Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

FISH GROUP Research Question (this is provided to the students in advance)

Introduction: This is the research question and suggested method you will be exploring during your Diving Deeper experience at Inland Seas. You may modify the ISEA method as long as it can be done with our equipment and time constraints. We recommend looking at the data from previous years to inform the design of your study. This is your research experience; make it meaningful for you!

Background: The round goby is an invasive species in the Great Lakes. It arrived in 1990 and has since grown to epic numbers in many regions. It is particularly common in shallow water, and then particularly abundant on rocky substrates. Yet, we don’t quite know how abundant it actually is because most of the official surveys for fish happen in deeper waters. At Inland Seas we are assisting the DNR is learning about goby population numbers, but first we need to learn the best way to catch a goby.

Round gobies hang out right on the bottom of the lake and are relatively easy to catch with minnow traps, but trap success varies widely. What is the best way to bait a minnow trap to catch round gobies? ISEA Method: You will use 15 minnow traps and bait them in different ways to test bait success. Create 5 different treatments with three 3 traps for each treatment. These are some possible treatments: Nothing* Fish eggs Dog food* Substrate (gravel)* Live goby* Bread* * Provided by Inland Seas Bait that is small in size, such as fish eggs, can be enclosed in bait bags to prevent it from falling through the holes in the trap.

The traps will be dropped onto rocky substrate and left for about 2 hours. When you haul them back in the fish in the traps will be identified, counted, and measured.

Your choice: Ø You may test any bait that interests you: What baits do you want to retest from previous years? What baits have never been tested that you want to try? Ø If you vary the ISEA method use at least two treatments and be sure to create enough replicates so the data is meaningful (not more than 5 treatments). Ø If you are considering two ingredients per trap, make sure there are also traps with each ingredient alone. Ø We will do everything we can to have at least 10 live gobies available on the day of your trip, but there could be fewer if conditions were unfavorable for collecting them prior to your trip. If you will need more than 10 live gobies, please contact us at least 5 days in advance. Ø You will need to bring any materials that extend beyond those listed above.

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

Program for the Fish Group This plan is approximate. Be flexible, as we know you are! AM PM Ship Fish Instructor 8:00 12:45 Getting ready Arrive to set-up at least 30 min before school arrives 30 min 8:30 1:15 LEAD meets the group and brings them to the ship 8:40 1:25 At the dock All Hands: Students present and discuss research plan with the crew 25 min Ready and 1. Divide into groups, index cards, get ready to present Waiting 2. Students present their plan 3. Instructors and crew give feedback 4. Weather report and safety talk by the captain 5. Board the ship one group at a time. Fish group sits port, at mainsail 9:05 1:50 1. Cast off 1. Finalize research plan. Which treatments, # traps per treatment? 25 min 2. Motor to 2. Set up the minnow traps and datasheet mound 3. Quality control all traps – are they attached properly? 3. Drop traps 4. Stand by to drop traps. Drop traps within 25 min of leaving dock. 9:30 2:15 1. Motor to 15 min with crew: Prep sails, at the helm, or with other tasks 35 min sample In less favorable conditions students may act as lookouts. station 1. Secchi disk measurement 2. Heave to 2. Weather data (60+ ft) 3. Surface water temperature 4. Call in weather observations to the Coast Guard/NOAA 10:05 2:50 Set sails All Hands Students raise sails, train individuals to coil and hang lines 15 min Fish group: Main Throat 10:20 3:05 Launch Silence 5 min manta trawl 10:25 3:10 Sail w/ 1. Plot minnow trap location 30 min manta trawl 2. Intro to round gobies: identification, invasion, lifestyle for 30 min 3. Orient to the project/share the importance of today’s study 10:55 3:40 Haul in 4. Solutions to deal with round goby invasion 5 min manta trawl 5. Learn how to process fish when they are collected 6. Examine the Secchi graphs and consider ecosystem change 7. (if time) More weather data. Compare to earlier data/graph trends 11:00 3:45 Sail back to Stand by to collect traps 10 min traps 11:10 3:55 Sailing and Collect traps with crew assistance 10 min Collect traps 11:20 4:05 Sailing 1. Process fish collection: identify, count, measure 30 min 2. Compile data, make graphs, interpret graphs and discuss trends 3. Check all data sheets to be sure they are complete and accurate 4. Prepare students for their presentation 5. Tidy your materials and area. 11:50 4:35 Sailing All Hands: Peer teaching rotation 20 min Crew only Fish students teach about Fish 12:10 4:55 Strike sail 20 min: 10 min 1. Put away all materials; tidy your area. (students can help) 12:20 5:05 Docking 2. Closing/ Wrap-up: Try the stewardship questions 10 min 3. LEAD: thank yous, group photograph. 12:30 5:15 Disembark

