Week 5, June 19th: A New Goal in Mind
June 20th, Tuesday:
Today was an exciting day for the project. Leaving out of the Candlewood Lake Club with boat captain Dave, Emily and I were eager to complete the 'Upper Mid' region of Candlewood Lake for the second time. After finishing these sites, we will have searched every region of the lake twice, a significant achievement for our data. This region contains very spread out sites, spanning northern New Fairfield, Brookfield, and even parts of New Milford. However, the team was still able to complete the job efficiently, and even with high scrutiny for certain sites, we were able to finish quickly.
There were some positive results from todays tracking. A fish previously found in Sherman had managed to swim down Vaughn's Neck, proof that this fish is still alive. Similarly, a fish that had taken residence in southern New Milford relocated to the Brookfield town beach, again an indication that the fish is alive.
However, despite these positive results, the sight of milfoil growing in is rather depressing. In many places, the Eurasian Milfoil is almost reaching the surface, as shown above. However, it is important to remember that the true impact of the triploid grass carp may not be felt for 5-6 years, and the recent addition of ~5,000 more carp is sure to help! It is important to do every bit possible to help, or else this milfoil will be a problem that can be the undoing of Candlewood Lake as a recreational hotspot.
June 21st, Wednesday:
As we had finished every site on Candlewood Lake twice yesterday with Dave, Dr. Pinou instructed Emily and I to begin our third cycle of sampling. Our driver today was from Echo Bay Marina. Bill is an experienced captain from Project CLEAR, a sadly retired program of which Emily and I are both veterans. Together with Bill, we sampled the lower mid regions of Candlewood Lake, containing southern New Fairfield and Brookfield. As there were no tagged carp released anywhere in this region of the lake, expectations were not high for finding any fish. And unfortunately, these low expectations were met in full. The only fish found today were close to Echo Bay, and both are labeled as 'problem fish', as they have not moved out of a particular cove for a long period of time. We still need to create a concrete strategy on determining if specific carp are dead, or simply too lazy to move far distances.
After sampling, Emily and I returned to Westconn to meet with Dr. Pinou and Larry to discuss where this project is heading. In order to prepare for the July 21st presentation for Emily and I, we decided to sample every site three times total, meaning we have four more regions to sample. Afterwards, we will focus on analyzing the collected data in order to have conclusions and correlations (hopefully!) to present on July 21st. With only a month to do this, there will be a race against the clock. But I am confident we will easily be able to finish in time, and show the significance of the triploid grass carp, and the positive impact they have on Candlewood Lake!
Next week, we will finish sampling in order to focus on data analysis before July 21st. Be sure to check next week's blog post, as it is sure to be a big one!
