Gail Tang: The Bitter End, September 1, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: September 1, 2023

When referring to sailing knots, the bitter end signifies the end of the line (i.e. rope to non-seafarers). I thought this fitting, considering the conclusion of my rich time at sea! From interacting with the different deck crew, I learned different ways to tie knots—sometimes the same type of knot. For example, though I knew the bowline before I set sail, I didn’t have a process that stuck in my memory. With the aid of the crew, I solidified a process for myself. Exposure to different ways to tie a knot (or in the case of the mathematics classroom, different ways to approach a problem) gives the learner autonomy to choose a method that suits their learning. I also learned how to splice. See pictures below!

Science and Technology Log

stunning close-up photo of a bird in flight, must have been taken with a powerful telephoto lens
Adult Brown Morph Red-footed Booby. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Michael Force (Permit #MB03330)

In the final week, all science teams (birders, marine mammal observers, acousticians, plankton team) wrapped up and prepared to disembark the ship. Traveling a total distance of 4,819.2 km, Leg 2 spanned 28 glorious days at sea. The cetacean team tallied 90 visual sightings (visually identified 15 species) and 122 acoustic detections. The seabird side saw 37 species and 4,124 individuals. The plankton team completed 39 net tows on Leg 2 and totals 44 tows overall. The images below from the HICEAS Map Tour page detail the specific cetaceans sighted and heard. I also include some cetacean photos taken by the marine mammal observers (MMOs).

a whale bursts vertically out of the ocean with a mahi mahi fish grasped in its mouth. confusingly, in front of the whale is a dark round object, also mid-air; this must be the trash bucket lid
False killer whale (a priority species) catches a Mahi-mahi from under sea trash (bucket lid). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Ernesto Vasquez
beautiful view of a dolphin leaping mostly out of the bright blue water
Bottlenose Dolphin. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang (Permit #25754)
a map of the Hawaiian Islands, including both the main islands and the outer islands in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, with straight line segments showing the survey tracklines and a variety of symbols marking the locations of sightings of 17 identified species and 5 more unidentified species
Cetacean Sightings and their Locations. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries Map Tour
a map of the Hawaiian Islands, including both the main islands and the outer islands in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, with straight line segments showing the survey tracklines and a variety of symbols marking the locations of acoustic recordings of 14 identified species and 3 more unidentified species
Acoustic Detections and their Locations. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries Map Tour
top down view of a cardboard box containing glass vials separated by cardboard dividers. most of the bottles are capped; the top row contains uncapped empty extras. the capped vials are grouped with lines of labeled colored masking tape, reading "Tow 6," "Tow 8," "Tow 31," etc. Two larger vials are stored among the small ones; the cardboard divider had to be opened to make them fit.
The plankton team completed 39 tows in leg 2! Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang

It was an incredible experience to witness science in action. I often referred to my time at sea as “Science Camp!” Cruise leader-in-training, Yvonne Barkley (featured in this previous blog post), briefly interviewed me for the HICEAS 2023 Map Tour. Aside from the science, she asked me what I’ll bring back home with me from this experience. I had to incubate on this question and after some reflection, realized that what I’ve gained are all the connections I made with my ship mates.

Gigantic mahalo to Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer). We had many conversations during the Conductivity Temperature Depth operations and over meals. We bonded over being women in leadership positions, as well as sharing family stories. Thank you for a smooth cruise!

Gail and Fionna pose for a photo together seated in the galley
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea) and Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer) sharing a meal in the mess. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

Personal Log

My true purpose on the ship was to create crossword addicts. I love collaborating on crosswords, so I brought a book of Monday-Friday New York Times (NYT) crosswords on the ship. The book mostly stayed up on the flying bridge where someone “off effort” (someone not currently observing) would read clues for the marine mammal observers on effort. In many of our jobs, listening to music, audiobooks, podcasts, etc, help us focus on the work at hand; similarly, pondering crossword clues helped the MMOs concentrate on searching for mammals. By the end of the leg, Andrea Bendlin (MMO) printed out a clipboard full of more NYT crosswords, and both Suzanne Yin and Paul Nagelkirk (MMOs) made their own crosswords that incorporated both the science and the science team members. I’d say I left my legacy!

Marie sits in a swivel chair on the flying bridge holding a spiral bound book of crossword puzzles. at her left, Alexa kneels or crouches as she looks on get a closer view at the puzzle. Gail stands off to Marie's right, hands gripping the canvas shade covering above their heads, looking on as well. Gail has a radio hooked on her shorts.
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Marie Hill (Cruise Leader) and Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician) crosswording on the Flying Bridge. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Andrea Bendlin

Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician) was one of my roommates! A Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology at University of Hawaii, Manoa initially brought Alexa from sunny California (Santa Clarita! We’re practically neighbors.) to sunny Hawaii. During her time at school, she volunteered for the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) doing data entry and some monk seal responses for the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program. She also participated in outreach and marine mammal response for the Protected Resources Division of NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office. After graduation in 2018, Alexa had a fun job working on a tour boat wearing many hats as a deckhand, snorkel guide, and bartender. In 2019, she worked on monk seal population assessment efforts at the Hawaiian monk seal field camp at Holoikauaua/Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll). Right after, she was recruited by the Science Operations Division to fill the role she’s in now, Biological Science Technician. She participates on different research projects at PIFSC as a diver, small boat operator, acoustician and lab tech. Below, you can see a photo of Alexa as a small boat operator on Malia.

Gail takes a selfie with Erik and Alexa visible over her left and right shoulders. Alexa stands at the helm of the fast rescue boat. The water churns with the boat's wake, and the sky is blue with only a few clouds low on the horizon. Gail, Alexa, and Erik wear hard hats and life vests.
Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician) driving fast-boat, Malia, with Erik Norris (Acoustician), and Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang

Pizza and Mexican food top Alexa’s favorite food list, so what’s better than the fusion of the two at one of her favorite restaurants Asada Pizza in Sylmar, California. She loves to get the nopales pizza, topped with jalapeños and cilantro. Yum!! In my time with Alexa, I’ve come to learn the meaning of a quiet sort of connection. We didn’t have to converse much to enjoy each other’s company whether we were decorating Styrofoam cups to crush, playing guessing games in the acoustics lab, or doing crosswords! The lengthy down times made me very thankful for Andrea’s nail polish. Alexa and I had a spa night in the forward mess with Jason Dlugos (3rd Assistant Engineer) and Paul Nagelkirk (MMO).

close-up of Jason looking toward the ceiling as he holds up his hands to show off sparkly blue nails (on his right) and sparkly purple nails (left). He is wearing a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt.
3rd Assistant Engineer Jason Dlugos shows off the sparkles in his eyes and nails. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Yvonne Barkley

While most of us keep aurally busy while we work with our hands, the acousticians keep their hands busy while listening for cetaceans! Jennifer McCullough (Lead Acoustician) brought a never-ending supply of pipe cleaners to build objects. See some of the creations below!

Food and Career Blog

I will really miss the meals aboard the Sette as well as all the conversations shared. Mahalo to all the stewards and friends who made sure I was fed, especially during teaching hours!

As mentioned before, I tried to do one small thing that I did not do the day before to break up the routine. This week’s major routine-break involved Hawaiian shave ice, put on by Verne Murakami (1st Assistant Engineer)!! Though I recognize that sweets can taste good, I generally prefer savory, sour, or spicy foods. Regardless, I had a blast making shave ice for others. In particular, Zack High (General Vessel Assistant–GVA) and Paul Nagelkirk (MMO) allowed me to make their shave ices. First, a scoop of ice cream, then some ube. Shaved ice fills the cup, coming to a mound above the lip. Flavored syrups like mango or blueberry color the ice. Finally, a sprinkle of ling hing mui accents.

Gail smiles at the camera as she pours blue flavored syrup onto a cup of shave ice. In front her we see open containers of vanilla ice cream, bottles of other flavored syrups.
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea) prepares shave ice for friends. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

Zack went to maritime school at Mid-Atlantic School in Norfolk, Virginia. Afterwards, he completed an internship on a vessel with the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. He learned basic CPR, safety and training, completed his Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping. One of his professors sent his resume to NOAA and a year later, Zack started working in Nov 2021 on the Sette! Though he started in the deck department under Chris Kaanaana (Chief Boatswain/Bosun), two months later, he transferred to the engineering department for a different career opportunity. As part of his role as a GVA, he goes on watch, does rounds, goes down to the main control room to take readings, goes up to the main deck to record temperatures of freezers, look for leaks or other signs of disrepair.  He hopes to become a licensed engineer with aspirations to go into private industry or another federal branch. Zack is a big fan of weight lifting and loves fishing with Verne, catching big tuna and mahi mahi. He calls himself a gearhead because he likes working on cars and going to car shows. He also enjoys going to see live music; his last show was an underground punk concert in Seattle. He would like to start hiking. Zack likes boxing and he even gave me a little lesson on the ship!