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

8:00/12:45 Set-up and Prepare for Group 30 min

Arrive plenty early to set up your materials and leave time for unforeseen circumstances. o Minnow traps, bait bags, clips, line, staff buoy, mushroom anchor o Set up aquarium on port side near mainsail throat halyards o Collect fish from the minnow traps. There should be a dozen+ gobies in the trap o Grab bread from the galley if needed (other baits may be available) o Fish bin + measure boards o Set up materials so students can get to work right away o Datasheets, clipboard, pencil

8:40/1:25 Dockside preparation 30 min

When the class arrives, they will already know their groups. 1. Learn names of students write names on index cards. Give one list of names to a person in the group. Keep the other list. 2. Find out if students brought bait with them. If not we have live gobies, bread, and gravel, which should be enough for 5 different treatments, if used in combination. 3. Ask students about their research plan. If they don’t have a plan, overview what they will be doing: Determine the best bait to catch round gobies with a minnow trap.

Tips for creating a research plan: a. Let students make decisions about what should go in each trap, but help them devise a valid methodology. b. Each treatment should be different from another in just one way. For example, if one treatment contains a goby and gravel, there should be another treatment that contains just a goby, and another that contains just gravel. c. Every treatment should be replicated. This means with 15 traps, there should be 3 treatments of 5 traps each, or 5 treatments of 3 traps each.

4. Give students the datasheet and show them where to record the research plan. 5. Let students know they will be preparing traps very soon after boarding the ship.

After a few minutes of getting organized the Lead will call for everyone’s attention. 1. Each group will announce what they will be researching 2. The Fish group will tell everyone: a. The treatment options for the minnow traps b. How many traps will receive each treatment. 3. Instructors and crew will accept the research plan and offer suggestions or modifications if necessary 4. The captain will report on the weather conditions and how those conditions will influence the day’s sail. 5. Captain will give the safety talk

Groups will board the ship one at a time with their instructors. Fish group sits port side, near the main mast.

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

9:05/1:50 Prepare and launch minnow traps 25 min

As soon as you are able, involve students in getting the minnow traps set up. The ship will travel immediately to the mound where we will drop the traps, and we want the traps to be in the water 25 min after boarding. Time is limited so the group needs to be productive, but should not feel rushed. Train students well, and let them do all or most of the work. • Explain what we are about to do (if students don’t already know). o The traps will be dropped onto rocky substrate and left for 2 hours. When we haul them back in the fish in the traps will be identified and counted. We will measure the length of each goby. o We are trying to catch round gobies to help determine the number of round gobies in Lake Michigan. Right now researchers don’t know how many round gobies are in the lake, and as you will learn, round gobies are a very important species in the Great Lakes right now. o We are worked with the Department of Natural Resources to design this study. • Train students on how the traps open and close and give them a chance to practice it several times.

When everyone is oriented, have students set up the traps: • Assign tasks (including data recording) and have students set up traps. • Verify the treatments and number of traps and have a student record this information in the upper right corner of the datasheet, under “Study design summary.” • Attach traps in a random order so the treatments are mixed together. Do not put all traps of one treatment together, or use a regular repeating sequence of treatments. We want different treatments to be close together, so location is not a difference between treatments. • Trap #1 is attached closest to the anchor. A student records the treatment as each trap is attached to the line. • Check traps to be sure they are securely attached to the line. • Traps should be organized and lined up in order at midship, so when they are launched over the side nothing tangles or gets hung up. • Stand by, ready to drop the traps when the ship is in position, and the Benthos group has collected their samples. • The Crew will direct and manage launching of the traps. • As the traps are launched the recorder will note the time, depth, latitude and longitude. Very important!

Notes about this time frame: Ø Keep an ear out for when the horn will sound and alert students to cover their ears 1. After the horn sounds the LEAD INSTRUCTOR will give an orientation to the data sheets, or make sure that you have given it. 2. It is VERY important to fill out all portions of the datasheet. If there are blanks the data might be useless. 3. Read station depth through pilothouse window (port side), or inside pilothouse (starboard side). For both meters ADD 4 FEET. 4. Read latitude and longitude on the GPS unit in the stern. Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

9:30/2:15 Assist Crew: Prepare for sailing 15 min

After the traps are launched, the ship will motor to deeper water for sampling. The fish group can continue to work with the crew to prepare the sails so we can raise them. Students may also be useful at the helm, or with other tasks. Check in with the First Mate or the Captain.

