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A window into the sciences

Pair of high school interns find fieldwork interesting

Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Aug 17/01) - Two student interns say they have enjoyed working at the Joint Secretariat this summer.

Just last week Mary-Anne Francey and Kyle Kisoun Taylor were busy working on a module at Boot Lake, learning how to conduct fish surveys.



Mary-Anne Francey, left, and Kyle Kisoun Taylor have nearly wrapped up their student intern duties with the Joint Secretariat. - Malcolm Gorrill/NNSL photo



They put up gill nets, cut a few fish open and learned how to take base sampling to determine their age. They also took measurements of the water to determine its pH level, depth and temperature.

This has been the first summer for both students at the Joint Secretariat (Fisheries Joint Management Committee), and they have spent a fair amount of time doing separate activities.

Taylor spent about two weeks in a spot near Tuktoyaktuk, where he learned about whale monitoring. He also took part in a permafrost study, and visited a site where an oil leak was being cleaned up, so he could observe how that is done.

As part of her duties, in July Francey spent a week at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg. The visit served as an introduction to the various activities done there, and careers available with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Francey said she go to help with research on fish, and saw how slides are made.

She said she learned about the work that must be done after conducting research out in the field. "You've got to actually put it together," Francey said.

"The main thing that makes you feel so good about what you've done is when you've got the outcome."

Francey and Taylor complete their work Aug. 24, but this week they are scheduled to give presentations on what they've done this summer.

Francey said she became interested in her current job last year, when she was one of four winners in a poster contest put on by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. She got to attend an event in Saint John, N.B., as a result.

Francey said working at the Joint Secretariat has been a lot of fun.

"They go and do presentations, trying to recruit people, but no one really knows how much fun and how much you do learn with it."

Taylor is entering Grade 11 at Samuel Hearne secondary school this fall. Francey graduated from Samuel Hearne this past June, and plans to enrol in university next January to take a bachelor of science degree in zoology.