Paul went to Michigan State University and majored in environmental biology and zoology. He became a fisheries observer in the Bering Sea and then later worked in oil and gas mitigation in the Gulf of Mexico to reduce environmental impacts due to noise pollution. In 2013, he started both ship and aerial surveys with NOAA. In the aerial surveys, the plane follows transect lines 600ft over the water.

Paul has also conducted aerial surveys of the North Atlantic Right Whale through the New England Aquarium. The New England Aquarium is the pioneer and premier research institution for the Right Whale. They run the individual ID catalog for the North Atlantic Right Whales (see https://rwcatalog.neaq.org/#/). They know the whales’ relationships to each other since they perform year to year tracking for conservation efforts. Climate change alters the whales’ prey locations, causing them to move farther north towards Canada. Further, they are susceptible to entanglements from the lobster and crab industry as well as collisions from ship traffic because they tend towards the coast. The number of North Atlantic Right Whales left is disturbingly low, about 350, landing them on the endangered species list.

Paul and I became fast friends. I affectionately call him my “worstie”, but he really is a “bestie”. We shared his favorite food (Detroit-style pizza) at Pizza Mamo in Honolulu–I highly recommend! His other hobbies (some of which we share) include Wordle, biking, hiking, and disc golf.

Paul smiles for the camera and holds up his cup of shave ice in his upturned palm. We can see his sparkly blue nail polish.
Paul Nagelkirk (MMO) is pleased with his shave ice.

Many Mahalos

A very special mahalo to Cruise Leader 💞Marie Hill💞. Marie’s charm brought much energy to the science team. Her vibrant character will be missed!

Gail, Marie, Suzanne, wearing hard hats and life vests, post for a close-up photo.
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Marie Hill (Cruise Leader), and Suzanne Yin (MMO) during HARP retrieval. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

Regrettably, my career highlights lack comprehensiveness. Give me another month, Teacher at Sea Program 😉, and I could feature everyone. I include some visual shout-outs in the images below!

Logan, wearing a hard hat and life vest, stands at the control panel (facing away from the camera) near the rail at sunset. Left hand on the panel, he leans his right arm over the railing, and looks over his right shoulder, gazing intently over the water.
Logan Gary (Able-bodied Seaman) deploying the CTD during sunset. Mahalo for all the fun, especially singing Part of Your World on the boat deck! Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang
Chris stands under a davit on the ship's deck. The ship appears to be docked, as we can see land in the background.
Mahalo, Chris Kaanaana (Chief Boatswain/Bosun), for all your years of service aboard the Sette!
Kym and Gail, arms around each other, pose for a photo in front of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette in port.
A myriad of mahalos to Kym Yano (Cruise Leader-in-Training) for answering my many questions before going underway and welcoming me ashore with an Ilima and Tuberose lei. I’ll miss you!
16 people pose for a photo on the deck of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette with a whiteboard sign reading "HICEAS 2023 Leg 2!" In the background, we see the water of the harbor and mountains beyond. Everyone in the photo is arranged according to the color of their shirt in rainbow order.
Mahalo to all the scientists that cared for me, showed me the ropes, and involved me in all aspects of the science. Every rainbow I see will forever be a reminder of you. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Nich Sucher

Did you know?

You may be familiar with the duality of the word “aloha”, embodying both a greeting and a farewell. My exposure to new meanings of “aloha” through Chef Chris’s Aloha Kitchen: Recipes from Hawai’i cookbook by Alana Kysar inspired me to learn more. According to the Hawai’i Law of the Aloha Spirit,

“‘Aloha’ is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence. ‘Aloha’ means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.” 

To all my community aboard the Sette, aloha.

view of a pen-and-ink drawing of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette across the spread of a moleskin notebook, placed on a desk, surrounded by pens and other little desk objects
NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette through the eyes of Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang

Martin McClure: Reflections, August 29, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Martin McClure

NOAA Ship Oregon II

July 25– August 9, 2023

Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Bottom Longline Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean

Date: August 29, 2023

Latitude: 39° 9′ 0.6084” N

Longitude: 123° 12′ 28.0332” W

Air Temperature: 29.4° Celsius

Science and Technology Log

Sharks use many senses to hunt their prey. For long range hunting, they use smell and detecting pressure changes, similar to hearing. They are famous for having a keen sense of smell. Some studies conclude that they can, in theory, detect blood at 1 per 20 million parts in water. So, they clearly use smell to hunt. They also have a keen sense of “hearing.” They can detect some low frequency sounds, the kind made by injured fish, from a kilometer away.

a very close-up photo of the eye of a sandbar shark. around the eye, we can see tiny pores in the shark's skin - these are the ampullae of Lorenzini
The eye and amupullae of Lorenzini of a sandbar shark

As sharks get closer to their prey, they use their eyesight. While they see in black and white, they can see well unless it is nighttime or if the water is cloudy.

They also have a sense that humans do not. They have a lateral line along the side. This is a series of canals that helps them detect vibrations in the water.

As the shark closes in on the prey, sharks engage their ability to detect slight electrical impulses, electrosense. For this they use their ampullae of Lorenzini. These are pores on the skin that lead to canals filled with a conductive gel containing keratan sulphate. They can detect the electrical impulses that are given off by other fish. Some sharks use this sense to find fish that are hidden under sand on the ocean floor.

close-up view of a cross section of shark skin with pores (ampullae of Lorenzini) visible, revealing the keratan sulphate that fills them
Shark skin cross-section showing keratan sulphate and ampullae of Lorenzini

Sharks may use their sense of touch by bumping into a potential prey target. Finally, they might use their sense of taste to decide if their target is indeed food.

Personal Log

As I return to my own teaching position in a classroom, I continue to reflect back on how everyone on board NOAA Ship Oregon II took all of the volunteers under their wing to “show them the ropes,” and teach them more than they could have learned in any classroom. It was clear that the whole crew was proud and eager to share their own specialty with us. For me, I was poking my nose into every nook and cranny, looking for stories to include in my blog. I was always welcomed with a smile and regaled with great stories. Far too many to include in my blog. I was impressed with the detailed and patient answers to my basic questions. This included not only the professional NOAA scientists and crew but also the other volunteers on board as I was the only one on the science crew who was a novice in marine biology. So, thank you Josh, Cait, Hannah, Macie and John.

But I was not the only one to be tutored in the details of life on the ship. Trey Driggers spent many hours discussing shark science with the other volunteers. The NOAA Corps members joined in the hauls and shared their experiences with the other volunteers. Their friendliness, openness and supportive presence added a lot to the team. They shared their own career journeys and at least one of the volunteers is seriously considering joining the NOAA Corps. John Brule, a volunteer, was working on his dissertation on parasites. (I am a convert. Parasites are fascinating and well deserving of detailed scientific study.) He engaged with the other volunteers on wide ranging subjects and guided them on dissections.

John, at right, looks on as a volunteer leans over a dead shark on a table mid-dissection; the volunteer is grasping tools in each hand to lift up and extract the shark's gills for additional study
Doctoral candidate John Brule guides undergraduate volunteer in removal of shark gills

The fishing/deck crew readily discussed not only their jobs and experiences but also shared their knowledge of fish behavior and how weather conditions affect the likely catch.

dark storm clouds gather above the ocean at sunset
Storm clouds gathering over the ocean

In the end, of all the amazing things I experienced, my most enduring memories are of people sharing their love of their chosen field, reaching out to guide and teach the novices. It is really people, connecting to others, that makes an education impactful.

.

Gail Tang: HARPs and Hearts, August 25, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Aug 25, 2023

Science and Technology Log

Visually surveying for marine mammals has its limitations because they spend so much time underwater. To account for these limitations, a number of acoustic techniques are used to study cetaceans (whales and dolphins). There are four main passive acoustic instruments used by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center’s Cetacean Research Program during ship surveys: towed arrays, drifting acoustic spar buoy recorders (DASBR), high-frequency acoustic recording packages (HARP), and sonobouys. Each instrument has its pros and cons so the data from each instrument provide a fuller picture of what’s under the sea.

