macroinvertebrate sorting

As some of you know I have been assisting the Lower Elwha Kallam Tribe with their assessment of the estuaries at the mouth of the Elwha River. This study was funded by the EPA. We are done pretty much with our field work except for a couple of more seine's in the estuaries. What we are focusing on right now is sorting and identifying the macro invertebrates that we have collected over the last year and a half. If any one has ever done this before you know it is very tedious and time consuming. On Friday it took me over 4 hours just to sort out debris from two fallout samples. The macro invertebrates are very fragile so one has to be very careful. From trial and error we have discovered that it easier to sort then go back and ID the critters we have. The Tribe has employed a local entomologist to make this a little faster. We have samples from fallout traps, benthic samples, and stomach contents that all needs to be ID'd and then put into access to analyze.