6 30 2014 June Survivorship Data

Just for toots and googles I worked up the survivorship data from June just to see where we stand number wise out in the field. This comes from the weekly counts of gapers and closed animals which together make up the total number of living animals. These numbers are tentative and will be verified in the future when we do a full scale work up of the samples in August or September for the annual sample taking.

All numbers are for living animals only.

Oyster Bay	N	H	S
1-4	73	86	97
5-8	63	56	0
9-12	85	97	1
13-16	0	12	93
Total	221	251	191
Manchester	N	H	S
1-4	90	96	65
5-8	95	92	93
9-12	61	89	98
13-16	87	79	94
Total	333	356	350
Fidalgo	N	H	S
1-4	96	93	93
5-8	97	99	93
9-12	93	87	97
13-16	110	91	87
Total	396	370	370

While there has been a pretty major loss in Oyster Bay, I think we can safely proceed into year 2 with enough animals to get significant data from their development as well as Year 2 reproductive effort. 

Also in previous counts Manchester had the highest survival but is now well below that of Fidalgo. I think this is due to the much warmer sunnier conditions at Manchester which lead to a 10% mortality event in the beginning of May and may continue to cause a small 1-2% mortality each month during repro sampling. 

This info is also really cool when you compare it to the number of Brooders I've found over the course of the season for each population at each site. 

Total Brooders	Manchester	Oyster Bay	Fidalgo
N	1	15	2
H	1	5	0
S	1	32	11
1st brood	6/18/2014	5/29/2014	6/6/2014
		*1N trays were sampled twice in one sample date

Percent brooders from each pop for entirety of sampling period is as follows

Percent Brood	Manchester	Oyster Bay	Fidalgo
N	0.30%	6.79%	0.51%
H	0.28%	1.99%	0.00%
S	0.29%	16.75%	2.97%

So almost 17% of the South Sound population at Oyster Bay has spawned and about 3% of the same population at Fidalgo has spawned. It blows me away that they are nearly 6 times as productive as the Dabob population in their home site but at Manchester they are not significantly different.  Its also cool that they are twice as productive as the Northern population in South sound and almost 5 times more productive at Fidalgo bay. 

Bonnie has suggested to me that the animals taken from Fidalgo for the original broodstock are possibly from a population that is being restored with animals from South Sound. This could be leading to an outbreeding depression with regards to local adaptation in the northern population and the reason the South sound animals are more prolific than the northern pops. 

The other take away from these numbers is that it seems to me that Dabob animals are juggernauts that don't spawn. They have the highest survivorship at two of the sites (though Oyster Bay is arguable due to the many accidental exposure and other mishaps) and are very close to the North Sound populace at Fidalgo. 

Eventually graphing all this with temps and tide times would be helpful to determine any differences in week to week spawn collections. 

6 30 2014 South Sound Survivors

Good NEWS! So after compiling all the survival data from last weeks work up on the lost trays and the weekly counts. I have a current survival totals for the populations in South Sound. They are much better than estimated and almost even across all populations

Pop            Live
North         221
Dabob       251
South         191


Tray Break Down is such:

South Sound
	N	H	S
1-4	73	86	97
5-8	63	56	0
9-12	85	97	1
13-16	0	12	93
Total	221	251	191

6 27 2014 fidalgo repro check

Anacortes wa

Mid 50 to mid 60s

Participants:  Sean Bennett and Jake heare

Followed the anesthesia sop modified with insulation on bottom of tub. Too windy to put cover on, also forgot to get ice. Cool enough to keep treatment with 3 degrees. Found brooders in south sound and north sound pop but none in dabob still.

Numbers as follow:

Temps in c

Pretreatment
Initial.         9
45.              10
1.5.             10

Treatment
Initial.            9
45.                 10
1.5.                10
2.25.              12

Recovery
Initial.          10
45.                10
1.5.               14

Salinity in ppt
Pretreatment.           29
Treatment.                58
Recovery.                 28

Brood collection

2S5-8
Brood.          3
Gaping.        87
Dead.            0
Closed.        6

Brooders
#         size.         Sick
1.         27.             W
2.         25.             W
3.         26.             W