On board the ship, every morning just before sunrise the acousticians deploy the towed array of hydrophones, which streams 300 m behind the ship. ​​The towed array provides real-time information on calls and clicks of the whales and dolphins. Each section of the towed array has three hydrophones and a depth sensor (see picture below). The design comes from the National Marine Fisheries Service and are all built by Lead Acoustician Jennifer McCullough (to read more about Jennifer, see my previous post). While the towed array can pick up sounds from the cetaceans around the ship in real-time, it also picks up the sounds of the ship, thus obfuscating other calls. As such, autonomous recorders (DASBRs, HARPs, and sonobouys) are used to collect more data, as well as match species data collected from the towed arrays.

view of the array resting on deck - it looks like curled up plastic tubing (with some purple sections) connected to a cable
A section of the towed array with three hydrophones (seen in purple). Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang
on deck, Jennifer stands at a large spool in the center while Alexa leans over a coiled pile of cable attached to the plastic tubing that contains the hydrophones. Erik stands near the railing to help guide the array to the water.
Acoustician team Jennifer McCullough, Alexa Gonzalez, and Erik Norris deploy the towed array. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang
illustration of the ship at the surface of the water (depicted by a horizontal line) with the array towed behind at a depth of about 10 meters. an inset box shows a larger illustration of the two arrays - one "end array" and one "inline array" with 20 m baseline cable in between. the three hydrophones in each array are spaced 1  m apart from each other.
A depiction of array towed behind a ship. Photo Credit: Barkley et al. (2021 p. 1122)

The HARP is a long-term acoustic recorder that sits on the seafloor at depths of 650-900 m depending on the site. Developed by the Whale Acoustics Lab at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, they are site-specific and sit out for one to two years. The one we retrieved during Leg 2 was deployed August 2022. The HARPs provide 1) time-series data that help with understanding seasonal occurrence of cetaceans and other marine life, 2) periodic data on the presence of animals that pass through the site, and 3) ocean noise reference points. The latter is important in measuring the potential impact of ship and construction noise on marine mammal behavior. For example, slowly over time, blue whales are shifting their call types to a lower frequency to compensate for the rise of ocean noise in their natural call range (Rice at al., 2022).

Matt, wearing a blue hard hat, a life vest, and gloves, stands on deck, tethered to something on deck by a yellow strap hooked into the back of his life vest. We are looking down at him as he faces away from the camera, hands raised in the air to guide a large yellow piece of equipment as a crane lifts it back on deck. Matt grasps a line (rope) connected to the crane's hook with his left and uses the right to steady the equipment.
Matt Benes (Able-bodied Seaman) retrieves HARP. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

DASBRs are floating acoustic recorders deployed from the ship and retrieved sometime between 1-30 days later depending on their location from the ship. The DASBR collects acoustic data away from the ship and at a depth deeper in the water column than the towed array (about 150 m from the surface). This means there’s no noise from the ship that may disturb the animals and no surface noise from crashing waves or rain. A clear advantage of the DASBR is its ability to record beaked whale vocalizations, super high-frequency echolocation clicks.  Beaked whales are only vocal during the lower portions of their foraging dives, which last for about 60-90 mins. On the ship with the towed array, we don’t spend enough time to capture their vocalizations. The DASBR on the other hand has time to capture an entire dive cycle of a beaked whale. Depending on the frequency and amplitude of the animal, the distance at which the DASBR can detect animals (or detection range) varies by species. For example, Kogia (pygmy and dwarf sperm whales) need to be near the sensor and facing it to pick up their calls, while the baleen whales have a larger detection range. To give you an idea of the overall advantages of the DASBR, it can pick up about 10 times more cetaceans than the towed array and help us learn more about their vocalizations and study their habitat range.

Matt, wearing a hard hat, life vest, gloves, and a harness, tethered by a yellow strap to something on deck for safety, looks away from the camera, into the dark of the ocean at night. a spotlight extending from an upper deck highlights the location of the DASBR in glowing blue light.
With grapple hook in hand and eyes on the DASBR, Matt Benes (Able-bodied Seaman) prepares for retrieval. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Marie Hill
screenshot from Google Earth of the Hawaiian Islands showing segmented lines outlining a path north of the islands. some segments are labeled with dates from Aug 26 to Sept 1 (back at Honolulu). a short yellow arrow and a green parabola show the locations of DASBR 4 and 3 respectively.
This map shows the tracklines where we surveyed, as well as the DASBR paths. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Marie Hill

There are many recorded calls for which there is no visual match, so sonobouys are deployed after the visual team identifies a particular baleen whale species. Because the ship masks the very low frequency sounds made by most baleen whales, sonobouys are deployed to evaluate their call types. The hydrophones in the sonobouys are set at 90 ft from the ocean’s surface and they collect data for up to 8 hours.

I like the idea that these four instruments work in concert towards a shared goal, each with its strengths and weaknesses.

Career Log

The information above was provided by the acoustics team. I will focus on a couple in particular, Yvonne Barkley (Cruise Lead in Training) and Erik Norris (Acoustician), who met on NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette 13 years ago!

Eirk and Yvonne on deck; Yvonne is seated in an observation chair and Erik is holding his right arm out to take the selfie
Erik Norris (Acoustician) and Yvonne Barkley (Cruise Lead-in-Training)

Yvonne Barkley first went to University of California, San Diego and then transferred to Santa Barbara City College for a pipeline into University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). At UCSB, she studied aquatic biology.  A friend told her about a temporary job as an acoustic analyst for a local research firm invested in mitigating the impact of oil companies on the bowhead whale migration through the Beaufort Sea. It is at that job that she received her first acoustic training. On a path towards marine mammals, Yvonne’s cousin alerted her to an internship at the US Navy’s Marine Mammal Program in Pt. Loma, California prepping dolphin food, cleaning, etc. The program itself trained bottlenose dolphins to be swimmer detectors and California sea lions to be sea mine detectors! For example, bottlenose dolphins are used at different naval bases and combat zones to detect anomalous scuba divers. Yvonne was accepted into the internship where a seminar given by a NOAA Fisheries representative piqued her interest about marine mammal research. She found an acoustic analyst internship at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (one of NOAA’s six science centers). There, she learned about field projects to collect cetacean data at sea for months at a time. In contact with Erin Oleson (HICEAS 2023 Chief Scientist), she embarked on her first mission from Hawaii to Guam in 2010 on the very ship we are currently on! That cruise brought Yvonne and Erik together, but more on that later.

After collecting data that weren’t intended to be used in stock assessments, like a true scientist, Yvonne began to wonder, “How can we use these data?” This curiosity, the advancement of acoustic data collection methods, and the drive to uncover data gaps in the literature converged into a puzzle for Yvonne to solve. I listened in awe as Yvonne described the three main chapters of her doctoral thesis. The first one involved species classification for false killer whales (a priority species for HICEAS). Her research used whistle data to distinguish the whales acoustically at the population level. She found that the classification machine learning model yielded low accuracy rates. Access the paper here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00645/full

The next chapter focused on improving localizing methods for deep diving whales using sperm whale acoustic data. I was drawn to the research of this chapter because of the modeling components.  Probabilistic models are used to estimate the location of cetaceans. An ambiguity volume is an example of such a probabilistic indicator.  It is computed from source location estimates that are most accurate to the actual measured locations. As the number of different detections for the same whale at different positions from the ship increases, the ambiguity volume decreases, thereby narrowing down the possible location of the whale. The increased location accuracy is depicted in the figure below through the progression of subfigures a) – f); subfigure a) has fewer detections for the same whale than subfigure f). As we move to subfigure f), we can see that the margins of location estimates are much smaller, giving us a more accurate location estimate for the whale.  https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article-pdf/150/2/1120/15349527/1120_1_online.pdf

Six subfigures showing three dimensionsal plots. the Y axis shows depth, from zero to -3000 m below sea surface. the x and z axes are West-East km and North-South km. caption reads: "Fig 2. Cumulative ambiguity volumes [(a)-(f)] for detections of simulated echolocation clicks from a stationary whale located 1.2 km directly below the transect line (denoted by a white asterisk.) The product of all volumes results in a volume representing all possible location estimates for the whale (f). The color scale represents the ambiguity volume values ranging from 0 (white) as low probability to 1 (black) as high probability. The dotted lines (white or black) indicate the trackline traveling in the direction of the arrow."
Progression of ambiguity volumes as detection data points increase. Photo Credit: Barkley et al. (2022, p. 1122)

The final chapter used the ambiguity volumes for location estimates from the previous chapter and available environmental data from remotely sensed satellite data sets that lined up with those locations to learn about the habitat preferences of sperm whales. Check out the paper: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsen.2022.940186/full

Erik Norris got his Bachelor’s degree at James Madison University in integrated science and technology. He was initially working with energy production and city planning, dredging company shipping channels up and down the east coast.  He left and traveled for a while. When I asked him to share one of his fondest memories, he mentioned his time in a small fishing village called Nomozaki, Japan. What struck him most about this village was the community-oriented nature of the villagers. At the end of the day, local fishermen took a portion of their catch of the day and shared it with the entire village. The whole community came out to have a big party together, enjoying the catch and the company. The expression of an economy focused on people rather than on profits really speaks to me. I am reminded of a couple of quotes from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer:

“A gift comes to you through no action of your own…the more something is shared, the greater its value becomes. This is hard to grasp for society is steeped in notions of private property, where others are by definition excluded from sharing.”

