This summer I was able to work at a dream job in Alaska with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It is an experience that I will never forget.

My internship’s focus was on salmon population monitoring and research. I was working with the Fairbanks Field Office Subsistence Fisheries Branch. The main goal was to collect population and health data that can be used for the management of salmon species in the Yukon River Drainage.

I spent most of my summer at a video fish weir on the Gisasa River. This is a tributary of the Yukon about 200 miles from the ocean. We were a small crew of four and spent about two months in the backcountry. When we first arrived at camp we had to install the weir. This involved a few labor intensive days, but once it was done we were ready to count fish.  

The weir blocks fish passage upstream except a chute in the middle. The fish move through the chute and at the same time a motion camera records the fish so that we can count all of them moving upstream. On a typical day I would count fish moving through the chute for six hours. The two main salmon species counted were chum and Chinook salmon. During that time I would also sample some of the fish. This involved getting their length, sex, species, and collecting scales for aging. The fish were released alive so they could continue to move upstream and spawn.

Thiamine sampling of Chinook salmon was another project I worked on. This was an exciting and active project. Thiamine is an essential vitamin needed for normal development in salmon. It involved helicoptering around the Gisasa River spotting female Chinook salmon. When we spotted some, we would land, then hook them and bring them to shore. There we would try to extract eggs for sampling, then took a fin clip for genetic sampling. This was an amazing experience and it was great to see the big female salmon.

This internship was an unbelievable experience. I gained so many experiences and skills that will be beneficial for future jobs. This was a great networking experience and I met some influential professionals in the field who are great mentors and references. Working in a small crew, I got close to other crewmembers who also have experiences to share working in the field. Through my positive experience with this internship, it may lead to a job with the same office post-graduation.