Robin Barefield's Blog, page 9
October 7, 2018
How Can You Tell if a Kodiak Bear is a Male or a Female?
Unlike cartoon bears, female Kodiak bears don’t wear hair ribbons on their head, so you must depend on other factors when trying to differentiate a male from a female bear. Last week, when I wrote about how to judge the size of a bear, I covered some of the ways body shape and musculature vary between males and females, but I will cover body shape and other clues in more detail this week.
[image error]Does the Bear Have Cubs?
This statement seems so obvious to me that I almost forgot to mention it. I’m sure most of you know male bears do not hang around with cubs. Regardless of what you might have seen in the movies, a Kodiak bear accompanying cubs is always their mother.
Do you see sex organs?[image error]
Minus cubs, there are only two sure ways to determine the sex of a Kodiak bear. The first is the presence of either nipples or a penis sheath and testicles. Even if you don’t see her cubs, you might see nipples in the armpit area of a nursing female when she walks. While often not visible, you sometimes see the penis sheath and testicles on a male, especially on a large boar.
[image error]Have you seen the bear urinate?
The only other way to be certain of the sex of the bear is to watch it urinate. Females urinate outward and to the rear, while males urinate straight down or forward between the legs. Females also sometimes squat to urinate.
Head and Shoulders:[image error]
If you do not see cubs or sex organs, and if the bear is not cooperative enough to urinate in front of you, you will have to depend on other clues to make an educated guess at the sex of the bear. Some of these are the same body shape differences I covered last week when I discussed how to determine the size of a bear.
A female brown bear’s head is narrower than a male’s, and her muzzle tapers, giving her a pointy nose. A female also has narrow shoulders roughly the same size as the head. Male Kodiak bears are more muscular than females. A male has a wide head and a square face. A large male’s forehead muscles bulge, creating a furrow or valley down the center of the forehead, and his massive shoulders are noticeably wider than his head.
[image error]Body Shape and Legs:
An adult female brown bear’s legs are shorter and thinner than the legs of an adult male, but unless you are comparing two bears standing side by side, it is not easy to determine the sex of the bear by looking at its legs. Males have robust front legs, and they are heavy through the ankles, ending at their wide feet. A female’s legs taper slightly, giving her the appearance of thinner ankles. Also, because females have shorter legs, their bodies hang lower to the ground.
The body, legs, and mid-section of a male brown bear look heavy and bulky, but since females aren’t exactly dainty in appearance, it is difficult and often misleading to use body shape to determine the sex of a bear. My husband, who had been around Kodiak bears all his life and has been a guide most of his life, says he is still sometimes surprised when he watches a young bear he is certain is a female until the bear urinates, and he realizes it’s a male.
Conclusion:[image error]
Unless a bear has cubs, you see her nipples or his genitalia, or you see the bear urinate, it is impossible definitively to differentiate male and female Kodiak bears. A huge bear is probably a boar, but large sows can also look huge, especially after a summer gorging on fish and berries.
The body shape of a bear provides clues to its gender. A heavy, bulky bear with a wide head and shoulders and a furrow down the middle of its forehead, is likely a male. It is more difficult, though, to distinguish sub-adult males from females.
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I hope my posts on bear size and gender answer a few questions about identifying bears in the field. The bottom line is that it’s impossible to pin down the gender of a bear from a distance, but you should be able to tell whether the bear is small or large by looking at the shape of its body.
Next week, I have a treat in store for you. My friend and fellow author, Steve Levi, has agreed to write a guest post about his books and his background. Be sure to stop by next week and meet Steve.
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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
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The post How Can You Tell if a Kodiak Bear is a Male or a Female? appeared first on Robin Barefield.
September 30, 2018
How Do You Estimate the Size of a Kodiak Bear?
When our summer guests see a bear, they immediately want to know its size. They ask, “How much does it weigh?” or, “Is it a big bear or a small bear?” If you see a Kodiak bear ten feet in front of you on a trail, it looks huge, but the same bear walking along the beach a mile away appears small. Guides who have spent years watching bears can easily tell you whether a bear is big, small, or medium-sized, but it’s not easy even for an experienced guide to judge the exact size of a bear from a distance. In this week’s post, I will discuss the indicators a guide uses to judge the relative size of a bear, but first, let me share some facts about the weight of Kodiak bears at different ages as they grow.
