Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologists have assessed marine shorelines for evidence of forage fish spawning (presence of eggs) since the 1970’s. During this time, we have developed effective protocols for collecting and identifying forage fish eggs from beaches. These protocols are contained in the San Juan County forage fish assessment project: Field Manual for sampling forage fish spawn in intertidal shore regions (field manual; Moulton and Penttila 2001, revised 2006). The field manual describes the sampling process from beach site selection and sediment sample collection through condensing bulk sediment samples to laboratory analysis.