9:45/2:30 Weather measurements 20 min

When the ship is settled, or nearly so, begin collecting weather data. Let students do as much of the work as possible: handle equipment, record data, etc. 1. Secchi disc measurement 2. Weather data, including barometric pressure. Barometer is in the pilothouse. 3. Surface water temperature 4. Report weather data to NOAA. The captain will help you with this. a. To report weather data, many of the observations and measurements must be translated to codes used by NOAA. Many of the codes are included on the weather datasheet, the rest are on paper in the Fish Diving Deeper folder. Walk students through the creation of every code so when they get to the computer to enter the data, it can happen quickly. b. Here are the things you need to translate or code: i. Time is given in UTC (Add 4 hours to the current time) ii. Latitude and Longitude are given in decimal degrees. (Divide the number of minutes by 60 and add this decimal number to the number of degrees. Ex: 44°36.2’ becomes 44.60°) iii. Use the code sheet in the Fish Diving Deeper folder for help with each of these: 1. Wind direction is given in degrees (for example West is reported as 270°) 2. Percent cloud cover is reported in octas (How many eights of the sky is covered in clouds?) 3. There are 10 Codes for visibility 4. There are 100 different codes (00-99) for current weather/precipitation type.

10:05/2:50 Set Sail 15 min

The Fish group raises the Throat of the Main sail. You or a crewmember can instruct the students on the sails of the ship and the line handling commands. A crewmember or crew rated instructor must be present at each halyard when sails are raised. Points to include: 1. The sails are: the Main sail (most aft and largest sail), the Fore sail (forward of the main sail), and the headsails (in the front of the boat, the staysail, jib and jib topsail) 2. To raise the sails we haul on a line called a halyard. 3. Listen to the Mate as directions are given. If the Mate says, “Haul away on the peak,” respond by repeating the command, then act on the command. Say, “Haul away on the peak,” then start hauling. Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

4. These are the commands to know: a. Haul away – Make sure the line is between you and the water. Pull on the line hand over hand. Haul steadily but it’s not a race. Don’t let there be slack between you and the person in front of you. Do not stand on the line. Let the line pile on the deck behind you (if you are last in line). b. Avast – Hold the line with both hands without hauling or letting it go slack. c. Up Behind – Drop the line on the deck and raise your hands above your head. Raising your hands gets them out of the way and signals to everyone that the line is being dropped. d. Heave-Ho – When the line needs an extra hard pull, one person will shout “Heave!” and everyone else will shout “Ho!” as they pull the line strongly and in unison. The combination of shouting and pulling hard together gives us extra power. The louder you shout, the harder you can pull! For real. 5. When the Mate asks if we are ready on our line, we reply loudly and in unison. The goal is to respond more boisterously than the partner team. 6. Some students may help on the sheets. This will be situation dependent and crewmembers will direct students on what to do. 7. After each sail goes up, you or a crewmember can instruct students on how to coil and hang lines. Remember all lines are coiled clockwise. Give students a chance to do it themselves (if possible, walk away after they seem to get the hang of it) and then check their work. If it is good enough then let it be. If it is too messy or incorrectly coiled let the student try again. 8. Once sails are set and your students are finished with their responsibilities, gather them together.

10:20/3:05 Silence 5 min

Once the sails are up we take a couple of moments to just listen and reflect on what we have experienced so far. Let your senses tune to the surroundings. The lead instructor will guide the group at this time.

If the ship is in position, the Manta trawl will also be launched. The group can watch the trawl launch and the crew can easily communicate with each other since everyone is still and quiet.

10:25/3:10 Orientation to the project 35 min Organize these pieces in the way that makes the most sense for you each particular trip. Follow the interests and curiosity of the group. Mix up activities with listening to maintain engagement and energy.

1. Plot the minnow trap location Use the Latitude and longitude recorded at the launch time to plot the location on the map of Suttons Bay. Our goal was to drop the traps on the rocky mound. Did we hit our target? You may need to teach students that there are 60 minutes in one degree, and review for them how latitude and longitude work. See if students can figure out how to read the latitude and longitude marks on the map on their own.