Kodiak bears gain weight and add fat in the summer when food is abundant, and then they [image error]burn off this fat during hibernation, so their weights vary from fall to spring. Yearling cubs weigh approximately 135 lbs (61.36 kg). When they are two-and one-half-years old, males begin to outgrow the females, and weights vary greatly. Females reach their full adult size at approximately five years when they weigh between 350 and 500 lbs. (159.09 – 227.27 kg). Males continue to grow, gaining about 100 lbs. (45.45 kg) per year until they are eight to ten years old and weigh 500 to 1000 lbs. (227.27 – 454.54 kg). In the wild, an 800 lb. ( 362.87 kg) female would be a huge sow, and a 1500 lb. ( 680.39 kg) male is a maximum-sized Kodiak bear. The largest Kodiak bear on record lived in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and weighed 1670 lbs. (757 kg.).
When you see a bear on a salmon stream or watch him through binoculars, you might not be able to determine how big he is, but you should be able to tell whether he or she is relatively large or small.
Shape:[image error]
Look at the bear’s overall shape. Does the bear appear square or rectangular? Young, small bears look square from a distance, while larger Kodiak bears have a rectangular shape. A larger, older boar also appears bulky through the rump and midsection.
Legs:[image error]
Are the bear’s legs long or short, and thin or heavy?
Big males have long legs. The front legs on a large male appear heavy and do not taper at the ankles. A young male brown bear also has long legs, but they look lanky, not thick and heavy. A Female, even an old female, has shorter legs, making her body appear closer to the ground. A female’s front legs taper at the ankles.
Head Neck and Shoulders:[image error]
Note the size of the ears in relation to the rest of the head. The ears on a large male or female bear appear small compared to the rest of the head, and on a large male, the ears appear wide-set. The ears on a young, small bear look large in comparison to the rest of the head and seem closer together. Now, look at the shape of the head. A large boar has a wide, square face with a thick, heavy muzzle. A sow has a small, narrow head with a tapered muzzle, and a young bear has a long, triangular head.[image error]
The massive muscles on the head of a large boar create a furrow down the middle of the forehead, and its muscular shoulders are wider than its head. A female has narrow shoulders the same width as her head, and a young bear has a long, relatively thin neck.
Claws:[image error]
Old, big bears of either sex often have distinctive white claws, but a male can be big without being old, so a big boar might have dark claws, and occasionally, a younger, smaller bear has white claws.
Conclusion:
If you’ve never seen a Kodiak bear in the wild, how can you tell if it has small ears, broad shoulders, or tapered ankles? If you see several bears at once, you can study and note the physical differences between big bears and smaller, younger bears, but if you see a single bear walking the beach, these general clues to size might not help you. My husband has been a bear guide for most of his life, and he says the best clues are:[image error]
1. The shape: is the bear rectangular (large) or square (small)?
2. Does the bear appear bulky and muscular (large) or does it have long, lanky limbs (small)?
3. Finally, and this point is often overlooked, how does the bear move? Watch the bear awhile. Does he walk or run in jerky movements (small), or are his movements slow and deliberate (large)?
Examine the photos in this post. Can you tell which bears are large and which are small?
Next week, I’ll share some clues on how to differentiate between male and female Kodiak bears. It’s not as easy as you might think, and unlike in the cartoons, females don’t wear bows in their hair.
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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.[image error]
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The post How Do You Estimate the Size of a Kodiak Bear? appeared first on Robin Barefield.
September 23, 2018
Look Around You
Look at the cloud-draped mountains, the small buck prancing through our backyard, or the eagle standing watch in the tree. Did you see the brightly colored puffin, or the sea otter lounging on her back, her baby nestled on her stomach? Did you notice the seals hauled out on the beach, two of them bloody from fighting, or did you stay up late one night to watch a beautiful Alaska sunset?
[image error]As many of you know, my husband and I own a small wilderness lodge on Kodiak Island, Alaska. In the summer, we take guests wildlife viewing and sportfishing, with an emphasis on watching Kodiak bears in their natural habitat. One thing I have noticed over the years is the guests who have the best time at our lodge are those who see everything. They are [image error]the ones who show me their photos at the end of the day and are embarrassed by all the images of rock formations they snapped. They are also the ones who admit they didn’t take any pictures of the whales because they just wanted to look, listen, smell, and feel the experience instead of watching it all through their camera’s viewfinder.