(Kimmerer, 2013, p. 23 and 27, respectively)

While Erik worked on a boatyard, he saw people working on the escort vessel for the Hōkūle’a, a wa’a (voyaging canoe) that uses traditional Polynesian wayfinding techniques (no technology, not even a watch) to navigate the ocean. (The Hōkūle’a is currently on its 15th voyage. Follow along here: https://hokulea.com/moananuiakea/). He approached the crew and volunteered to work on the escort vessel in-port. When the vessels were ready to commence their voyage, Erik had become so familiar with that vessel that they asked him to join, which turned into a 6-month journey. When I inquired about Erik’s attraction to the maritime industry, he quipped that he’s Moana from the Disney movie. For the sake of research, I had the ship’s movie DJ, Octavio De Menas (General Vessel Assistant), put on the movie. From what I gathered, this quote from Moana’s song “How Far I’ll Go” must represent his draw to the ocean:

“See the line where the sky meets the sea, it calls me.”

Moana

Through conversations with others on the ship, it seems like the ocean has a similar allure for many. Having been out here for three weeks, I get it. We first saw land last week and it felt like an intrusion. Enough about me, back to Erik!

Later, while talking to his friend’s dad who was a NOAA Corps Officer about his passion for the ocean, he joined the NOAA Corps himself. He met Yvonne as an Ensign on the Sette. He went on to become Lieutenant Junior Grade, and then “retired” from NOAA Corps as a Lieutenant because he was about to rotate from his land billet at Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) to another land billet which would have taken him away from Hawaii. He found a civilian job in Hawaii with PIFSC as a vessel operations coordinator in charge of small boats, fabrication and design, field logistics, and HARPs. He attributes his entry into the world of acoustics to Yvonne and HARPs. His current interests include using autonomous vehicles (e.g. sea glider) for a range of oceanographic environment missions.

I asked Yvonne and Erik the same questions separately and we laughed about the different approaches they took in their answers. Erik first noticed Yvonne because she was moving equipment and he was in charge of the equipment on the ship. Yvonne first noticed Erik’s sense of humor juxtaposed with her expectations from someone in the uniformed services. On their time at sea, they shared conversations over meals. Erik was captivated by the way Yvonne talked about her oma’s (grandmother’s) Indo-Dutch cooking. For more on Erik and Yvonne’s food connection, visit the Food Log below. Once in Guam, Yvonne was struck by Erik’s thoughtfulness in preceding her on a hike in the jungle so he could clear off all the spider webs; his distaste for spiders elevated Yvonne’s appreciation for his sacrifice. This is not the only time Erik put Yvonne before himself. Yvonne was really sick in Bali and ended up in a hospital in Malaysia. Erik took leave from work and (according to him) flew to comfort her and accompany her home. According to others, he rescued her. With a ring attached to the keyring on his swimming trunks, under a rainbow and surrounded by sea turtles, Erik proposed to Yvonne while surfing. They have been married since 2016. They currently live in their house, Gertrude, with their dog Sweetpea.

Personal Log with Career Highlight

I started teaching this week. Classes are going well! Shout out to my Abstract Algebra students who never cease to amaze me with their curiosity and courage. Brave Space–IYKYK! I told them our picture below looks like the Brady Bunch, which they did not understand so they have additional homework to watch the opening credits.

a screenshot of a zoom meeting between Gail (on the ship) and 9 students (two sharing a window), creating a 3 x 3 collage
University of La Verne’s Fall 2023 Abstract Algebra class!

Everyday, I try to do one thing I didn’t do the day before. I had two memorable events from this week. The first was during drills. We have weekly fire and abandon ship drills, so this week a few of us practiced the fire hose off the bow. Below you can see Yvonne assisting me as I cycled through the different spraying options.

view from an upper deck over the bow as Gail sprays the firehose over the railing and Yvonne help steady the hose
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea) and Yvonne Barkley (Cruise Lead-in-Training) test out the fire hose during weekly drills. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Ernesto Vásquez

The second non-routine thing I enjoyed was helping Joe Roessler (Electronic Technician–ET) install a cable to the outdoor wifi antenna. Our work is the reason I can compose this blog post on the boat deck in my outdoor office, wind whipping my hair to the sounds of the ships’ wake. We worked in the trawl house to solder connector pins to cable ends. Joe’s approach to teaching is familiar. In my classrooms, I provide the tools for students to solve problems with very little instruction. If they need some, I am there to help answer questions. Joe set up the soldering station, provided the leatherman, rubber tape, the connectors, the cable and we went to work. There were many parallels in his methods and mine. We first attempted a connection to the cable, but the pins were not sitting right. Joe evaluated the situation and quickly thought of a different approach to connect the cables. Trying a solution and then pivoting when it doesn’t work out is a skill we try to develop in my classes!

Joe got his amateur radio license at 13! At that time, kids were particularly into shortwave radio because of the US human moon landing. As a young adult he went to the Navy for naval aviation aircraft maintenance. After he was discharged from active duty, Joe continued working in the Naval Reserve and also at private sector companies where he tested robotic equipment. Later, he joined the Civil Service as an aircraft electrician at a naval air rework facility in San Diego. He then transferred to the Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah where he returned to the position of an ET. Joe worked with a biological integrated detection system for weapons of mass destruction, in biological warfare defense, with instrumentation and testing equipment and research development. He took a short 4-year detour a businessman and realized it was not what he wanted to do. NOAA had openings in Seattle so he applied and was hired! His first season was on NOAA Ship Rainier in Alaska. Having had enough of the cold weather, he asked for a relocation to Hawaii. He worked on our very ship, the Sette, installing equipment before its very first mission! He met his wife in Samoa and has been working for NOAA 22 years! 

Joe, wearing a hard hat and sunglasses, stands for a photo in the middle of his office, surrounded by electrical boxes and wires. He is wearing a t-shirt that reads: Don't fear the beard. He has a beard.
Joe Roessler (Electronic Technician) in his office! Photo Credit: Gail Tang

Food Log

This week Chef Chris Williams [see previous blog post for more about Chris] made some yummy meals, my favorite pictured below!

When Erik first mentioned Yvonne’s Oma’s Dutch-Indo cooking, I was intrigued because I haven’t had much of either, let alone their fusion. Though Erik insisted that all of Yvonne’s dishes are his favorite dish, after much encouragement he narrowed it down to Oma’s croquette recipe. It’s a fried potato dish with meat inside, best when served with Chinese or Dijon mustard. Yvonne’s favorite dish is her oma’s lemper ayam. The moment she mentioned that it’s sticky rice stuffed with chicken inside I asked if it’s wrapped in any type of leaf. After researching some recipes, I found that it’s traditionally wrapped with banana leaves. 

photo of sticky rice stuffed with chicken wrapped in banana leaves
Lemper. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

I am going to search for lemper when I get home because I have a certain fondness for food wrapped in leaves. I am particularly tickled by the similarities in leaf-wrapped food across different cultures. For example, there’s law mai gai (wrapped in lotus leaf with Chinese origins), zong (wrapped in bamboo leaf also with Chinese origins), dolmas (wrapped in grape leaves with origins in the Levant), tamale (wrapped in corn husk with Aztec origins), and cochinita pibil (wrapped in banana leaves with Mayan origins). This may be a stretch, but I also like onigirazu/handrolls/onigiri (wrapped in seaweed with Japanese origins) and gimbap (wrapped in seaweed with Korean origins).

There is even a Hawaiian version of a leaf-wrapped food called lau lau! It was the second thing I tried when I landed in Honolulu. Usually lau lau consists of pork and salted butterfish first wrapped in kalo (taro) leaves, which are edible, and then in ki (ti) leaves, which are not edible. Finally, traditionally it is steamed in an imu pit (underground pit). It can be found in restaurants and served at luaus. Though it was new to me, it felt so wonderfully familiar.

While searching for the history of lau lau, I found a beautifully written memory that describes lau lau as an embodiment of the beach, the valleys, and the mountains through the ingredients of butterfish, kalo/ki, and pig. Not only does the final product connect these landscapes, but the preparation connects families and friends.

