WWU students conduct fish monitoring at Little Squalicum Estuary

On any given day, at any given moment, below the surface of even the calmest of waters, life abounds.

This rainy spring morning wasn’t all that calm, but the rain didn’t deter students in Associate Professor Kathryn Sobocinski’s Marine Fish Ecology (MACS 424) class. The group was collecting fish using beach seine nets at the Little Squalicum Estuary to determine which species and how many were using the estuary.

They identified shiner perch with their shimmering yellow stripes, Pacific staghorn sculpin with antler-like spines at each side of their head to help them escape predators, starry flounder whose name comes from the constellation of white dots on their dark sides, one tiny gold-plated stickleback, arrow goby, a cluster of eggs, a whole lot of tangled algae and eelgrass, and, most importantly, juvenile coho and Chinook salmon.

“This is the first time I’ve had a class where I’m out in the field, and I love it,” said Mary Cochran, an Environmental Sciences - Marine Science major whose favorite part of the day was holding and measuring the fish.

“Students are always surprised at the number and the variety of fish that we catch with a simple beach seine,” said Sobocinski, an associate professor in the Marine and Coastal Science (MACS) program and the Environmental Sciences (ESCI) department, who also runs WWU’s Coastal and Marine Fish Ecology Lab.

This is the second year that Sobocinski has partnered with the City of Bellingham and Lummi Department of Natural Resources (LNR) to bring her students to the estuary to conduct fish monitoring.

Little Squalicum Estuary, located about two miles east of where the Nooksack River empties into Bellingham Bay, was completed in 2024 as part of a City of Bellingham project that created the estuary and surrounding habitat.

The class is a combination of students from MACS, ESCI, and Biology. Throughout the quarter, Sobocinski integrates field learning to show applications of the fish ecology work students are learning about.

“Field work is integral, because unlike studying trees, you can’t just look and see them,” said Sobocinski. “We have collected demersal fishes using a beam trawl, assisted Skagit River System Cooperative with fyke netting a tidal slough, and gone snorkeling. This has brought the subject matter to the surface in several forms!”

The field trips give students a chance to learn about different field methods and see a variety of habitats.

“My favorite field trip was snorkeling in a kelp forest,” said Hazel Lloyd, who graduated spring quarter with a bachelor’s degree in Marine and Coastal Science. “We had the opportunity to see small schools of fish, rockfish, and many invertebrates we don't often get to see.”

Beach seining is a common method for collecting fish. A seine is a rectangular fishing net with floats running the length of one long side and weights along the other, working together to keep the net vertical in the water.

Despite the choppy waters in Bellingham Bay, the students are well-practiced and working as a team to use a 15-meter-long seine to collect fish along the nearshore at the opening of Little Squalicum Creek.

Everyone is wearing tall boots and chest waders, and now we know why. One student stands on the shoreline, slowly unspooling the net, while others begin to carefully walk the net out into the water in a wide arc. The weights on the bottom of the net drag along the sea floor, and the floats keep the top of the net on the surface and prevent the fish from escaping. Now maneuvering in chest-high water, they all work together to circle the net back to the beach, where they close the loop and tighten the lead lines to create a purse and enclose fish in the bowl of the net.

From the beach, the entire group jumps in to help haul in the purse, which is heavy when full of drift algae.

Then, it’s a treasure hunt as everyone gathers around to sift through the net to retrieve fish, eelgrass, trash, and whatever else they’ve collected.

They transfer the fish to buckets filled with water and collectively identify, measure, and record their finds before returning the fish back to their habitat.

This day, the class practiced beach seining four times, at both ends of the estuary and twice on the beach face near the mouth of the creek where it opens into the bay. After they return the fish to the water, they do a quick water quality check, noting the temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen levels. Back in the lab, students had a chance to work with the data they collected.

Sophie Shafer, who plans to graduate this summer with a degree in Environmental Science with a marine emphasis, developed a number of new skills in this class she expects to use as she pursues a career in deep-sea ecology. “We did two beach seines,” said Shafer, “the first one I had Professor Sobocinski assist me in leading the net through the water and back to shore. By the second seine, I was able to lead the net on my own!”

Zoë Lewis (’22, M.S. Biology, Marine and Estuarine Sciences), a fish biologist with the Stock Assessment division at Lummi Natural Resources (LNR), was on hand all morning to work with any salmon that were collected. Lewis’s team at LNR is monitoring salmon populations in the Nooksack watershed with surveys and genetic samples.

“It’s cool to see the energy,” said Lewis. “This class is great. They’re always diving in, filling buckets. Interested. I feel like it’s a good opportunity for students to see that there’s research going on right here.” 

Over the quarter, students gained hands-on experience in field collection methods and, in the case of fish sampling at Little Squalicum Estuary, got to contribute to an ongoing project. 

“I hope to continue working with coastal systems, conservation efforts, and community outreach,” said Lloyd. “It was extremely useful to be exposed to different projects going on in the county that are doing just that.”

This net sampling of the estuary will be used to form baseline data that will be expanded over time. According to the City of Bellingham, finding a variety of fish, including several salmon species, suggests the project is successfully expanding lost estuarine habitat for the species that depend on this limited habitat.

Learn about WWU’s marine science degree options through the Marine and Coastal Science program and Environmental Sciences department.

Jennifer Nerad covers Western's College of the Environment for the Office of University Communications. Have a great story idea? Reach out to her at neradj@wwu.edu.