Loving my Job

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So I got back from travelling about 2 months ago which feels like a year ago. Since I have been back I have been hanging out in fantastic 23-30C degree sunny weather. Probably the longest sunniest summer/fall I have ever been through on Vancouver island. It is fantastic and hanging out, BBQing and drinking with my mates is a brilliant way to spend these sunny times.
I landed a sweet job with the federal government. It was serendipity. It basically landed in my lap and I grabbed on to the chance. I was initially going to spend time on the "dole" as the Brits call it, go surfing up at Tofino:
But I was a little broke from paying my medical bills after my scuba diving accident in Honduras. So on with the show.

The job with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is called a Creel survey. A creel is a wicker basket that fisherman of the past used to carry their fish home. Basically I hang out for 6.5 hours at any one of six boat launches around the Southern tip of Vancouver island. I help boaters come into dock and ask them a few questions. Whether they have been fishing, if they have then did they catch anything and if they caught something then I sample the fish. I take measurements, determine species and sex, and then I take laboratory samples for genetic markers. Some time I have to take the fish head if it is from a hatchery. Yes I get dirty and smelly but only on occasion.

The other pat of the job, and this is when it gets really taxing, is to go up in a 3 person Cesna float plane and survey the coast. It really really sux! Ha ha yeah right. It is awesome. I have seen pods of whales from 200ft, sea lions about the size of a small boat, harbours seas frolicking in the mid ocean and fog rolling over tankers. A few times have been really crazy, like when the alternator died and we have to land with out radar or a radio. Or the time the winds picked up to 25 knots and it was like riding a mechanical bull. A few fun times like scircling a pod of Orca whales, or when we went over a mountain and got an up draft that sky rocketted us up at 1800 ft per minute, that's 30ft per second. Can you say "Yehaw!"

So I am enjoying the work but fishing season is coming to a close and so is the job. Until next season... Enjoy the pictures.

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