“Early Hawaiians lived in valleys that provided them protection and food. Villages were organized by families and by land divisions, which, in old Hawaii, were divided from the beach to the mountains. That meant that each village and family had complete accessibility to the beach and the mountains and all their offerings. Lau Lau represents these familial land divisions because its ingredients come from the beach, the valleys, and the mountains. The preparation was always my favorite part, because we’d be together for hours sharing stories, laughing, and having fun. Wrapping Lau Laus was where we all became familiar with who we were.”

 Chad Schumacher, https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/family-recipes-lau-lau

Did you know?

The Big Dipper points to the North Star and the angle of elevation from the horizon to the North star is your latitude! This tip was brought to you by Erik Norris, himself.

Gail Tang:  One Day Older in an Instant, August 21, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Aug 21, 2023

Ship Layout

It’s hard to capture the feeling of the ship with pictures or words, but alas, here is an attempt! The ship essentially has 5 levels. The lowest is mostly the engine room plus a small space for the gym and laundry. The next level (my favorite) is the Main Deck, which has some staterooms but more importantly, the Mess, the Galley (kitchen), and the Forward Mess. The next level is the 01 Deck which houses Acoustics, the E-lab, the survey technician’s office (where I teach), and many of the staterooms (including mine!). Above the 01 deck is the 02 deck where most of the NOAA Corps Officers and some engineers sleep. Then there’s the Bridge where the officers drive the ship in the company of a deck crew member on watch. Finally, the Flying Bridge is the cherry on top! The birders and marine mammal observers do all their sightings from up there.

Science and Technology Log with Career Highlights

striking photo of a bird in flight, seen from underneath: mostly white, with a sharp orange bill, little webbed black feet tucked backward, and a very skinny red tail
Red-tailed Tropicbird. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Ernesto Vasquez

Michael Force (birder) and Ernesto Vázquez (marine mammal observer – MMO) are two amazing photographers on board. They helped me with the settings on my camera to capture the wildlife (shutter priority, auto ISO, center focus, continuous shots, fine detail). The first photo is a photo of a tropicbird taken by Ernesto. 

Ernesto started with one semester at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) where he was an honors student in his math classes, but failed in other classes. Drawn by his love of diving and the sea, he left to go to La Paz, and started at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, located next to the waters of the Gulf of California. He majored in marine biology, and took ecology applied statistics, general physics, Calculus 1 and Calculus 2. By his 3rd semester, he started doing community engagement at the university at an AMNIOTS lab, where his interest in cetaceans began.

While he joined multiple projects, the humpback whale ecology was his favorite. It is there in Cabo San Lucas where he learned photography for species identification and how to use the crossbow for sampling. He also became acquainted with specialized software to interpret data, which became a very useful skill for his future.

After graduation, Ernesto went to Ensenada to start his Master’s program. However, the scholarship and program in which he was enrolled disappeared, so he started looking for jobs. His first NOAA project was focused on the vaquita (a porpoise on the brink of extinction). It was a binational expedition in the Gulf of California for 2 months. In 2000, he joined a 3-year project on the eastern tropical Pacific, which was basically surveying a water mass the size of the African continent. On board, he estimated dolphin group sizes associated with tuna fishing operations. Since then he’s been joining similar expeditions that take him to places like the Galapagos and Alaska as part of the biopsy team.

I have such fondness for Ernesto because we shared many meals and many conversations during our leg 1 in-port. He has a calming and reassuring nature to his leadership style. In a subsequent leg of the HICEAS, he’ll be moving to NOAA SHIP Reuben Lasker to be a senior observer! Well-deserved, Ernesto!

photo, mostly in silhouette at sunrise, of  Ernesto working at a computer station on the deck; the big eyes binoculars are mounted to the right  the photo; the sky is dark blue with light just beginning to enter from the horizon
Ernesto Vásquez (MMO) setting up WinCruz as the sun rises. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang

I sat with Michael Force to learn more about the Red-tailed Tropicbird. I found out that the mariner’s name for tropicbirds is bosun bird, because their whistle resembles the call of the bosun’s whistle, formerly used to muster the deck crew. The Red-tailed Tropicbird is the largest of the three tropicbird species and is most common in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. It’s a ground nester, placing its nest under bushes to help shade them from the intense tropical sun. They love to eat flying fish and will travel far for food to bring back to their chicks. They dive from great heights with a spectacular vertical plunge. They are commonly attracted to ships and often fly around the highest point of the vessel; a goose-like croak will announce that one has snuck up behind us. Adult survival is very high because predation pressure at sea is very low. Rats, mice, and cats are predators ashore, especially for the young since they are unprotected in their ground nests. 

Their two elongated red tail feathers were highly valued by native Hawaiians, especially in crafting kāhili. These intricate feather posts accompanied royalty during events like battles, or large ceremonies. Dawn Breese (birder) gave me an extensive tour of the different kāhili at the Bishop Museum while we were in-port awaiting Leg 1. To learn more, visit the links in the reference list below.

view of elaborate feathered posts (10-15 feet tall?) mounted in a glass case in a museum
Kāhili Room at the Bishop Museum. Photo Credit: https://casabouquet.com/bishop-museum-oahu/

Michael’s interest in birding started at the young age of 7 or 8! Completely self-taught, he boarded his first commercial vessel at 16 for a pelagic seabird trip out of Westport, Washington, organized by the late Terry Wahl, a professor and esteemed seabird biologist at Western Washington University, Bellingham. The Westport pelagic trips were famous in the birding community. Using sport fishing charters to take landlubbers to Grays Canyon, an area rich in marine diversity, these trips were always well-attended.  As a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Westport, only five hours south, was a convenient location to reach the open sea and Michael was hooked.

Through Terry, he heard that Southwest Fisheries Science Center (one of six NOAA’s science centers) was looking for a volunteer observer for a 4-month voyage of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, thus began his NOAA journey. He interspersed seabird and NOAA trips with his studies at the University of British Columbia, where he majored in geography. The Snow Petrel is Michael’s favorite bird because it’s a unique Antarctic seabird, closely associated with ice, and is the world’s only pure white petrel.

Michael Force (Birder) using an improvised rangefinder (device to estimate distances to objects). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin.

I appreciate Michael’s quirkiness. I once told him that because of my eyesight, I only want to see the cetaceans if they are really close to the ship. He teased, “close enough you can poke them with a stick!” Thanks for the laughs, Michael!

amazing photo of a bird, seen from above flying away from the camera, as it  catches a flying fish in its bill. the bird is mostly white with black tipped wings and a gray bill.
Red-footed Booby catching a flying fish. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Michael Force
a bird, photographed from above flying low over the ocean surface and away from the camera, closely pursues a flying fish in "flight" entirely out of the water, its pectoral fins extended outward like an airplane
Brown Red-footed Booby polymorph pursuing a flying fish. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Michael Force

The Red-footed Booby is the only polymorphic (having different color morphs) booby. The brown polymorph dominates the eastern Pacific. Their red feet are a breeding adaptation; the redder the feet, the more likely they’ll find a mate—ooo la la. Unlike other birds, Red-footed Boobies do not use their breasts to incubate their chicks; they use their webbed feet! They also have a secondary set of nostrils to keep water out when they’re fishing and a clear membrane over their eyes that act like goggles. I personally enjoy watching them attempt to land on the jackstaff on the ship because sometimes they put out their landing gear and can’t quite bring it to fruition, so their little red webbed feet just dangle around in the wind, splayed open.

Juan Carlos (marine mammal observer-MMO) likes to see Fraser’s dolphins because they are a rare sight. On the shy side, they tend to run from the boat. Though Juan Carlos has not often seen Fraser’s dolphins with other groups (he’s seen them with melon-headed whales), according to whalefacts.org, they are fairly social and will often hang with false killer whales (a HICEAS priority species), melon-headed whales, Risso’s dolphins and short-finned pilot whales. The other MMOs like to tease the Fraser’s dolphins for their T-rex-like pectoral fins.

a Fraser's dolphin on the down-arc of a leap out of the water. its rostrum is at the ocean's surface. with effort we can see its small (supposedly t-rex like) pectoral fins. its tail is obscured in ocean spray.
Fraser’s dolphin. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang (Permit #25754)

Coincidentally, Juan Carlos (JC) went to the same college as Ernesto in La Paz! He started observing marine mammals while still in school at a tourist company running dolphin tours. His boats would take tourists out to see the sea lion colony at the north end of Isla Partida, and to snorkel in the Bay of La Paz where there is an abundance of sea life. He got involved with a US program that takes students to La Paz to learn about marine science, specifically marine mammals and sea lions.

