Aya Tajiri: NC AFS Chapter 2006 Hutton Scholar
(see photos below)

The North Carolina Chapter of the American Fisheries Society successfully mentored an AFS Hutton Scholar this summer!  We commited to financially support and mentor a high-school student from NC selected by the Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program of the AFS parent society.  Our Scholar was Aya Tajiri, a high-school junior, and she participated in a suite of varied summer fisheries projects coordinated by Tom Kwak of the NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

Aya began her Hutton Scholar Summer Internship on 19 June 2006.  Her first activity was to join Tom Kwak at his undergraduate field course in Fisheries Techniques and Management, which is an intensive field course for Fisheries and Wildlife majors at NC State.  Her activities there focused on fish and invertebrate sampling techniques in ponds and rivers, interpretation of sampling data, and water quality measurements, as well as interacting with undergraduate and graduate students at NC State.

She then assisted NC State graduate student Jessica Brewster in field activities related to studying feeding preferences of introduced flathead catfish.  In that activity, she was part of a field team including Michael Fisk (NCSU biologist), Patrick Cooney (NCSU biologist), and Ryan Spidel (NCSU undergraduate summer intern).  Other activities with NC State faculty and students included participating in an intensive fishery assessment of Lake Raleigh, a small impoundment on the NC State Centennial Campus, that was recently dammed following failure of the previous dam during Hurricane Fran.  This assessment was associated with a university class instructed by Joe Hightower (NC Coop Unit) and Tom Kwak and included participation by NC Wildlife Resources Commission Biologists Kirk Rundle, Brian McRae, and Christian Waters.  She also assisted Ryan Murashige, a Research Assistant working with Harry Daniels (NC State), for several days to culture blue crabs and marine fish in closed systems.

Aya also participated in a number of activities off-campus with other active NC Chapter members.  She spent several days assisting and learning to identify, sort, and process preserved fishes from field surveys conducted by the NC Division of Water Quality with Ernie Haine and Bryn Tracy; these activities also included excising white muscle fillet samples for contaminant analyses.  Mentored by Greg Cope (NC State) and Ryan Heise (NC Wildlife Resources Commission), Aya participated in two long days of sampling freshwater mussels in the Deep River of North Carolina.  This assessment was part of ongoing cooperative research to evaluate the effects of dam removal on fish and mussel assemblages in the river.  She later spent one week with Conservation Educators at the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, leading their Junior Biologist Camp.  She worked with staff educators Susannah Thompson and Beth Folta in that outreach activity.  Aya also spent a week working with the fish collection manager and curator (Gabriela Hogue and Wayne Starnes) at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, learning about museum collections and assisting with fish sorting, collection organizing, and database management.  During her final week, Aya met with Kim Sparks, an IT specialist from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, to learn about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their application to natural resources.  Her internship was concluded on 11 August 2006 with a few days to recover before starting her senior year of high school.

During her Hutton Scholar Internship, Aya experienced and assisted in many diverse activities with various NC AFS Chapter members spanning the breadth of fishery science, natural resource education, and science professionals.  Discussions with Aya and her mentors suggest that this activity was rewarding to both the student and mentors.  It was a successful activity that will shape the future for Aya, and in some small way, for all of us.  The Hutton Program is holding up our achievement as a model for other chapters to follow.  Special thanks go to our Chapter members that participated -- it was a success only because of their energy and enthusiasm!

Photos & Captions:
 

Aya Tajiri backpack electrofishing the Flat River, NC, with undergraduate students attending a summer field course in fisheries techniques and management, instructed by Tom Kwak. Aya collecting water samples from Slocum Pond on Hill Forest, a NC State University field station, to be analyzed for water quality parameters. Aya with undergraduate NC State students showing off catch from an angling exercise to estimate the largemouth bass population size using mark-recapture techniques. Aya with fellow anglers in the mark-recapture exercise -- undergraduate and graduate students from NC State University. Aya with Bryn Tracy, NC Division of Water Quality Biologist, removing white muscle tissue from NC stream fishes to be analyzed for contaminant concentrations. Aya with NC Division of Water Quality Summer Intern, Ernie Haine, sorting preserved fish samples collected to assess stream biotic integrity. Aya Tajiri learning to drive an outboard motorboat, instructed by Patrick Cooney (NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Research Biologist) -- Hang On! Aya returning a fair-sized flathead catfish that she collected in tethering experiments on the Cape Fear River, NC, to determine feeding preferences of this introduced fish. Aya with NC State graduate student Jessica Brewster petting their favorite kitty — a 41-lb flathead catfish captured on the Cape Fear River, NC. Aya with Tom Kwak measuring a brown bullhead collected in a fishery assessment of Lake Raleigh. Lake Raleigh is a NC State campus lake being studied as part of a small impoundments management class instructed by Tom Kwak and Joe Hightower (NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit). Aya boat electrofishing near the dam of Lake Raleigh. Ryan Spidel (undergraduate summer intern at the NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit) is driving, and Patrick Cooney (NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Research Biologist) is also dipping fish. Aya instructing Raleigh middle-school students on wetland ecology at the week-long Junior Biologist Camp offered by the Conservation Education Division of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. . Aya Tajiri backpack electrofishing the Flat River, NC, with undergraduate students attending a summer field course in fisheries techniques and management, instructed by Tom Kwak.