2H1-4
Brood.       0
Gaping.     65
Dead.         0
Closed.      28

2N9-12
Brood.      1
Gaping.    87
Dead.        0
Closed.     6

Brooders
#         size.         Sick
1.         31.            W

6 26 2014 oyster bay repro

Used the modified anesthesia sop with insulation and ice blocks. Collected from the water the lost stack as well as the hhn stack to reshuffle oyster trays. Big things of note, 1 south sound tray was 99% dead. It was a middle tray, had no predators and no fouling. No idea why those animals died but the other two trays in the stack survived. Brooding in all sampled trays seemed to have followed expectations. With no pop with way more or way less brooders than expected. Also collected temp logger info. All trays were kept in ambient seawater during Pretreatment or out plant if not sampled

Lost trays marked with orange ziptie, hhn trays labeled with blue ziptie.

Numbers as follows:

Temps in c

Pretreatment
Initial.       14
45.             14
1.5.            14
2.25.          16

Treatment
Initial.        11
45.              11
1.5.             11
2.25.            9
3.                 8

Recovery
Initial.          13
45.                15
1.5.               16
2.25.             16

Salinity
Pretreatment.         26
Treatment.               68
Recovery.                 24

Trays not used for Brood collection

1S9-12
Live.           1
Dead.         82

1H13-16
Live.          12
Dead.         0

Brood collection

1N1-4. From hhn stack
Brood.       2
Gaping.     72
Dead.         10
Closed.      1

Brooders
#        size.      Sick
1.        25.         W
2.        31.         Grey

(Three previous trays were put out immediately as stack 1. Far left from shore)

1H9-12
Brood.       1
Gaping.      92
Dead.         4
Closed.      1

Brooders
#      size.      Sick
1.      27.          Grey

1S1-4
Brood.       11
Gaping.      85
Dead.          10
Closed.       2

Brooders
#          size.         Sick
1.          29.            W
2.          25.            W
3.          28.            W
4.          30.            W
5.          26.            W
6.          30.            W
7.          25.            W
8.          26.            W
9.          28.            W
10.        31.            W
11.        27.            W

10/11. Were dirty samples, had lots of mud mixed in with larvae.

1N9-12
Brood.          5
Gaping.        84
Dead.            16
Closed.          1

Brooders
#        size.        Sick
1.        31.           W
2.        29.           W
3.        36.           W
4.        28.           W
5.        30.           W

6 25 2014 Manchester Repro Check

Manchester WA

Mid 60's to mid 70s sunny

Participants: L. Christine Savolainen and Jake Heare

Performed the Anesthesia SOP modified with insulation on the treatment tub as well as ice blocks to keep temperatures within range. Found one brooder in the Northern population with minimal larvae and found one brooder from Dabob that had a very strange mix of eggs and what appeared to be semen. This might be evidence for an abortive spawn. also collected all mortalities from trays.

numbers as follow.

Temps in C

Pretreatment
Initial       10
45 min     15
1.5 hr       15

Treatment
Initial       11
45 min     11
1.5 hrs     11
2.25 hr     11

Recovery
Initial        10
45 min      15
1.5 hr        17


Salinity
Pretreatment      27
Treatment          65
Recovery           21


Brood Collection

4S1-4
Brood    0
Gaping     50
Dead      22
Closed    13

4N5-8
Brood        1
Gaping       53
Dead         23
Closed       19

Brooders
#       size      sick
1        25        w

4H5-8
Brood       1
Gaping      52
Dead        7
Closed      33

Brooders
#        size         sick
1        15           W

Harbor Seal watching us work all day. 

6 20 2014 fidalgo repro check

Anacortes wa

Mid 60s cloudy to sunny

Participants: L. Christine savolainen and Jake heare

Followed the anesthesia sop with insulation on the treatment group.  Found one brooder from the southern population. Two animals looked like possible brooders in the northern pop but they closed quickly and I was unable to confirm brooding in them.

Also Brian found the missing stack at oyster bay. They will be worked up next Thursday as they are safely secured to the dock again.