JC first learned about NOAA through a UNAM professor and started working on the same Gulf project Ernesto would work on later. JC shared the process of calibrating the marine mammal observers’ counts. In the past, helicopters took photos from above and counted all the individuals in the pods. These actual counts were compared to each MMO’s estimated counts providing a margin of error for each MMO. For example, JC may be consistently 8% below the actual count. These margins of error are considered during abundance estimates. Since calibrations don’t happen with helicopters anymore, there are very few MMOs with their margins of error recorded, making JC a very valuable MMO.

JC has a quiet sense of care. At lunch recently, I put my mug of tea down at his table before grabbing lunch. When I returned, he put a napkin under my mug. When I lifted the mug to drink, I held down the napkin with my free hand to stop the fan from blowing it away. JC gently picked up the napkin and flipped it over so the open side did not catch the wind. I am going to miss my new family!

Juan Carlos, on deck, holds up a plastic ziploc bag containing about seven flying fish, examining it intently
Juan Carlos Salinas (MMO) packs up flying fish that have landed on the ship. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

Reference list:

Personal Log

I’ve grown accustomed to ship life. I can now tell when there is a sighting without being informed because the ship’s movement feels different and the lighting/shadows often change. To break out of routine, I try to do something different everyday that I didn’t do the day before. This week’s excitement was crossing the international date line (aka 180°E/W) from east to west!

Apparently new crew members who cross the date line for the first time by way of sea are initiated into the domain of the golden dragon. I couldn’t find much on the inception of this sailor tradition, but it seems like it’s rooted in China’s reverence for dragons. As such, some of us got to crafting dragon-themed costumes for the occasion! The pipe cleaners Jennifer McCullough (Lead Acoustician) brought onboard have been crucial for not only keeping our hands busy, but also provided a means to make dragons, dragon wings, and dragon scales. 

Group photo of 16 people, including Gail, on deck with a whiteboard reading: HICEAS 2023 Leg 2, August 18, Dateline Crossing 180 degrees, 30 degrees 27.36', into the realm of the Golden Dragon
Science team crossing into the realm of the golden dragon. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang
Jessie, Gail, Dre stand in a line on deck, hands on hips, wearing pipe cleaner decorations, posing for a glamour shot
Plankton Team Sandwich! Jessie Perelman (Plankton Researcher), Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Dre Schmidt (Plankton Researcher). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Jennifer McCullough
Five scientists (Gail included, all the way to the right) with their pipe cleaner decorations and star garlands pose for a photo against a rail of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
Scientists crossing the International Date line by sea for the first time. Left to right: Paul Nagelkirk (MMO), Dre Schmidt (Plankton Researcher), Jessie Perelman (Plankton Researcher), Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician), Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Yvonne Barkley

Food Log

Well, it’s happening. The fresh vegetables are starting to diminish! When I talked with my mom, she reminded me to eat more fruit! Though there is no fruit featured in the images below, I have indeed increased my fruit consumption. Thanks, mom!

view down into a chest freezer filled with individually wrapped ice cream treats of all kinds
Can you believe it? An ice cream fridge!

In the Forward Mess, there is an ice cream fridge! I’m more fascinated by the ice cream fridge conceptually rather than gastronomically. I usually sit in the Forward Mess on the counter just next to the fridge so I’ve become acquainted with the ice cream habits of those on board. Some like to just pay a visual visit to the fridge while others are daily indulgers. Fat Boys and Greek Yogurt popsicles (those went FAST) are the most popular. Ben and Jerry’s is also well-liked, but there usually is an abundance so everyone can have what they want. I personally only tried Octavio De Mena’s (General Vessel Assistant) Li Hing Miu popsicle. Though the li hing miu is what made the popsicle good, it was still too sweet for me.

Did you know?

During lunch with Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer), I learned that the mother-calf pair swim in what’s called the echelon formation. As seen in the photo below, the calf is swimming in close proximity to the mother, between the dorsal fin and tail. This formation is crucial to infant survival as it provides the calf with hydrodynamic benefits and energy conservation during periods of travel (Noren et al., 2007). Now, isn’t that the sweetest?

two pilot whales, a mother and calf, swim very close to one another, cresting above the surface in this view; the calf's head is about even with the start of the mother's dorsal fin
Calf and adult pilot whales swimming in echelon formation. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Andrea Bendlin (Permit #25754)

Reference:

Noren, S.R., Biedenbach, G., Redfern, J.V. and Edwards, E.F. (2008), Hitching a ride: the formation locomotion strategy of dolphin calves. Functional Ecology, 22: 278-283. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2007.01353.x

Germaine Thomas: Farewell to the Oscar Dyson and Summer, August 19, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

Mission: Acoustic Trawl Survey (Leg 3 of 3)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean/ Gulf of Alaska
Date: Saturday, August 19, 2023

Weather Data
Lat 58.1 N, Lon 150.1 W
Sky condition: Partly Sunny
Wind Speed: 5.81 knots
Wind Direction: 346.98°
Air Temp: 12.91 °C

Science Log

The last trawl sample that the Oscar Dyson’s crew and scientist’s took was in deep water with a Methot net, named after Dr. Rick Methot, the NOAA scientist who developed it. This type of trawl net slows down the water as marine organisms tumble into it, so their delicate bodies are not crushed. The codend looks a lot like what you would see in a plankton tow, only it will catch a lot more organisms.

Micheal, wearing foul weather gear, yellow gloves, a hard hat, and a flotation jacket, stands on deck holding a net draped into a plastic bin. He turns his head to the side to look at the camera for a photo. Beyond, the sky is cloudy and the water is calm and gray.
Michal Levine as he removes the codend from the Methot trawl net

Sub-samples are taken from what the Methot catches. Some krill is preserved and sent back to NOAA in Seattle for identification and analysis. On board, the krill are weighed and counted. The krill and other organisms are small, so the tools used to sort them are designed for capturing and moving small organisms.

several strainers resting on a white table surface. two are rimmed circles with mesh centers. one is a standard kitchen strainer with a handle. we can also see a knife, a pencil, electrical tape, and a small torpedo-shaped device for measuring flow inside the net.
The tools used to sort krill
some krill (maybe 40, not thousands) displayed on a white surface
Krill

After the last krill was counted and weighed, the science team quickly jumped into action cleaning up the Fish Lab. Yes, I am including this in the science log, because cleanup is an important part of science that many high school students seem to forget.

view of cleaned equipment on the aft deck. Stacks of empty buckets, some suds still visible on the deck surface. a trawl net rests in a pile in the background.
Totes and baskets were scrubbed and then washed with a pressure hose

The crew had unreeled the trawl nets and were getting ready to ship them to Washington state.

trawl nets, orange and blue in color with ropes and buoys attached to them, sit in piles on deck beneath the large spools (now empty) where they had been mounted during the survey operations
Trawl nets neatly stacked on deck

Personal Blog

Being a Teacher at Sea on the Oscar Dyson was a fantastic way to end the summer for me. Shortly I will be heading back to Anchorage where high school has already started and students have already been to my class with a substitute teacher. I look forward to teaching school, but am so thankful for the opportunity to have this adventure.

It has been so wonderful working with the science team on this cruise. After so many unforeseen delays the objectives were met through team work and the organizational skills of the lead scientist Taina Honkalehto.

The people on this ship really enjoy working on the ocean. Whether it is captaining the boat, engineering, the mess, to programming echo sounders, identifying species of fish, weighing and sampling them, they all love what they do. They also really care about the work that they are doing, the health of the ocean, and they want to support the people working and living with it. Also, there is a unique brand of humor that comes with working together for extended periods of time at sea. You just have to laugh at strange fish that come aboard and wonder at the beautiful sunsets or northern lights.

