, Auke Nu, Bridget Cove, Sunshine Cove, Peterson's Creek, and North Tee Harbor. I also helped Scott Johnson and John Thedinga with the continuation of a research project started last year by seining several kelp beds in the Berner's Bay and Bridget Cove areas. This seining of eel grass and kelp beds introduced me to several species I had never seen. However, by the last trip I was much more useful and even almost proficient at identifying and processing the catch. The catch in many of the sites contained several species of forage fish such as surf smelt, sand lance, and juvenile eulachon and Pacific herring. These forage fish are important because of their role as prey for many commercially important species of fish.

One of the other things I helped with was a project in which I learned how to process fish to be used in chemical analysis. I worked with John Hudson processing Pacific herring that had been caught with a gill net. They were going to be tested for lipid content to discover how herring delegate their resources during different months of the year. Do they use more energy for growth or for reproduction? Also, how does this delegation change at different times during the year?

I helped process the herring by taking scales and mounting them on slides for aging; weighing the whole fish, gonads, and liver; labeling; and prepping them for grinding and eventual lipid extraction. I found the experimental method used in this research very interesting.

Throughout the time I spent at ABL, I enjoyed talking to biologists and discovering how they got to where they are in their career and educational pursuits. I found that there are many different paths to take to get involved in fisheries biology research. I was amazed at the number of different areas in which research was being done at the Auke Bay Lab and was glad to be able to participate in a few of them. I feel lucky to have had this experience because of all of the understanding and knowledge about the marine environment and the field of fisheries biology that I gained as a result of it.

Note from Mitch Lorenz (mentor): I would like to add that John spent about one-third of his time in the office doing data entry and digitizing K Koski's extensive photo (slide) library. The office work documented his field work as an intern and greatly improved access to more than 20 years of project imagery. John was an enthusiastic and hard working intern!