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

Latitude and Longitude primer Latitude and longitude are imaginary lines drawn on the surface of the globe to help us identify our position. Lines of latitude run parallel to the equator and therefore never intersect. There are 181 lines of latitude: 90 north of the equator, 90 south of the equator, and one at the equator (zero degrees). Lines of longitude inscribe great ellipses that circle the planet and run through both the north and south poles, so that all of these lines converge at each pole. There are 361 lines of longitude: 180 east of the prime meridian (which runs through Greenwich, England), 180 west of the prime meridian, and one at the prime meridian (zero degrees).

Lines of latitude and longitude are measured in degrees because they describe the position on a circle. Imagine a line that goes from the center of the earth to your position on the planet, and another line from the center of the earth to the equator. The size of the angle between these lines is the degrees of latitude describing your position. Your longitude is the size of the angle between your location and the prime meridian. Since degrees are so large, they are divided into minutes so that one degree equals 60 minutes. Minutes can be further divided in to seconds so that one minute equals 60 seconds. Our ship tracks latitude and longitude with degrees, minutes, and fractions of a minute.

2. Intro to round gobies Begin with some basic information about the round goby. You will have many goby fish, available to you, so you can begin by getting students familiar with the fish themselves. a. Let students observe the fish as they swim in the fish tank. What do you notice? They will mention coloration, shape, location in the tank, and behaviors. Students can record what they see on the fish tank diagram of the datasheet. b. Teach them how to identify a round goby: fused pelvic fins, black spot on dorsal fin, body shape, eye position, coloration c. If you have other fish in the tank, identify those species too. It is not important to use the fish key, although you can if you want to or have time. Record observations on the datasheet, but remember these fish came from the minnow traps, and many of the fish in the traps were put there by Inland Seas so this data is not meaningful in any way. d. Describe the introduction and current status of the round goby population i. Round gobies are non-native species. They are native to the Black and Caspian Sea regions, which are roughly situated between southeastern Europe and Asia. These seas are less salty than the oceans, but are not freshwater. Ships that travelled from this region to the Great Lakes accidentally carried round gobies in their ballast water. Explain how ballast works. Round gobies have flexible physiology and can survive just fine in fresh or somewhat salty water. Ballast water of ships that travel only in the Great Lakes have probably been responsible for transporting the species throughout the Great Lakes. ii. Observers first discovered the round goby near Detroit in Lake St Claire in 1990. We found them for the first time in Suttons Bay in 2005. iii. Since then their populations have grown tremendously. Pass around the fish pie charts that show the increase in goby dominance over time. Let

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

students interpret the figure. They should notice that since 2007 over 85% of the catch has been the round goby. There are many other important and interesting patterns in the pie, line, and bar charts. It might be worth it to spend time identifying patterns in diversity, change, numbers, and specific species.

3. Round Goby Ecology Next go into greater detail about how Round Goby interact with the Great Lakes food web. It is not necessary to cover everything here; there more than enough to fill the time. a. Look again at the pie charts that show round goby abundance. i. Notice patterns in the diversity (number of species, and relative abundance of each species) prior to round goby introduction and after. ii. Notice similarities and differences from year to year. iii. What effect are the gobies having on other forage fish populations? The pie charts show percentages of the catch, but not the total number in the catch. We wondered, perhaps it is only the round goby numbers that are increasing, while numbers of other fish are remaining constant, so we made bar charts that also show total numbers: b. Show the bar charts, first the one with the round goby present. Bar charts show the number of round gobies relative to other species. What do students notice? i. They should see increasing number of fish caught, and particularly increasing numbers of round goby caught. 2014 was a low year for all species and the round goby contributed 91% of the individuals caught – that the round goby is an increasing percentage of a decreasing number of fish suggests that there are fewer non-gobies than every before. ii. The bar chart that excludes the round goby gives a clearer picture of how numbers of other populations are changing. The number of non-gobies has decreased quite a bit since 2007. (The cold winters in ‘13/’14 and ‘14/’15 could have reduced all fish populations, but it is difficult to attribute all of the change to cold water alone without more evidence. We will keep monitoring every year!) c. Then show the Scatter plots. They show how much round goby numbers have increased compared to the change in number of other species. Pay attention to differences in the y-axis scale on these graphs, because they are not all equivalent. d. Ask students to predict the features that make it possible for a species (like the round goby) to increase its numbers so rapidly. Round gobies exhibit many characteristics common to all invasive species, and students should be able to come up with most of these on their own. You can expand on each idea with specific facts about round gobies. i. High reproductive rate: Gobies can reproduce every 6 weeks during the warm months, which in our region means gobies reproduce 2-3 times a year (keep an eye out for tiny gobies in the trawl net). Native fish reproduce once per year. Gobies have very high hatching success because they defend their nest vigorously – over 90% survival rates. ii. Very territorial: Gobies defend nesting grounds aggressively. This makes it hard for other fish to find nesting space.