On the bridge I found the ship’s communication flags. These flags are a way to communicate with other ships if the radios are not working or to hang on holidays with a message. When I was a kid back in Ketchikan, Alaska, I admired the flags so much I would draw cartoons with flag messages. So, to NOAA, the science team and the crew of the Oscar Dyson

Germaine, wearing her Teacher at Sea hat, holds up a flag with horizontal bars in red, white, blue, meaning "T"
T
Germaine, wearing her Teacher at Sea hat, holds up a flag with white on top and red on the bottom, meaning "H"
H
Germaine, wearing her Teacher at Sea hat, holds up a flag with white on top and blue on the bottom, and a notch in the blue, meaning "A"
A
Germaine, wearing her Teacher at Sea hat, holds up a flag with blue and white checkers, meaning "N"
N
Germaine, wearing her Teacher at Sea hat, holds up a flag with blue on top and yellow on the bottom, meaning "K"
K
Germaine, wearing her Teacher at Sea hat, holds up a white flag with a blue square in the middle, meaning "S"
S

May the seas lie smooth before you. May a gentle breeze forever fill your sails. May sunshine warm your face, and Kindness warm your soul. – An Irish Sailor’s Blessing

Germaine Thomas: Fish Reproduction and Why it’s Important, August 18, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

Mission: Acoustic Trawl Survey (Leg 3 of 3)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean/ Gulf of Alaska
Date: Friday, August 18, 2023

Weather Data
Lat 58.18 N, Lon 148.82 W
Sky condition: Partially Cloudy
Wind Speed: 10.55 knots
Wind Direction: 32.58°
Air Temp: 14 °C

Science and Technology Blog

Meet Sandi Neidetcher, she is a fish biologist investigating fish reproductive status. Why care about fish reproduction? Well, the seafood industry is extremely important to Alaska and other coastal states. And they would not have an industry if those “little fishes” could not reproduce. But the ocean is changing due to climate and different types of pollution.

Climate change is making our oceans a warmer place—just a couple of degrees, but that may be enough to really change how fish reproduce and spawn. A few degrees in temperature could change when and where fish reproduce, and then cascade to the fishing industry, the food market, and the people who depend on them as food.

NOAA wants to have background information on fish reproduction so they can recognize whether the fish have changed their reproductive strategies over time and how that could impact fisheries.

Sandi received her Masters degree studying the ovaries of Pacific cod to determine the phenology and geography, or the timing and location, of spawning. She specialized in histology, which is the study of microscopic tissue structures, for her it was specifically the ovaries. To understand the reproductive process and ovary maturation, she studies slides with ovary tissue mounted and stained to show oocyte (unfertilized egg) structures that develop as the spawning season progresses.

a collection of eight histograms presented in two columns. each histogram displays a stained (artificially colored) cross-section of a piece of ovary tissue viewed on a slide under a microscope. in each slide, the tissue ranges from red to purple, with some gray; structures appear as circles, swirls, cells, unfortunately difficult for a lay person to describe helpfully. Germaine likely includes these as a general example of Sandi's research. The slides are labeled: 1) Immature (IMM) - reserve fund, tightly packed oocytes, little tunica, thin wall. 2) No development (ND) - reserve fund, more tunica, thick wall. 3) Developing (DEV) - Cortical Alveoli. 4) Vitellogenesis (VIT) - early to late vitellogenesis, nucelar migration, coalescence.  5) Prespawning (PSWN) - VIT plus hydration. 6) Spawning (SWN) - VIT, some hydration, plus post ovulatory follicles. 7) Partial Spent (PSNT) - VIT (no coalescence or hydration) plus post ovulatory follicles. 8) Spent (SNT) - early post ovulatory follicles, residual VIT resorbing.
Examples of histograms from Sandi’s research, showing the progression of Pacific cod oocyte structure development over the course of the spawning season

Now she is involved in a study looking at the reproductive states of Walleye Pollock. Pollock are multi-batch spawners. They have the ability to spawn (lay eggs) more than once in a season. So the female ovaries can be in different stages of reproduction throughout the season.

The first step in this analysis is to collect the ovaries from the pollock.

Sandi and Robert, wearing foul weather gear and long, yellow, heavy-duty gloves, stand at a work bench in the wet lab. Sandi, closer to the camera, holds a pollock in her right hand over a white cutting board. Robert, standing ready at the fish measuring board, looks down at the pollock Sandi is holding.
Sandi Neidetcher and Robert Levine work together to collect data on a pollock.

In the photo above, the fish will be measured for length and weight, then the ovary and the liver will be removed, weighed, and saved for analysis. The fish’s ear bones (otoliths) will also be removed and used to determine its age. Samples are sent back to Sandi at NOAA AFSC (Alaska Fisheries Science Center) in Seattle, Washington. Half of the ovary will be sent to a histology lab where technicians will prep the tissues and return the sides ready to be analyzed. The other half of the ovary is scanned on the ship.

Sandi is comparing the histological samples to Raman Spectroscopy Analysis that she does aboard the Oscar Dyson. A long time ago when I was an undergraduate student in chemistry, Raman spectrometers were very large. The one I worked with in my physical chemistry class was in the basement of a building on a special concrete slab that stopped any vibrations from disturbing the path of the laser. Did I mention that the whole setup took up almost half of the basement?

view of an equipment set up in the wet lab. the spectrometer (which Germaine has labeled in this photo) sits on a table to the left of the photo. the laser wand, connected to the spectrometer by a cable, rests nearby, adjacent to a small foil-covered plate holding a little blob of pink tissue. there's also a computer monitor displaying a graph of the readings. the table is a bit cluttered, with stacks of paper, a pair of goggles, a file box, a computer mouse.
The computer displays a scan of the ovarian tissue

Raman spectrometers have come a long way since my undergrad. Today, Sandi has a small wand that contains a laser connected to a spectrometer the size of a donut box. A small desktop computer connected to the spectrometer will give an immediate readout of the analysis.

The wand with the laser is held over the ovary to collect data on large macromolecules like lipids, proteins, and DNA.

two hands steady the laser wand over a bit of pink tissue  resting on a foil-covered plate (itself on some paper towels.) the wand connects by a cable to the spectrometer, visible in the background.
You can see the laser light as it penetrates the ovary.

The analysis that Sandi does is to compare the molecular composition identified through the spectral patterns with the structures seen in the histology samples, and to determine if the maturation status can be identified through the spectral patterns. The ultimate goal would be to have a small hand-held spectrometer that a scientist could use right as the ovaries are extracted. This would greatly increase the amount of ovaries analyzed quickly and efficiently and reduce the cost and time required for histological analysis

Sandi sits at a table in the wet lab, turning to smile for the camera. She is wearing a gray NOAA logoed sweatshirt. A stack of a box and a binder (and some goggles) on the right end of her table - the foreground of the photo - obscure the view of what she is working on at the moment but this is likely the same table as the previous two photos.
Sandi at her work station on the Oscar Dyson

Pollock have variability in their reproductive strategies and may be impacted by environmental conditions. One strategy is down regulation, where a fish will reabsorb a number of eggs during maturation and, as a result, reduce the resources spent on reproduction. This reduces the fecundity, or number of eggs released by that fish in a season. Knowing how fecund a fish population is helps managers determine how many fish can be removed by a fishery. Atresia is the resorption of an oocyte and can be seen histologically. Mass atresia is where a whole ovary of oocytes is be reabsorbed. If the fish is not finding enough food or the temperature is not correct then, then a female fish can save energy by reducing, or stopping the whole process of reproduction.

Recent warming sea temperatures have been seen in the Gulf of Alaska, and this may be impacting fish reproduction. In 2020, the number of Pacific cod predicted had dropped so low that the federal waters fishery was closed. That same year, crew fishing for Pacific cod reported seeing a number of Pacific cod with mass atresia. Scientists do not know if the observation of atresia, during a warming period, is related to the population crash but studies like this will give more information for the future. Predicting population crashes that may be related to climate change, fish health or temperature differences are an important part of fisheries management and impact us all because the ocean is an important resource.

Personal Blog

Crew Members in the Spotlight

Juliette and Ben cross their arms and lean toward one another slightly to pose for a photo. They are standing in front of a wooden workbench with blue shelving containing small cubbies for nuts, bolts, other supplies. Two hard hats rest on top of the blue shelves. Juliette grips ear protection with her right hand. Ben wears a NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson t-shirt.
Pictured left to right, Juliette Birkner – Engineering, and Ben Boswell – Survey Technician

The Commanding Officer runs the ship, but there are many important jobs that the Oscar Dyson would not function without. Engineering is one of them. There is a small team of Engineers aboard that are constantly monitoring the ship when on shift.

Juliette is a member of the Oscar Dyson’s Engineering department and may have been on the staff the longest. Her personality is direct, friendly and capable. Before becoming an Engineer, she attained her bachelor of science degree at the University of Washington. After receiving her degree she did not really have a clear plan for a job. So she went to a community college and received the equivalent associates degree of a Junior Unlicensed Engineer. Eventually, through NOAA, she can be a fully qualified Engineer with time aboard ships.

Juliette has a wildly creative side and interest in science. The scarf she is wearing in the picture has different layers present in sedimentary rock. She is also a big fan of dinosaurs, placing several all over the ship for people to find when work is slow. Honestly, it is the kind of humor that keeps everyone moving around with a smile. Some dinosaurs even have sweaters that she knitted, in her down time. Her knitting is extremely impressive.

