Volunteers needed

[Andy]

This has nothing to do with birding and appeals mostly to anglers, but, last year, I had many volunteers come who didn't so much as own a fishing rod. So I thought I'd post this here. The Ringwood Fish Culture Station is located on about 120 acres of land, with a pond, wetlands and various habitats, so you can bring your binoculars and check out the area. Even if you wish to just visit to see what is going on, you are welcome. The following is a post I made on the Ringwood message board:


As many of you know, all the Chinook Salmon at Ringwood need to be fin clipped before release into the lake. Also, some of them will be marked with a coded wire tag. This marking and tagging will be done using AutoFish, which is state of the art technology in fish marking systems. AutoFish arrives from New York on April 20, 2009. It is presently marking and tagging at the Salmon River hatchery. You can read all about AutoFish at http://www.nmt-inc.com/products/afs/afs.htm.

The plan right now is that setup will take place on Tuesday, April 21, and we will be in full operation on Wednesday, April 22. A typical day will start around 8 am and end about 10 pm, including the weekend. The work involved includes moving hoses and piping; netting, carrying and placing fish into a holding tank; and manually clipping and tagging fish. Additionally, we have routine hatchery chores that need to be performed, including stocking. The marking will likely continue through April 28, stocking until at least the first week in May.

As you can imagine, the success of such an operation is entirely dependent on volunteer support. Without your help, it would fail. I am therefore asking you if you can make time in your busy schedules to come out to Ringwood to help. Even if you can spare only a few hours, it would be really appreciated. If any of you would like to run the BBQ or perhaps prepare some home-made food to feed the crews, you will be welcomed with open arms; we all like pizza, but there is a limit as to how many consecutive meals of it a human can handle. I know I can depend on your dedication and support. Please let me know when you would like to come out to help. I'm looking forward to seeing many of you during this operation.