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

iii. Very competitive: Gobies eat the eggs of other species, reducing their reproductive success. They also eat invertebrates that other fish like. The sheer number of gobies relative to other fish makes them strong competitors. iv. Unlimited food source: Adult gobies eat zebra and quagga mussels, which are essentially unlimited. At this point we do not expect gobies to be able to control mussel populations. v. Limited predation: When gobies were first introduced they were not eaten. They are hard to see and move differently than other fish. Yet today, many predators feed on them regularly if not primarily: lake trout, bass, and cormorants are common predators, but nearly everything (save salmon) eat them. Predation may control goby populations eventually. vi. Ability to tolerate a wide-range of conditions: Yep.

4. The research project Now, if we take our trawl data and extrapolate it out to estimate round goby populations in Lake Michigan, we learn that there are about 2 kilotons of round gobies in Lake Michigan. (The USGS also collects trawl data to estimate fish populations in the Great Lakes, and their numbers are quite similar to Inland Seas’ data) As dramatic as this sounds, it is basically nothing.

For comparison (this may not be meaningful to your students, but it might be helpful to you) in 1960 the alewife population was estimated to be 500 kilotons, a level that , in part, warranted the introduction of salmon to control them.

Researchers and fishermen alike have seen that round gobies are a dominant food source for predator fish in the Great Lakes. When predator fish stomach contents are observed (which all fishermen and many researchers do) it is found to be mostly the round goby. If we were to estimate round goby populations from stomach contents alone, there are about 10 kilotons of round gobies in Lake Michigan. So certainly the estimate of 2 kilotons is too low, additionally there are lots of gobies that are never eaten so there are definitely more than 10 kilotons, but how much more and why are we under-estimating so dramatically?

Bottom trawls are conducted on soft substrate (because the equipment will be destroyed on a rocky bottom). Although gobies do occupy soft bottoms, they seem to prefer rocky areas, and therefore have very patchy distribution. These rocky areas are called reefs – similar to a reef in the ocean, but the structure is provided by rocks, not corals. When gobies are counted on rocky substrate we learn that there are 10 to 30 times more gobies on reefs than on soft bottoms.

When researchers extrapolate goby numbers on rocky bottoms to all of the rocky substrate in Lake Michigan, they estimate there are 980 kilotons (nearly a megaton) of round gobies in Lake Michigan. This number is likely an over-estimate. The true number is probably somewhere between 2 kilotons and 980 kilotons, but where?

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

The round goby is the most important prey fish in Lake Michigan, it drives the populations of all of the game fish in the lake, except salmon. We need to know what is going on with goby populations if we want to understand and manage the fishery in the Great Lakes. This means we need to get good estimates of goby populations on rocky substrates, but as it turns out, gobies are not all that easy to collect.

Researchers use minnow traps to collect round gobies from rocky substrates. They lower the trap (usually with some sort of bait) and wait. Lots of times when the traps come up they are completely empty, but occasionally there are 100 or more fish in one trap. What causes this difference? To find out researchers have attached video cameras to the traps to observe goby behavior. What they find is very interesting.

First, it is common to put a trap in an area with lots of gobies, yet not a single goby will enter the trap. This means the trap is not catching the fish that are there, and therefore not effectively estimating numbers in that area. How do we improve the efficiency of the traps?

This second observation gives a clue. By videotaping the trap itself, researchers have seen a single goby hang out in the mouth of the trap for a while, seemingly considering whether to go in or not. If that single goby ends its long contemplation and enters the trap, many other gobies follow. They seem to be very gregarious! Does this mean we should bait the traps with live gobies? Your work on the ship is to design and carry out a research project that tries to get an answer about what makes minnow traps more or less effective for round gobies.

What will you put in each trap?