The guest who sheds a few tears when she talks about a bear splashing in the water twenty feet from her and the guest who was thrilled by watching through binoculars from a distance as a sow interacted with her three cubs are the guests we will see again. They will return in a year or two or ten because they won’t be able to get the sights, the sounds, or the smells of this beautiful place out of their heads.[image error]
Nearly 75% of our guests this summer were returnees, and many of them have been to our lodge multiple times. They’ve been here when the bear viewing was spectacular, and when bears were scarce. They’ve been here during great fishing years and years when the fish were slow to bite, and some years they’ve seen whales, while other years they haven’t. They’ve braved storms and basked in the sun. They’ve seen it all, but they keep returning because they have never focused on just one thing and lost sight of the big picture.
One guest this summer who has been here multiple times told me she and her husband have never had a rainy day here. I’m sure she must be either extremely lucky or mistaken, but I love that she and her husband only remember the sunshine!
[image error]No matter where you travel or what adventure you seek, if you narrow your focus too much, you will miss what is right in front of you. Instead, look around, and you might be surprised by what you see. The things that please you most and makes you fall in love with a destination could be something entirely different from what you were expecting.
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[image error]Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
[image error]
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The post Look Around You appeared first on Robin Barefield.
September 16, 2018
T. Martin O’Neil – from Naval Intelligence Officer to Popular Author
The following is a guest post by my friend and fellow author T. Martin O’Neil and his journey from a Naval Intelligence Officer to a popular author. I know you will enjoy his story as much as I did. Take it away Marty!
Thoughts About the Origin of My Background and Naval Career
by T. Martin O’Neil
[image error]It was a tense moment. Just plain and simple. Sweat glistened off my forehead forming bigger and bigger blobs until, unabated, it formed a torrent of rivulets streaking my camouflage skin paint. Sweat stung my red-rimmed eyes as I lay pressed into the surrounding clumps of grass, leaves, debris and tropical plant-life. There were no sounds of life. No sounds of monkeys, birds or even insects.
The two men I watched were not more than 30-meters away. I knew they were talking, albeit in low voices, but the sound of their words seemed to die as the words left their lips. The oppressive humidity and heat made every effort to become part of my surroundings futile. If just a bird had flown by, the movement of air from its wings would have spelled welcome relief. Instead, nothing.
One man lit a Chinese cigarette. The acrid, bitter smoke enveloped his head like an ethereal cloud. Even he could not stand the fumes and moved out of the way of the smoke-screen. His companion laughed lightly and teased his buddy. Both men side-stepped away from the brownish cloud.
A small python moved silently and stealthily away from the clearing the men stood in. Its small tongue flicking quickly from the end of its snout smelling, no doubt, its potential dinner.
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My thoughts flashed randomly as to how I came to be in this place. Initially I wanted to be in Naval Aviation. I’d gone to Pensacola, Florida, to attend flight school. It was my dream even as a child to fly as my father had flown. He’d flown during World War II for the Navy, and I really wanted to do the same now.
While at flight school, I’d done quite well. Unfortunately my eyesight limited my choice to being a Naval Flight Officer but I still could fly “back seat” in the F-4 Phantom II. School progressed and I was fortunate enough to be top man in my class. This meant that I could have my first choice of any available assignments. I wanted to stay flying.
The time frame I speak of was in 1970, after the 2nd Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the whole war effort was being drawn down in a new tactic called Vietnamization. We were turning the war over to the benefactors of our support, the South Vietnamese.
It seemed the Communist North Vietnamese knew they could not defeat the far superior U.S./South Vietnamese forces militarily, so they resorted to the tactics that had worked so well with the French. Namely, they took the fight to the homelands using the dupes in the news media and liberal educational fields to subvert the military. After all, it worked before and appeared to working this time. Politicians, citizens and even the military were being badgered by the communists and were capitulating.
Vietnamization meant that the military was winding down its activities in the U.S. “Pipelines” were filled with men and women waiting to serve, but with no places to go. In its usual myopic way, the military just folded up its tent and walked away from thousands of students it had trained and paid for like so much trash left on the curb on garbage pick-up day. This meant in my case that I had two choices, go home or pick another field that still was available.
The draft had not gone away. My draft board was in Chicago. Because my draft number had already been called, if I went home, in spite of my education, degree and the flight training I’d been given, I could feasibly be made into so much cannon fodder.
Of the fields that remained open, however, Intelligence was the closest to my education. Less than two weeks later I found myself off to Denver, Colorado, to attend the Armed Forces Air Intelligence School at Lowry AFB.
