Dingle 7: Three Fish Four Fish.....and a blog out of order in the fog

Monday July 15 Sarah Coloney
        Our fishing adventures are not over! Today we began our day at 8:30am when we went down to the classroom to grab our waders and walked to the shoreline. This is where we met up with Kevin Flannery, one of the founders of Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium. Today Kevin taught us how to do
quantitative collection via seine netting.
        Seine netting is essentially using a large net to create a wall that has the ability to scoop up fish, crustaceans, and other organisms. Instead of going out on a large charter boat, we used a smaller seine net where we went into the water with our waders on. We formed a semicircle with the net and then exited the water and pulled on the ropes on both sides of the net to drag the seine net to shore with our caught oceanic creatures (and of course, seaweed). We caught a variety of organisms including sticklebacks, snails, shrimp, blennies, wrasses, and crabs. This scale and method of seine netting is a prime example of how to collect data on the oceanic biodiversity of Dingle’s coastline (or any coastline!).
        But that wasn’t all Kevin had to share with us today. We then ventured to the harbor where we got a tour of one of the fishing boats named Rabelais Bayonne. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting but I can tell you it was so much more complex than expected.
        Next Kevin gave us a backroom tour of the aquarium. In this space we saw where they fostered several tanks to either support the health of various species or allow a safe habitat for the hatching of
eggs. We saw a variety of species including toads, octopi, lobsters, pollock, sea turtles, jellyfish, shark eggs, and sharks! And this is where our adventures with Kevin came to a close.
        After lunch and an inevitable power nap, we made a trek up Conor Pass (or tried to). The cloud coverage on the mountain was so thick that we could not see far in front of us and as we gained elevation, the wind started to pick up. Between the weather conditions and the rough condition our feet were in from our other Dingle adventures, we made the decision to turn around. While we did have to turn around, it was incredible being in the clouds of Ireland with the sheep.
        At the end of the day, we were very much ready for dinner. Since we didn’t have any dinner plans, we decided to go to the supermarket and craft an elaborate pasta dinner.