5. Solutions to the Round Goby problem • Not much can be done to limit goby populations. They are very widespread and since they are now a favored food source for many species, the food web might actually suffer if they were removed. • BUT this does not stop folks from trying. Research is underway to devise methods to limit goby invasion and reduce populations • The BEST thing we can do is improve habitat conditions for native fish. In all of the years ISEA has been recording data the number of species has remained constant, at about 13. Even with the goby, there are still a good number of species represented. This means that if the goby does decline the species that remain will have a chance to rebuild their populations. BUT this will only be possible if a diversity of native fish remain. By interacting with the water in ways that improve water quality we improve the chances that native fish will be able to hang on in case the goby declines. • Another way to improve habitat is to build habitat. Just offshore of Elk Rapids is one of the best (if not the best) spawning reef in Lake Michigan. Adjacent to this excellent reef is a poor reef. It is poor because although native fish lay their eggs there (lake trout, cisco (aka lake herring), lake whitefish) none of them hatch because round gobies and rusty crayfish eat them all before they even have a chance. The Nature Conservancy, MI DNR, and Central Michigan University worked

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

together to design a reef system that would protect the eggs, much like the high quality reef does. After several seasons of monitoring, they built the reef in late summer 2015 and now they will see what happens, and will find out if it worked. o A small amount of pristine habitat can have a much bigger positive impact than a large amount of moderate habitat. It is not necessary to improve habitat everywhere – there is just too much and it would be too expensive - but an investment in small, critical areas can make all the difference. o This Nature Conservancy website is full of great information and videos about this project and native fish management in general. Required reading!

6. Secchi depth and ecosystem change conversation Do your best to guide the students through identifying and explaining the trends in Secchi depth change over time. What do the students already understand? What can they figure out? Try using questions like these: • How do you think the secchi disk works to measure water clarity? • What things might influence water clarity? • Why do you think the annual graph shows less clarity at the end of the year as compared to the beginning of the year? • What is the trend of water clarity since 1989? Since 2013? • In what ways might increasing water clarity be good? In what ways might it be bad? • What might be influencing the trend since 2013? • How does water clarity influence fish populations?

7. Learn how to process fish samples Prepare students to process the fish that come in. The traps will be in the water for about two hours. When the traps come in, the fish inside them will need to be processed. We will identify and measure every fish. Students will need to learn how to use the equipment, record data, and properly measure a fish. Use a live or dead fish (which ever we have onboard) to demonstrate how to measure a fish. Put the nose of the fish at the flat end of the measure board and note where the tail hits, to the nearest half cm. a. Crayfish may also be collected in the minnow traps. Describe how to identify rusty from native crayfish (rusty crayfish have a reddish spot on either side of the carapace). And describe how to measure them. Calipers are used to measure the length of the carapace, to the nearest mm. Use pictures in the fish key as visuals. b. If other fish are collected we will do our best to identify and measure them. They are not the focus of the study, but they are interesting nonetheless! c. We are not concerned with teaching students how to use a dichotomous key in this program. A dichotomous key is one way to learn species names and is the only way if you do not have access to an expert. But if you have access to an expert (and as the instructor you are the expert on gobies, crayfish, and maybe other species such as rock bass), the expert provide information on how to identify species. d. Show students how to use the data sheet. i. Treatments should already be filled in next to each trap number.

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

ii. Next to each treatment, record length of each fish in a different box. The boxes are numbered 1-20 for easy counting. iii. If there are more than 20 fish in a trap use the overflow datasheet to record additional individuals. iv. In the next column record the total number of gobies found in that trap. v. The final column can be used to record the name and length of any non- goby species captured in the trap. The final column can also hold notes. vi. After all lengths are recorded, summarize the data in the table at the bottom of the datasheet. List all treatments in the first column and the total number captured in all traps for each species. Please do this, it helps a lot.

8. More weather if time

11:00/3:45 Collect traps 20 min

The crew or lead instructor will let you know when it is time to collect the minnow traps. Stop teaching with plenty of time for the students to be completely ready to assist with hauling in the traps. The crew will explain everything the group needs to know.

When we get close to the traps, the crew will use a grappling hook to snag a line that is connected between the staff buoy (and the mushroom anchor) and a floating buoy. When the line is snagged we have a hold of the traps and can begin hauling them in. The Mate will direct this process and may or may not involve the students, depending on conditions.

Arrange traps on deck in an orderly way. Remember trap #1 is closest to the anchor and should be the last trap to come on board. Fish remain in the minnow traps until they are counted. Gobies can typically survive for 30 min without water. If there are non-gobies, fill washbasins or the black fish box with water and put the traps into the basins. The fish in the bottom of the trap will then have access to water.