Numbers as follows

Temps in c
Pretreatment.
Initial.       8
45 min.     8
1.5 hrs.     9

Treatment
Initial.           9
45 min.         9
1.5 hrs.         10
2.25 hrs.       10

Recovery
Initial.        7
45 min.      8
1.5 hrs.      8

Salinity in ppt
Pretreatment.      35
Treatment.           65
Recovery.             35

Brood collection
2S1-4
Brood.       1
Gaping.     83
Dead.         0
Closed.      10
Brooders
#       size.     Sick
1.       27.        W

2H9-12
Brood.        0
Gaping.      77
Dead.          0
Closed.       10

2N13-16
Brood.     0
Gaping.    76
Dead.       0
Closed.    34

6 19 2014. Oyster bay repro

Shelton WA

Mid 60s to high 70s

Participants: L. Christine savolainen and Jake heare

Followed the repro sop with insulation and ice blocks to control temp. Also collected all morts from all trays. Surprisingly, the dabob pop had no brooders while the south sound pop had 11 brooders.

Numbers as follow.

Temps in c
Pretreatment
Initial.            16
45 min.          18
1.5 hrs.          18

Treatment
Initial.            11
45 min.          11
1.5 hrs.          11
2.25 hrs.        10

Recovery
Initial.      16
45 min.     20
1.5 hrs.      16

Salinity
Pretreatment.       25
Treatment.            63
Recovery.              25

Brood collection

1H1-4
Brood.    0
Gaping.  70
Closed.    9
Dead.        7

1N5-8
Brood.     3
Gaping.   54
Dead.       8
Closed.      1

Brooders
#             size.              Sick
1.             29.                  W
2.             26.                  W
3.             30.                  W

1S13-16
Brooders       11
Gaping.          80
Dead.              12
Closed.           1

Brooders
#             size.               Sick
1.             27.                  W
2.             22.                  W
3.             26.                  W
4.             25.                  W
5.             26.                  W
6.             28.                  W
7.             31.                  W
8.             33.                  W
9.             22.                  W
10.           21.                  W
11.           29.                  W

Number 11 could not have its Brood collected because it was attached to the tray.

6 18 2014 Manchester Repro Check

Manchester, WA

Hi 50's to mid 60's, mostly cloudy until later in the day

Participants: L. Christine Savolainen and Jake Heare

Performed the Anesthesia SOP modified with insulators and ice blocks for the treatment tub. Found 1 brooder at Manchester. It seems no matter where they are, South Sound oysters just love to spawn. Also collected all mortalities from all trays checked. Failed to take a picture of the single brooder, I absent mindedly put the tray into recovery before taking the pic and then couldn't find the brooder when I did remember.

Numbers as Follow:

Temps in C

Pretreatment
Initial         7
45 min       8
1.5 hr        10

Treatment
Initial        8
45 min      8
1.5 hr       7
2.25 hr      7

Recovery
Initial         8
45 min       8
1.5 hr        10

Salinity in ppt
Pretreatment     30
Treatment         71
Recovery          30

Brood Collection

4H13-16
Brood      0
Gaping     63
Dead       4
Closed     12

4N13-16
Brood       0
Gaping     73
Dead        2
Closed      12

4S5-8
Brood      1
Gaping     55
Dead       10
Closed     28

Brooder
#           size       sick
1           19         w

Temperature Logger Readings from May to Mid June 2014

Last week I pulled temperature data from the logger pendants out in the field using the Shuttle. Everything performed stellarly and I have the temp graphs on the computer. I'll go by site for each temp graph.

Manchester, WA

From the temperature readings it appears that Manchester has stayed below the 12.5 C mark for most of the logging period. Only recently have temperatures crested the 12.5 mark and stayed that way for several days. It may be soon that the animals will begin spawning and brooding (or spawned within the last week or so). 

Oyster Bay, WA

From this data and the amount of brooders we have seen at Oyster Bay, its clear that temps have been above the 12.5 C mark  since early May. This again correlates with expectations and as temperatures steadily increase I believe we may see a slowing of reproduction due to stress demands. 

Fidalgo Bay, WA

Contrary to the observations in the field, it seems that Fidalgo bay has been much warmer since the beginning of June. Though it does look like in early May there was a warm period for several days. As of June 1st temperatures crested the 12.5 C mark and headed into spawning temps. We saw our first brooder approximately 6 days after that and saw a large number of brooders approximately 12 days after temps went above 12.5. Though temps have somewhat decreased recently I believe we will continue to see spawning across the board.

