Journals 2003/2004

Margaret Brumsted
Dartmouth High School, Dartmouth, Massachusetts

I worked with Karin today entering data, doing some analysis and putting together summary tables for the quahog stock in the upweller. This was an excellent opportunity for me to work with someone who is very proficient at using Excel. I'm embarrassed to report that I am somewhat of a technophobe, but I have made significant advances towards techno mastery this past school year. That being stated, Excel is still a mysterious black hole in my skill set and it was nice to sit next to someone who knows what she is doing.

From the data we collected we were able to estimate the number of quahog seed in both of the upweller units and determine the average length for each size class. From the original 15 liters that was placed into the upweller on July 3, 2003, the volume of quahogs has increased to 93 liters!!!! We estimated that there are a total of 4,367,000 individual quahogs in those 93 liters!!! WOW, again, the numbers just floor me. Because of the small size of the seed when they were purchased, Karin was not able to get a good estimate of the number of individuals until now. The largest size class of quahogs came in at an average of 10 mm and the smallest at 2 mm. The other cohort groups include 3.4 mm, 4.3 mm and 6 mm size classes.

Approximately one half of this seed will be going for a little ride next week to take up residence in Mt. Hope Bay inside the upweller at Roger Williams University. It should be interesting to compare growth rates between the two locations.