Again, while there, I was fortunate enough to finish top of my class and had my choice of assignments. I chose to work not with the aviation commands, but with the Amphibious Forces. This gave me a chance to immediately have my own shop. Most junior naval officers worked in shops as trainees. In my situation, I was able to act as the shop director. This paid huge dividends later in my career. Instead of reacting to orders, I was able to see situations and direct solutions to those issues. I learned with OJT and not with browbeating and hazing-like experiences so common to other situations.
[image error]While assigned to the Amphibious Forces, I was introduced to flag officers that ultimately changed my life. I became acquainted with the head of all inshore activities in South Vietnam, termed the brown-water Navy. We hit it off and the door opened to work with Naval Special Warfare teams in Southeast Asia. My first experience was with SEAL Team One.
SEAL Team One was charged with the interdiction of weapons and supplies to South Vietnam from North Vietnam. The only catch phrase that seemed to change our charge was “and other duties as assigned.” It is these other duties I write about in my books.
Hollywood casts a cloud of farce on everything related to SEALS. If it is associated with SEALS, it means death, destruction and wanton killing. This is not the truth and in most cases reflects very little of the truth. SEALS are trained to accomplish their assignments and leave no one behind. Sometimes, it does mean killing enemies, but Hollywood wants viewers to see these men in only one way; cold killers. My books reflect the humanitarian efforts they performed.
As an Intelligence Officer, my duties centered on the [image error]planning and execution assistance of these men. Because of my relationship with the operators, I received opportunities to work reconnaissance operations with them. The stories in my books reflect my fieldwork, many of which were counter-narcotics and counter-human smuggling. The counter-piracy stories were added because our assignments were never dull or routine. Some of the events were adjusted to fit the time-frame of my books but all are based on fact; so much so, that my books have to be vetted by members of the Office of Naval Intelligence to ensure I don’t inadvertently use information that has not been declassified.
My books reflect the beginning of a 35-year career that I truly enjoyed. I know I made a difference. I have the satisfaction of knowing that my children can now read about my contributions. My experiences are more than war stories told around a campfire or plaques on a wall. You and my family can know I made a difference as well.
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I thank you for your service, Marty, and I am happy we all can read about the difference you made and gain a more realistic view of SEALS and their missions. Please follow the following links to read more about and purchase Marty’s books on Amazon: Into The Fire and The Worth of Souls. Marty’s books are also available on Author Masterminds.
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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter.
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The post T. Martin O’Neil – from Naval Intelligence Officer to Popular Author appeared first on Robin Barefield.
September 9, 2018
Step Out of Your World and Escape
Escaping from your life is the only true way to relax, but escape is not easy in the 21st century. You might be lounging on a beach in Aruba, but I bet your cell phone is keeping your rum punch company on the table next to your chair, and you remind yourself you need to return to your room an hour before dinner to put the finishing touches on the report you’ve promised your boss. You are enjoying a fun vacation, but you have not escaped.
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As many of you know, my husband and I own a small bear-viewing, sportfishing, and hunting lodge on Kodiak Island in Alaska. Our lodge is located seventy air miles from the town of Kodiak in the heart of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. No roads cross the island, so the only way to reach us is by floatplane or an eight-hour boat ride through rough seas. We don’t have cell phone service, and although we do have internet, it is satellite internet with a strict and stingy data limit.
We tell our guests they can send and receive e-mails but nothing else, and please, no photos or videos. Turn off the apps and disable location services while you are at our lodge.
Our guests look at us with wide eyes. How could we ask them to disconnect from their lives? How will they survive if they can’t watch the news on their phones, follow the twists and turns of the stock market, or catch the latest baseball scores? More importantly, how many YouTube cat videos will they miss during a five-day stay with us?
We often catch a guest cheating at the beginning of her stay when she thinks we won’t notice her texting while she holds her phone under the edge of the dining room table. Gradually, though, we see change. The iPhone, held in a death grip when a guest climbed from the floatplane, now only makes appearances after we’ve returned from our daily adventure. Computer screens that were earlier filled with business documents or e-mails are now occupied by wildlife photos from the day’s safari.
The group of six strangers who on the first evening they arrived, barely looked up from their devices to converse, now linger over the dinner table discussing the day’s excitement and laughing about the huge Kodiak bear they watched chase a salmon through a small stream.
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“I thought he was running straight for Sid,” Cathy from Indianapolis says.
“Right,” Sid from Melbourne replies. “I nearly needed to change my trousers.”
