TRANSCRIPT
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 29, 2013.
This week, we feature another mystery sound. Have a listen for about 20 seconds, and see if you can guess what’s going on with this beeping and splashing. And here’s a hint: If you had fins and heard this, you might soon have a stunning experience.
SOUND
If you guessed fish sampling, you’re right! Those were sounds from an electrofishing demonstration, during a May 2013 Virginia Master Naturalist field trip on stream and river fish. Led by Jamie Roberts, a Virginia Tech research scientist, participants learned about three fish-assessment techniques commonly used by fishery managers and by fish scientists, or ichthyologists. For some more details on fish sampling in streams, let’s listen to a two-minute excerpt from Dr. Roberts’ session.
TALK
As Jamie Roberts noted, fish live in an environment largely hidden from unaided human vision or hearing. So scientists and resource managers combine ancient technologies—like nets—with modern electronics to get the information needed to understand and properly manage fish and the aquatic areas that sustain them. Thanks to Dr. Roberts and the New River Valley Master Naturalist chapter for permission to record this week’s sounds.
For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.
SHOW NOTES
[All Internet addresses mentioned were functional as of 7/29/13]
Acknowledgments, Sources, and More Information: This episode’s sounds were recorded May 13, 2013, along Toms Creek in Montgomery County, Virginia, at a class of the New River Valley Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists Program. Thanks to Jamie Roberts of the Virginia Tech Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and to this Master Naturalists class for permission to record the session.
Information about the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation is available online at http://fishwild.vt.edu/, or by contacting 100 Cheatham Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321; phone (540) 231-5573; e-mail: fishwild@vt.edu.
Information about the Virginia Master Naturalists Program is available online at http://www.virginiamasternaturalist.org/, or by contacting 60 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902; phone (434) 872-4580; e-mail: masternaturalist@vt.edu.
Information on electrofishing is available from the U.S. EPA New England Regional Laboratory, online at http://www.epa.gov/region1/lab/ecology/efishing.html; and from “Revised Protocols for Sampling Algal, Invertebrate, and Fish Communities as Part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program,” U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-150, online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/ofr-02-150/.
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