Fall 2026 field site assessment and experiment closing plan

sequim-bay
goose-point
baywater
Plan for Fall 2026 field assessments and closing experiments
Author

Ariana Huffmyer

Published

September 11, 2026

Overview

Below I have outlined our plan for field assessments and closing some of our outplanting experiments in Sept-October 2026.

Sequim Bay

Tentative plan: Wednesday, September 23rd in morning (waiting for confirmation on date)

Close out Effort A/thermal hardening experiment:

  • 2 treatment groups, 8 total cages
  • Take final photos and counts of mortality
  • Clean and empty cages
  • Sub sample n=15 per cage (n=40-60 per treatment group, n=120) for transport back to UW; put into two mesh bags (1 for each treatment group)
  • Retrieve loggers and make sure a logger is left in a PolyIC bag

Photograph PolyIC experiment (optional, only if time):

  • Take photos of oysters in PolyIC bags (n=8 bags)
  • Leave a logger in a PolyIC bag
  • Continue deployment

Baywater

Tentative plan: Tuesday, September 22nd in morning (waiting for confirmation on date)

Close out 10K Seed experiment:

  • 5 treatment groups, 30 total cages
  • Take final photos and counts of mortality
  • Clean and empty cages
  • Sub sample n=8 per cage (n=40 per treatment group, n=200) for transport back to UW; put into five mesh bags (1 for each treatment group)
  • Retrieve loggers and make sure a logger is left in a PolyIC bag

Photograph PolyIC experiment (optional, only if time):

  • Take photos of oysters in PolyIC bags (n=7 bags)
  • Leave a logger in a PolyIC bag
  • Continue deployment

Goose Point

4 treatment groups, 18 total cages

Tentative plan: Friday, September 25th (waiting for confirmation on date)

Close out experiment:

  • Take final photos and counts of mortality
  • Clean and empty cages
  • Sub sample n=15 per cage (n=45 per treatment group, n=210) for transport back to UW; put into four mesh bags (1 for each treatment group)
  • Fully close out deployment
  • Retrieve loggers

Westcott

Emily Carrington will monitor current outplants at Westcott and will check size to see if inner mesh bag can be removed later in September/early October.

To Do

  • Prepare metadata and bag list for closing out experiments and subsampling at Goose Point, Sequim, and Baywater
  • Prepare mesh bags, cattle tags for subsampling at Goose Point, Sequim, and Baywater
  • Prepare zip ties, cattle tags, and data sheets and photography for deploying El Nino oysters at Baywater
  • Arrange schedule at UW for processing subsampled oysters for survival assays