The laughter grows to a roar, and then slowly, the conversation drifts to families and other far-away vacations. No one has glanced at a cellphone in hours.
Guests often say their stay with us was the best vacation of their lives. I would like to believe we are completely responsible for their excellent holiday, but I know it’s not the truth. They had fun and relaxed because they escaped their lives for a few days.
On day one, our guests ask if we’ve heard the news of the day. What’s happening in the world? By day four, they ask what time the tide will be high and what river we plan to hike the following day. They excitedly tell us about the young buck that walked up to the steps of their cabin or the eagle they watched pluck a salmon from the cove in front of our lodge. After only a few days, our guests have unplugged and are beginning to follow the rhythms of our world.
I watch with sadness as our guests wait for the floatplane to take them back to Kodiak and their lives. The chatter dies, and the phones emerge from their hiding places.
I love my job as a guide and naturalist, and I enjoy sharing my world in the Alaska wilderness with others, but I feel our trips are only successful when I see our guests relax. I know if a guest can put down his phone and escape his world for a few days, he will have the best vacation of his life. It’s not about us; it’s about the escape.
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The plane lands, and our departing guests wait for the new flock to disembark before they can load their gear onto the plane. As they pass each other on the dock and exchange pleasantries, one of the departing guests looks at the new arrivals and smirks. “You can put away those phones,” he says. “You won’t need them here.”
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[image error]Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
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The post Step Out of Your World and Escape appeared first on Robin Barefield.
September 2, 2018
Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria)
Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) or black cod, as they are commonly called, are not related to Pacific cod but are instead in the family Anoplopomatidae, a family with only one other species, the skilfish (Erilepis zonifer).
A sablefish is slim and long and covered with small scales. It is dark gray or grayish-green on its back and sides and light gray or white on its stomach. It has two widely separated dorsal fins and a tail which is lightly indented in the middle. Sablefish have large mouths with small teeth. They grow quite large and have been known to reach 45 inches (114 cm) in length and 50.5 lbs. (25 kg). An average-sized sablefish weighs 8.1 lbs, (3.7 kg) and is 27 inches (69.1cm) long.
Sablefish range from Alaska and British Columbia south to Baja, California, and west to Kamchatka and Japan, Alaska has the highest concentration of sablefish.
Adult sablefish live on the slopes of the continental shelf and are usually found at depths of 492 to 4921 ft. (150 – 1500 m), but they have been found as deep as 9842 ft. (3000 m). Juveniles live nearshore in much shallower water. Juveniles are pelagic, while adults live near the bottom.
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Sablefish spawn in the winter, normally between January and March, but spawning is dependent upon location. They spawn along the continental shelf at depths greater than 3281 ft. (1000 m.) Sablefish become sexually mature between five and seven years, and once they reach sexual maturity, they spawn annually. A female lays 110 eggs per gram of body weight, so an average sized female weighing 3.7 kg will lay approximately 407,000 eggs.
Sablefish larvae drift inshore, and juveniles remain inshore until they reach a size of 12 to 16 inches (30 -40 cm) at the age of two to five years. They then begin to move into deeper water and settle near the bottom, where they continue to grow.
Juvenile sablefish eat zooplankton and small fish, and adults eat fish, squid, octopus, and crustaceans. Survival of juveniles varies greatly from year to year, and biologists believe this variability is linked to zooplankton abundance, which is in turn linked to environmental conditions. Zooplankton thrive during years when ocean temperatures and nutrients produce rich phytoplankton crops for them to eat, and juvenile sablefish then eat the zooplankton, such as krill. When conditions are not favorable, though, zooplankton numbers drop, and fewer sablefish survive.
Juvenile sablefish are prey for many fish species, including Chinook and coho salmon. Sperm whales are a major predator of adults. Sablefish often live as long as 40 years, and the oldest recorded in Alaska was 94-years-old.
Like halibut, sablefish bring a high price per pound to commercial fishermen, and the current value of sablefish in the U.S. fishery is approximately $50 million per year. Most of the commercial catch is exported to Asia, where it is considered a delicacy, but sablefish is gaining popularity in the U.S. Sablefish are primarily harvested by longline or trawling. A small but growing sport fishery for sablefish has developed in Southeast Alaska.
Sablefish abundance has dropped since the 1980s, but with stricter commercial regulations in place, fishery managers consider the population stable. Both state and federal agencies manage sablefish.