11:20/4:05 Process fish and analyze data 30 min 1. Process fish in an orderly fashion: a. Remove traps one at a time in order. Verify the treatment before counting the fish. Students can organize themselves into an assembly line that removes fish from the traps, measures them, and records information. One person should do all of the recording, for clarity. b. Put live fish and crayfish into the main aquarium. We will keep them for the next trip, although we don’t need more than 25 gobies. Everything else can go back into the lake. c. Tidy materials and area as you process. Clean and stow unneeded equipment (rinse, disassemble and stack minnow traps; empty and rinse bait bags, and place them in the bait bag bucket), but keep fish and the sampling equipment nearby for the peer teaching rotation.

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

2. Complete the data sheet and tally fish numbers from each treatment. Create a graph that displays the number of gobies per treatments. Identify and discuss trends. How do your results compare to results from previous trips?

3. Prepare students for their presentation. Students will have about 3 minutes to present what they know to the other students. Take some time to prepare the students for their talk. Ask the students: a. What is it the other students need to know about round gobies and your research? This is super important to figure out, and not obvious or easy. The presentation will be meaningful to other students if it says something, so help your students figure out what it is they want other students to know. Create a thesis. Some things to consider: i. What does a round goby look like? ii. What impact do round gobies have on the ecosystem? iii. What is our research question? Why is it interesting/important? iv. Why we are collecting gobies with minnow traps? Why gobies are so important to the Great Lakes right now? v. What bait did we use in the traps? Show how the minnow traps work. vi. Share the outcome of the research – What bait is more effective for capturing round gobies? vii. Show the fish that were collected today. viii. How can you tell a rusty from a native crayfish? b. Which the visuals do students want to use? (minnow traps, collected fish, graphs from prior research, their graphs, etc.) c. Work together to choose what students want to say and take some time to practice the presentation.

11:50/4:35 Peer teaching 20 min

Each group will need to breakup in a way that sends the individuals in the group to different new groups. The lead instructor will instruct you on how to number your students so they divide appropriately into new groups. Guidelines for how to break into groups match the guidelines in the Next-Gen program.

The new groups will contain one or more individuals from each of the original groups. The new groups will rotate around the boat to visit each instructor. When they visit each instructor the student(s) from the group who worked with that instructor will present on the topic they have been studying. Students have 3 minutes to present, giving 1 min to rotate between instructors.

In your case, the students in the fish group will each go to a different group. In their new groups they will visit each of the instructors, one at a time. When each fish student gets to you, the fish instructor, the student will teach their colleagues what they have been learning and what their colleagues need to know about round gobies and the research the students just performed.

Here is a sample outline of their presentation, but each group will devise their own thing.

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

1. What is the research question? What is the best way to bait a minnow trap if we want to catch round gobies? 2. Why is this question important? a. Round gobies have outcompeted many native species, and are now super abundant (show pie and bar charts) b. They are the most important prey species in Lake Michigan (predator fish are packed full of them) c. Round gobies prefer to live on rocky substrate, but it is hard to sample here. Most of our sampling is done with nets on soft bottoms. Therefore, we don’t know how many gobies there are, which makes it difficult to manage the fishery. 3. How did you collect the data? Show how minnow traps work and the baits you used. 4. What did you learn? 1. Show the fish you collected. 2. Show the graph of your results and point out interesting features. 3. What do you conclude about the best bait for catching round gobies?

IMPORTANT: Datasheets and graphs remain with the instructor so all students have access to them when teaching.

12:10/4:55 Clean up and Conclude 20 min

1. Check all data sheets to be sure they are completely and accurately filled in. This is VERY important. If datasheets are incomplete or incorrect, the data will be invalid.

2. Tidy your materials and area. Students can help you. Clean and stow unneeded equipment, but keep samples and the sampling equipment nearby for the peer teaching rotation.

3. Do a closing/wrap-up of some kind before the peer teaching rotation. Ask reflective questions in your small group to wrap up the experience. Here are four ideas:

A. Try the stewardship questions: 1. What is the most important thing you learned today? 2. Compare how you thought about the Great Lakes before you got on the ship to how you think about them now. 3. What do you want other people to know about the Great Lakes? 4. What do you wish for the Great Lakes? What is your vision for the Great Lakes? What can be done to make that wish/vision a reality?