Overall I think that the populations are responding to temperature cues nicely, though it does seem that North sound respond quickly to temperature increases. The south sound animals seem to have nearly synchronous spawning during warm periods which would be of obvious benefit in South Sound where temps continue to increase and only stay within the spawning window for a short amount of time. The dabob animals seem to have reduced response to temperature cues and do not actively spawn unless temps are somewhat stable for a duration of time. 

6 13 2014. Fidalgo repro check

Anacortes wa

Mid 60s partly cloudy lite rain

Participants:  Sean Bennett and Jake Heare

Used the anesthesia sop with insulation on the treatment group. Temps stayed steady due to insulation and weather. Found multiple brooders in only one population. If you can guess which pop, you get a sticker.

Numbers as follow:

Temps in c

Pretreatment
Initial.         7
45 min.       7
1.5 hrs.       10

Treatment
Initial.          6
45 min.        6
1.5 hrs.         6
2.25 hrs.       6

Recovery
Initial.             7
45 min.           8
1.5 hrs.           9

Salinity in ppt
Pretreatment.     27
Treatment.           66
Recovery.             26

2N1-4
Brood.       0
Gaping.     68
Dead.         1
Closed.       27

2S13-16
Brood.     7
Gaping     83
Dead.       1
Closed.     3

Brooders
#           size.              Sick
1.            30.                W
2.             26.                W
3.             26.                W
4.              25.              W
5.              26.               W
6.              28.               W
7.              25.              W

2H5-8
Brood.         0
Gaping.       72
Dead.           0
Closed.        27

Lots of males with semen. Expect more brooders next week.

6 12 2014 oyster bay repro

Shelton wa

Mid 60s partly cloudy to rainy

Participants:  L. Christine savolainen  and Jake heare

Used anesthesia sop with insulation and semi frozen ice blocks. No change in Temps the entire time. Weather definitely helped. Found several more brooders. Some were below the 20 mm mark.

***Update*** I forgot to mention that I also jumped in the water today during lowtide and hunted underneath the docks to find the lost stack of trays. I was unable to find them. I used a 6 ft pole to feel underneath the lower parts of the dock as well as grab items I found. I pulled out half a dozen shell bags and 1 set of oyster growout cages. Our stacks are long gone. It might be possible to search further under the docks with a diver but I couldn't risk my safety going any further under the docks. At this point in time, its probably safe to assume that we will be unable to ever recover the missing trays. 

Numbers as follow:

Temps
Pretreatment
Initial.  15
45 min. 15
1.5 hrs.   15

Treatment
Initial.       13
45 min.      13
1.5 hrs.      13
2.25 hrs.     13

Recovery
Initial.        13
45 min.       13
1.5 hrs.        13

Salinity.
Pretreatment.        26
Treatment.              64
Recovery.               26

Brood collection
1S13-16
Brood.    3
Gaping.   63
Dead.       11
Closed.     6

Brooders.    
#          size.           Sick
1.            27.            W
2.            26.              W
3.            19.             W

1N5-8
Brood.      2
Gaping      48
Dead.        8
Closed.     1

Brooders
#               size.            Sick
1.                32.               Grey
2.                20.              W

1H1-4
Brood.         1
Gaping.       86
Dead.            8
Closed.         1

Brooders
#         size.          Sick
1.         19.             W

Many males with semen in all treatments.

6 11 2014 Manchester Repro

Manchester WA

Temps Mid 60's to High 70s
Sunny

Participants: Joelle Blais and Jake Heare

Used the Anesthesia SOP to check for brooding larvae. I modified this per Steven and Brent's suggestions to temperature control via adding ice blocks to the solution as well as insulate the tub with 2 inch styrofoam insulation with foil top and bottom. Much to my surprise not only did the insulation work, kept water within 1 degree of ambient with out ice blocks, it actually lowered the temps of the treatment when ice blocks were added (2 degrees below ambient). I believe this insulation and ice blocks method will be the way to go from here on out. Even on the warmest days I see it insulating the tubs very well.