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[image error]Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
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The post Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) appeared first on Robin Barefield.
August 26, 2018
Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus)
Lingcod are not true cod and are not related to Pacific cod or pollack. Instead, lingcod are the largest members of the greenling family. Adults average 10 lbs (4.5 kg), but they can grow to over 80 lbs. (35 kg) and measure 60 inches (150 cm) in length.
A lingcod has a long body and varies in coloration from gray to brown to green or even blue on the back and sides and lighter on the stomach. It is covered with dark brown or copper blotches arranged in clusters, and it has a prominent light-colored lateral line and large, cycloid scales. A long dorsal fin spans the distance from behind the head nearly to the tail. The front part of the fin is spiny, while the posterior portion consists of soft rays. A notch connects the two sections. The anal fin has three spines. The head and mouth of a lingcod are large, and the mouth holds 18 big, sharp teeth. The head does not have scales.
[image error]Lingcod are found only on the west coast of North America, from the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands south to Baja California. They are common throughout Southeast Alaska, along the outer reaches of the Kenai Peninsula, around Kodiak Island, and in Prince William Sound. They normally live nearshore around rocky reefs from depths of 30 to 330 ft. (10 – 100m), but they have been found as deep as 1000 ft. (300 m). Lingcod usually stay in the same area and often near the same reef for their entire lives, but researchers have tagged lingcod that have moved as far as 500 miles (800 km) from where they were first observed.
Female lingcod mature between three and five years of age at a length of 24 to 30 inches (61-75 cm). Males mature when they are two years old and approximately 20 inches (45 cm) long. Lingcod nest in rock crevices or ledges with strong currents. A male leads a female to the nesting area, and the female lays between 150,000 to 500,000 eggs. The number of eggs a female lays increases with both size and age. Once the female lays her eggs, she leaves the area, and then the male fertilizes the eggs and stays to guard the nest. In Alaska, lingcod begin spawning in early December, with peak spawning from mid-January to mid-March. The eggs hatch within 5 to 11 weeks, so most hatching takes place between mid-March and mid-May.
Male lingcod guard the egg nests until the eggs hatch. If left unguarded, egg nests are usually decimated within 48 hours by rockfish, starfish, sculpins, kelp greenling, and cod. The adult male must be aggressive to drive away invading fish and invertebrates, and if something happens to him, the eggs will not survive. Unfortunately, this aggressive behavior of the male makes him more vulnerable to predation by seals, sea lions, and anglers.
Lingcod larvae measure ¼ to ½ inch (7-10 mm) in length. They drift with the ocean currents and grow rapidly by eating copepods and small fish. By mid-summer, when they are 3-inches (150 cm) long, they settle on the bottom in kelp or eelgrass beds and feed on juvenile herring or other small fish. They remain in shallow water as they grow. Adult lingcod are voracious predators and grow rapidly. They feed on invertebrates and fish, including other lingcod who are nearly their same size. Lingcod continue growing until they are 12 to 14 years old. Male lingcod have a maximum lifespan of 14 years, while females can live as long as 20 years.
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Lingcod are popular for both sport and food. Their flesh is white with a natural blue-green tint. The blue coloration disappears when cooked. The flesh is dense and mild tasting and is high in protein, minerals, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids. Lingcod are taken by subsistence, sport, and commercial fishermen. Because they are so aggressive, they are excellent fighters for sport anglers.
Lingcod are highly susceptible to overfishing. Anglers can easily find lingcod because they live nearshore in shallow, rocky areas, and since they are so aggressive, they readily hit a lure. Once a lingcod population is overfished, it doesn’t recover for a long time. Because lingcod can be easily over-harvested, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conservatively manages the lingcod fishery. To protect spawning females and nest-guarding males, sport and commercial fisheries are closed during the spawning and nest-guarding periods. Also, minimum size limits have been established to protect immature fish, and finally, catch limits are restricted.
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[image error]Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
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The post Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) appeared first on Robin Barefield.
August 12, 2018
Meet Lawrence Shimkets
This week I would like to introduce adventure author and my guest blogger, Lawrence Shimkets. I know you will enjoy his post, and I highly recommend his novel, Malice in the Palace.