B. Discuss solving environmental problems: 1. What are some environmental problems you think about? 2. Are environmental problems easily solved? Why or why not? 3. Who (or which agency/organization) is most responsible for solving environmental problems?

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

4. Who are the stakeholders that should be included when developing solutions to environmental problems? (A stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by a decision) How should we decide which stakeholders have a voice? Are all stakeholders important? Are they all equally important? Which ones are the most important? 5. Are human interactions with nature always negative? Give some examples of negative interactions between humans and nature. Give some examples of positive interactions between humans and nature.

C. Try a careers oriented closing: 6. Our mission at Inland Seas is to promote Great Lakes stewardship. What does stewardship mean? Why is it important? 7. How do scientists act as stewards of the Great Lakes? Help students dig deeply into it. How can what we learned about plankton help us be stewards of the Great Lakes? How does information about the lakes help us to be stewards? 8. How many of you would like to do something with science, engineering, or technology for a career? Did this experience help you decide what you want to do, or what you don’t want to do? 9. What other careers do people have that allow them to be stewards of the Great Lakes?

D. Find out what they learned in the peer teaching rotation: 1. How was the peer teaching experience for you? How did it feel to share what we studied? Do you feel like you did a good job? What do you wish you had done differently? What went really well? 2. What did you learn from the other groups? (go through each one) 3. Now that you have learned so much, what questions do you have? What do you want to find out more about?

4. Thank your group for their hard work and contributions to our knowledge about the Bay.

12:30/5:15 Disembark 20 min

Lead instructor will lead thank you for the instructors and crew and share closing thoughts. Students will disembark.

12:35/5:20 Final Touches 10 min

Completely clean up your station, Including: £ Discard any used bait in the trash cans, not overboard £ Rinse traps and bait bags to rid them of debris £ Give all datasheets to the lead instructor £ Let the Lead instructor know if you are low on extra datasheets

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group

Materials provided to classrooms before they come

Inland Seas provides preparation documents for the students to engage with before they come so they understand the research question and have time to modify the procedures to suite their interests. If you want to see these documents, visit the Volunteer portal (http://schoolship.org/volunteer/volunteer-portal/). Enter the password. Scroll down to Volunteer Training Resources, and click on the Diving Deeper tab.

Social Media challenge (optional)

Script: Who here uses social media? What kinds of things do you post on your Twitter feed or Instagram account?

Each of us posts things that we care about, and things that are interesting to us. What we post reflects what we value. Sounds like you value (humor), (sports), (your family), and (nature). (list things that students say they post about)

An important part of science is sharing the information we learn. How do scientists share what they have learned? Write papers, present to other people, give interviews to reporters, post to social media. Right. And some scientists also use social media. The trouble is, the people who follow them are mostly other scientists, so the information they learn is not going to the general population.

Today, you are doing original work to learn about the Great Lakes, and you can share what you are learning with your audience on social media. You have the ability to reach people who scientists can’t. If you value the Great Lakes it make sense to post about them to your Twitter feed.

For the next 10 min, come up with 3 or more posts to social media that will inform people about the Great Lakes and speak to your peer group – not your grandparents. Create twitter posts, share pictures, make a tiny video. Post to your feed and tag Inland Seas.

How many of you read the feeds of other people? What are the most common things other people post about?

The thing about social media is that we can’t read only what we value, we read whatever other people put out there. And what other people put out there influences how we see the world and what we think about the world.

As a person who posts to social media you have the power to influence the people in your audience and shift the collective message about what matters to your community.

At Inland Seas what we value most are the Great Lakes. What would happen if people posted about the Great Lakes as often as the posted about cute puppies, or videos of people

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org Diving Deeper Schoolship Instructor Manual Fish Group doing stupid things? It would definitely get people thinking about the Great Lakes more than they already do.

These instructions are laminated on a half sheet of white paper in your folder:

If the Great Lakes are something you value, then share what you value with the world. You have the power to influence your audience. What do they need to know?

Create 3 or more posts about the Great Lakes for social media that will connect people to the Great Lakes, inform them, inspire them to care, or call them to action.

Speak to your peer group – not your grandparents.

Create twitter posts, share pictures, make a tiny video, etc.

Post to your feed and tag Inland Seas.

Twitter: @inlandseas Instagram: iseaschoolship Facebook: Inland Seas Education Association

Last updated: 9/11/17 Inland Seas Education Association • schoolship.org