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| A multi agency project funded by US EPA's STAR Program | ||||||||
Sampling Fish in Coastal Wetlands
Fyke
Nets
Fish communities in shallow water are sampled using fyke nets. Fyke nets are large hoop nets that act as funnels to trap swimming fish. The researchers are anchoring a large mesh fyke net in place using fence posts.
Large fyke nets with large net mesh size (mesh size 0.5 inch) tend to capture larger fish (they can't detect the large mesh very well), while small fyke nets with net mesh of only 3/8 inch are better at capturing the smaller fish (little fish swim right through the larger mesh).
Fyke Net Arrays
Two fyke nets are placed together to form an array, with their lead nets meeting in the center. Fish swimming toward or away from the shore encounter the lead netss and are funneled into one of the fyke nets in the array. The wing nets sticking out to the sides prevent fish from going around the net array.
Where to Set the Nets
Fyke nets are set in water less than 1 meter (about 3 feet) deep. One array of each net size is set among wetland vegetation while the other array is set in more open water so that both types of habitats are sampled.
Checking the Nets
The nets are left overnight. The next morning all nets must be pulled and checked for fish. Here researchers bring in a small mesh net. Notice that they are keep careful hold of the back end of the net which contains the captured fish.
Captured fish are carefully shaken out of the net and into a large cooler. Each fish, such as the rock bass shown below, is then identified, measured, and released back into the wetland.
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