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I would like to thank Robin for giving me this opportunity to tell you about my unusual career path as a novelist. I began my first career as an Assistant Professor of Microbiology at the University of Georgia and won a prestigious award from U. S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984. I’ve had a 35-year career with international acclaim and fellowship in two prestigious scientific societies. I (semi)-retired in 2017, though I can’t seem to let go of my science fix entirely. So why would someone abandon a successful career as a research scientist and teacher for a second career as an unknown and fledgling fiction writer? In my case, there are two reasons. First, going back to my teenage years, I wanted to write fiction. In my youth, I went to the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh every Saturday to check out books. Reading was a lifelong gift from my dear Mother. Today I read a lot and at the end of a book often say to myself, ‘I can do that even better’, with perfect (and sometimes misplaced) confidence. So, I stepped outside the ‘box’ of scientific academics to challenge myself to write fiction. I like thrillers and, inspired by David Baldacci’s Camel Club series, decided to try my hand at something similar. Beyond the challenge of creating something uniquely yours, I love those books that end with me wanting more from certain characters knowing I will never read about those characters again. Sweet sadness. My goal was to create characters who others feel the same about. With Malice in the Palace, I believe I have created compelling characters who bare their vices and virtues. Readers have asked for a sequel, and there will be at least two.
[image error]Larry, Anna, Diane, and Tony
The second reason for my career shift is that I wanted to support causes in a way I never could as an academic. I love the sentence in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” I feel passionate about social justice and wanted to champion people whose voices are ignored. Like most writers, I was strongly influenced by personal circumstances. Diane and I adopted two beautiful children from New Mexico who are predominately Native American. This pointed me in the direction of modern western themes. In addition, in my role as mentor and teacher, I was disappointed to see that women of extraordinary talent have glass ceilings, which are higher than those of comparably talented men. I wanted to develop an enviable female character who would gracefully showcase ingenuity and accomplishment. I received daily inspiration from five sisters, five sister-in-laws, mother and mother-in-law, wife, and daughter. At the same time, I understood that most men can’t write remarkable female characters. Though I fall short of the way Shakespeare’s Juliet pushed past social norms or Henrik Ibsen’s Nora discarded her ‘dollhouses’, I do hope that my female readers will be inspired to push through their personal glass ceilings.[image error]
I began working on Malice in the Palace in my spare time about 6 years ago, but I did not have much time to spend on it. I began by inventing characters on a dusty ranch just north of the Mexican border in my head as I fell asleep or on the drive to work (not both at the same time, fortunately). I found it rewarding to develop my imagination in a different way than a scientist, though it was a lengthy process for me that crystallized in fits and starts. Another roadblock was writing dialog-driven prose, which is entirely foreign to a narrative-driven science writer. It took me years to develop unique voices for the different characters and to embed them into a compelling, 21st-century plot. In 2017, serendipity played a role in the final development of Malice in the Palace as you might be able to tell from the title. Trump became president and I leveraged his regrettable words against women and military heroes, his desire to end health care for those with the greatest need, and his disdain for refugees, immigrants, and minorities. I was pleased to publish ‘Malice in the Palace’ on Martin Luther King Day in January 2018 with Outskirts Press.
Many people have offered praise for the fast-paced plot either personally or on websites such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or Facebook where it is averaging close to 5 stars. I invite you to evaluate it and offer your perspective, which can only help me become a more compelling author. If you want to offer comments or criticism, let me suggest two venues. First, my Goodreads author page has a Malice in the Palace discussion section and I welcome you to be the first to post there. Second, I started a Facebook author page https://www.facebook.com/myberthonearth/. I welcome you to post there.
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[image error]Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
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The post Meet Lawrence Shimkets appeared first on Robin Barefield.
August 5, 2018
Dreamers
Fiction authors are dreamers. Dreaming is essential to what we do. We dream up characters, we dream up settings, and we dream up stories to tell about our characters in these settings. We also dream people will read and enjoy our books. I dream of someday selling thousands of copies of my books and becoming a successful author, but even if I don’t, I will never stop writing the stories I have in my head. When I meet other authors, I realize most are like me. No matter what line of work they are in, they dream up stories they not only want but feel they must tell. As Maya Angelou said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
I’m taking a break for the next two weeks from writing about fish, but for those of you who enjoy my wildlife posts, I‘ll continue my fish profiles soon.
Next week, I am thrilled to welcome author Lawrence Shimkets who has agreed to write a guest post for my blog. Lawrence is an acclaimed microbiology professor and researcher from the University of Georgia, and he will explain how an award-winning microbiologist became an action-adventure author.
