Ask a Fisheries Biologist: The winter life of fisheries professionals

The job duties of fisheries professionals tend to fascinate anglers. What is not to like about a job in which a workday can be anything from wrangling 100-pound sturgeon below a dam to electrofishing for muskellunge late at night?

But not all work days are like that.

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Winter tends to have less field work – it is much harder to survey fish when the lakes are ice covered – and much more office work. Winter job duties might include aging fish using scales, spines, or otiliths collected during the summer, organizing and repairing gear, applying for grants, writing survey reports; and attending meetings.

None of that work is as glamorous as field work, but much of it is just as important, and winter also provides a time for public meetings and coordinating plans with partner groups.”