Numbers as follow:

Temps in C

Pretreatment

Initial        9
45 min      15
1.5 hrs      19

Treatment

Initial     11
45 min   11
1.5 hrs    10
2.25 hrs   8

Recovery
Initial       11
45 mins    13
1.5 hrs     15


Salinity in ppt

Pretreatment      25
Treatment          65
Recovery           25


Brood Collection

4H1-4
Brood     0
Gapin      63
Dead       2
Closed     31

4S9-12
Brood       0
Gaping      49
Dead         12
Closed       37

4N9-12
Brood      0
Gaping     41
Dead        8
Closed     12

One male in the 4H group had sperm within its shell. I assume these animals are attempting to spawn though water temps seem to be below expectation.

6 6 2014 fidalgo repro check

Followed the anesthesia sop at fidalgo. Attempted to keep the treatment Temps around 11 c where the ambient water was. The direct sun had other plans. Will need way way way more gel bags. even then it might be more than can actually fit in the tub with the samples.

Also to my and hopefully everyone else's surprise. I found a Brooding oyster! If you can guess which population it came from before you look below, you are one smart cookie.

Numbers as follow

Temps
Pretreatment
Initial.      10
45 min.     15
1.5 hrs.      19

Treatment
Initial.         11
45 min.       16
1.5 hrs.        17
2.25 hrs.      19

Recovery
Initial     10
45 min.   15
1.5 hrs.    19

Salinity
Pretreatment.     20
Treatment.           63
Recovery.             21

Brood collection
2S9-12
Brood.      0
Gaping.    53
Dead.        1
Closed.      43

2H13-16
Brood.       0
Gaping.     58
Dead.         0
Closed.       33

2N5-8
Brood.      1
Gaping.    59
Dead.        2
Closed.      36

Brooders
#         size(mm).        Sick
1.          31.                     W

Lots of nukaluka in the water. Some may have been collected with brooding larvae. May muddy up counting.

Picture of brooders follows.

6 5 2014 oyster bay repro check

Shelton, wa

Participants. Katie Jackson and Jake heare.

High 60s to mid 70s sunny

Followed the anesthesia protocol but modified it by adding ice block and bags of Ice into pools. Temperature started at 13 but stabilized at 16 c. Temp increase unavoidable but non lethal.

Numbers as follow

Temps
Pretreatment.   
Initial. 13
45 min.  16
1.5 hrs.   16

Treatment
Initial.    10
45 min    17
1.5 hrs.   16
2.25 hrs.   16

Recovery
Initial  13
45 min. 17
1.5 hrs 17

Salinity
Pretreatment.     26
Treatment.          63
Recovery.            26

Brood collection.
1S13-16
Brood.  2
Gaping. 60
Dead.     12

Brooders
#     size.    Sick
1.     23.        W
2.     29.        W

1H1-4.   
Brood.   2
Gaping 79
Dead.     7

Brooders
#      size.      Sick
1.       25.         W
2.       24.          Grey

1N5-8
Brood.  1
Gaping.  52
Dead    7

Brooders
#      size.      Sick
1.      30.         W

Multiple males with milt in their shells. Possibly spawning at the moment.

6 4 2014 Manchester Repro Check

Manchester WA

Mid 60s to Low 70s

Followed the Anesthesia SOP to check for brooding oysters. Found no brooders. Water temperatures we also quite low. Last week the surface water temp was around 13 C. This week it was closer to 8 C. I think the bay underwent another turn over event which may lead to either a much later spawn timing for the oysters or an abortive spawn which we will not catch. 

Numbers as Follows:

Temps (Celsius)

Pretreatment 

Initial       8

45 min     9 

1.5 hrs.    10

Treatment

Initial         7

45 min     10

1.5 hr       12

2.25 hr      12

Recovery

Initial      8

45 min    9

1.5 hr     9

Salinity (ppt)

Initial          28

Treatment   63

Recovery    28

Brood Check

4S13-16

Brood    0

Gaping  60

Dead     3

4N1-4

Brood     0

Gaping    43

Dead       15

4H9-12

Brood    0

Gaping   55

Dead      11

Also toured the new hatchery at Manchester with Ryan, saw a chipmunk, and the canadian goose on the docks hatched 4 of it 5 eggs. They goslings were adorable.

Brooding Olys in Hatchery

Flow through with bong screen to catch Oly larvae. 

Various flowthroughs for brooding Olys

Oly larvae (invisible)

Larval Tanks and Ryan's Gesticulation

Chipmunk

Baby Goslings!

Clam Bay with glassy surface waters!