I met Lawrence (Larry) Shimkets on LinkedIn, and we’ve corresponded about storytelling, writing, and promotion. I’ve met several other authors on LinkedIn, and while most of us have “day jobs,’ we feel driven to write and a need to tell the next story formulating in our minds. We are dreamers.
Larry is currently in Costa Rica teaching genetics in a classroom in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Last month, he attended a microbiology conference in London, and a few weeks earlier, he and his wife spent time kayaking through the Florida Everglades. Larry travels the world and collects a rich array of settings he can use for his adventure novels.[image error]
I am reading Larry’s novel, Malice in the Palace, and it is a fun ride. I highly recommend it. Larry tells an exciting story, and I can only guess at the next dream burbling in his mind, waiting to be told.
I am in the process of writing my next novel, and I think about it constantly. Storytelling doesn’t follow a linear path for me. I write an outline, but part way through the manuscript, when my characters do something I don’t expect, I throw away the outline, and my dreams follow the twists and turns of my characters’ actions. Dreams are good. I’d be lost if I couldn’t tell my stories.
Please visit my blog next week and help me welcome Larry Shimkets as we get to know him better and learn what drove a world-renowned microbiologist to step away from the microscope, sit down at the computer, and dream up a thrilling adventure tale.
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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
Mystery NewsletterSign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.
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The post Dreamers appeared first on Robin Barefield.
July 29, 2018
Walleye Pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus)
The walleye or Alaska Pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) is another species in the true cod family Gadidae. For a long time, taxonomists placed walleye pollock in a separate genus from Pacific cod, but researchers have recently shown pollock are closely related to Pacific and Atlantic cod, and most taxonomists now include walleye pollock in the genus Gadus.
Pollock are more streamlined than their gray cod cousins, but like cod, pollock have olive-green to tan mottled markings their backs. This coloration helps camouflage them from predators and prey when they rest and swim near the sandy ocean bottom. Pollock have silvery sides, white bellies, three dorsal fins, and two anal fins. Pollock have either no chin barbel or only a tiny barbel.
Pollock range from the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk west to the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska and south to Northern California. They migrate in a circular pattern, moving inshore to relatively shallow waters from 295 to 460 ft. (90 to 140 m) to breed and feed in March and then returning in December to the warmer, deeper waters of the continental shelf to 525 to 984 ft. (160 to 300 m). Pollock are semi-demersal (semi-bottom dwelling) but can be found anywhere from the surface to 1640 ft. (500 m).
Pollock spawn from March to mid-June. They form dense schools when spawning and broadcast eggs and sperm into the water. Fertilized eggs are planktonic, and depending on the temperature of the water, they incubate for approximately 10 to 27 days. When the larvae hatch, they have a yolk sac and float upside down at the water surface until the sac is absorbed.
Young pollock eat zooplankton, but as they grow, they begin adding fish to their diet. Adults feed on young pollock and other fish. Pollock grow rapidly and can reach a length of 3.4 ft. (105 cm) and a weight of 13.3 lbs. (6.05 kg). They usually don’t, live more than 10 years, but biologists in Alaska have recorded pollock as old as 22 years.
[image error]Alaska pollock is the largest fishery by volume in the United States and the second most important fishery in the world. The Alaska pollock has been called, “The largest remaining source of palatable fish in the world.”
From 1964 through 1980, only foreign vessels harvested Alaska pollock. U.S. vessels began to enter the fishery in 1980, and by 1987, U.S. boats harvested 99% of the quota. Since 1988, only U.S. vessels have operated in the Eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery. From 2002 to 2006, the Eastern Bering Sea pollock catch averaged 1.48 million metric tons worth $500 million annually.
While biologists do not believe pollock have been overfished, stocks have declined in recent years. The pollock fishery was originally a bottom fishery and trawls were dragged across the ocean bottom to catch the fish. As concerns about habitat degradation from bottom trawling grew, fishermen switched to pelagic trawl gear, which is deployed above the seabed. Controversy also swirls around the use of pelagic trawl gear, though, since the trawl is not specific to pollock but catches and often kills any fish it encounters.
Pollock is an important food for Steller sea lions, and when sea lion populations began decreasing, managers reduced fishery time and implemented area closures for pollock near critical sea lion habitat.
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Next week I plan to take a short break from fish and set the stage for a wonderful guest post from a fellow author the following week. Three weeks from now, I will write about lingcod. As always, thanks for visiting my blog.
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[image error]Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
Mystery NewsletterSign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.
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The post Walleye Pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) appeared first on Robin Barefield.