Ben is the Survey Technician for the ship. Survey Technician is the kind of job you would never know exists as a high school student. There are jobs out there in this world that people would never specifically train for in high school or college , but are highly needed where you have different groups collaborating in complex situations. Ben’s job description is a pretty long list; calibrate scientific instruments, collect data, assist scientists, help the deck crew, and act as a liaison between science and the deck crew.

How did he arrive at this position? He attained a bachelor of science in Wildlife Biology and worked in the field for a while. Unfortunately, he found the job hard to make a living with the low pay. Fishing’s siren song came in the form of factory trawling and other crew positions in smaller boats. Because of his academic training and work experience the “perfect storm” of a Survey Technician was born.

Soon we will be taking our last trawl sample and heading to port in Kodiak. There have been moments on the cruise where time crawled in the dead of night while I was struggling to stay awake. Mostly, it has been a trip of a lifetime, with an incredibly capable and adaptive team of scientists and crew members willing to share stories that keep you awake and lull you to sleep, dreaming about tomorrow.

panoramic view over the bow of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, from the flying bridge (the top most level); it's a beautiful day, with blue skies and wispy clouds
The view from the Oscar Dyson’s fly bridge

Jenny Gapp: Let Them Eat Hake! August 14, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jenny Gapp (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

July 23 – August 5, 2023 

Mission: Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) Survey (Leg 3 of 5)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean off the Northern California Coast working north back toward coastal waters off Oregon.
Date: Monday, August 14, 2023

Weather Data from Portland, Oregon
Friday, August 11, 2023 (one week from our final trawl)
Sunrise 6:06am PDT | Sunset 8:24pm PDT
Current Time: 2:53pm PDT
Location: 45. 59578° N, 122.60917° W (Portland International Airport)
Visibility: 10 miles
Sky condition: A few clouds
Wind Speed: 6.8 mph
Wind Direction: NW
Barometer: 1016.80 mb
Air Temp: 82° F
Relative Humidity: 37%
Speed Over Ground (SOG): 0 knots as I sit on my front porch at home!
Willamette River water temperature: 74°F

Monday, August 14, 2023
Sunrise 6:10am PDT | Sunset 8:19pm PDT
Current Time: 2:53pm PDT
Location: 45. 59578° N, 122.60917° W
Visibility: 10 miles
Sky condition: Clear
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind Direction: WNW
Barometer: 1010.10 mb
Outdoor Air Temp: 105°F (record ended up at 108°F)
Relative Humidity: 21%
Indoor Air Temp: 78°F (our AC consists of several Doug Fir trees)
Speed Over Ground (SOG): 0 knots as I sit at my computer in my home office space. 
Willamette River water temperature: 75.02°F

Science and Technology Log
I’ll start my last blog post with some vocabulary… and a sports analogy. Apologies in advance, I’m testing out some sports jokes to appeal to my 5th-grade sports fans who are skeptical about science. My hope is that the vocabulary (at least) will aid in understanding the following narrative about NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada’s Leg 3 centerboard retraction.

Don’t worry, it’s not too complicated. It isn’t that different from how rookie Trail Blazer Ibou Badji (Center) was removed for knee surgery at the end of last season… or how the other Center, Jusuf Nurkic, was ejected after an altercation with an opponent and then retracted for the remainder of the same season with plantar fasciitis… Where have all the Centers on the board gone? At least there is more certainty of Shimada’s centerboard returning than Nurkic (even though he has three years on his contract left)!

Vocabulary

Acoustics – In our case, acoustics refers to an entire branch of physics concerned with the properties of sound. Yes, acoustics can also refer to how your voice sounds when singing in the shower.

Sonar – A system for the detection of objects underwater by emitting sound pulses and detecting or measuring their return after being reflected by the objects. The vocabulary words that follow are all related to the sonar system on the Shimada.

Centerboard – A retractable hull appendage, similar to the keel on a sailboat.

Ping – To emit a signal and then listen for its echo in order to detect objects. Sean Connery may have introduced you to the concept. “Give me a ping, Vasili. One ping only, please.” (Captain Ramius, The Hunt for Red October, 1990)

Hertz – One hertz (Hz) is equal to one event per second. The unit’s most common usage is to describe periodic waveforms (as is used in acoustics) and in musical tones. Kilohertz (kHz) is equal to 103, megahertz (mHz) is equal to 106 .

a graphical representation of the spectrum of soundwaves. from left to right, a red line meanders up and down at increasing frequencies (2 Hz, 20 Hz, 200 Hz, 2 kHz, 20 kHz, 200 kHz, 2 MHz) and decreasing wavelengths (170 m, 17 m, 1.7 m, 17 cm, 17 mm, 1.7 mm, 172 um.)  The labeled wavelengths are compared to images about the same size: a baseball field (170 m), a tractor trailer (17 m), two people holding hands (1.7 m), a sub sandwich (17 cm), a penny (17 mm), the width of a quarter (1.7 mm), and grains of salt (172 um). Ranges of frequencies are labeled "infrasound" (2 Hz to 20 Hz), "audible sound" (20 Hz to 20 kHz), and "ultrasound" (20 kHz to 2 MHz).
Spectrum of soundwaves illustration from BYU Acoustics Research Group

Transducer – A device that converts variations in a physical quantity, such as sound, into an electrical signal, or vice versa. On the Shimada, the transducer emits a ping.

Transceiver – A device that both transmits and receives communication. There are five transceivers on the Shimada, one for each frequency—measured in kHZ—that the scientists monitor. Walkie-talkies are one example of transceivers.

Note: I have a habit of calling things by their incorrect names, and had some confusion about how a “transponder” fits into these “trans” terms. A transponder is a blend between “transmitter” and “responder.” Essentially, a device that receives a radio signal and emits a different signal in response. They are used to detect and identify objects. If you have a car key fob that locks and unlocks your doors remotely (or starts your engine), then you are walking around with a transponder. Transponders are also commonly found in airplanes.

Echosounder – A type of sonar. The Shimada uses a wideband transceiver (WBT) scientific echosounder system for the hake survey.

Echogram – The visualization of sound once the transceiver “listens” to the acoustic return pinged off objects.

Cleaning up is often a sign of good things coming to an end. Whether it’s scraping glitter glue off the tables of my library, or fish scales off stainless steel in the Shimada, both signal the end of a productive work period. On Friday night, August 4th, the Wet Lab crew conducted a deep clean of the space after the last trawl. On Saturday, the net was streamed one last time (for Leg 3 anyway) on our way back to Newport, Oregon. Creatures like pyrosomes, flatfish, and young-of-the-year (YOY) hake that had been stuck in the net were flushed out after a period of time waving goodbye in surface waters. YOY is used interchangeably with the term “fingerlings” in the vocabulary of fish development.

Jenny, wearing overalls, rubber boots, rubber gloves, kneels on one knee to scrub an overturned plastic basket on the aft deck. there is a bucket of cleaning solution to her right and a stack of three more baskets to her left.
In which I get to “swab the deck”… or swab the baskets in this case.

Another event that occurred Saturday was the raising of the centerboard. The centerboard is always raised at sea and cleaned once in port. “Biofouling mitigation” is the fancy term for centerboard cleaning. This is to ensure sea life, such as barnacles, do not adhere themselves to the surface. A build-up of these stowaways could interfere with the sonar. Hmm, I sense potential here for another sports analogy… something about fouls.  

The Survey Crew coordinates with the bridge and the engineers to retract the centerboard. Transducers are mounted on the centerboard so they can be lower than the hull. This reduces bubbles and noise. In the Shimada’s case, bubbles are air pockets created by the movement of the ship’s bow. A centerboard extends the distance between sonar equipment and the activity of bubbles gathered near the hull. When seas are rough enough there can actually be a data dropout that appears as a white line on the echogram.  

Elysha stands at metal box, with indicator lights and switches, mounted on a wall. She holds a corded phone receiver up to her ear with her left hand. With her right hand she reaches toward a button or dial on the control panel.
Elysha Agne, at the centerboard control panel.

Fully extended, the centerboard is 3.4 m below the hull of the ship and 9.15 m below the baseline sea surface. There is a manual option for retracting the centerboard, but it is generally only used if there’s a problem. Automatic operations are the norm, and were used when I observed the procedure.

Officers on the bridge slow the ship to 0 knots. The bridge confirms with survey technicians which position the centerboard should be moved to. A control panel for the centerboard is located one deck below the acoustics lab. I stood with Senior Survey Technician, Elysha Agne, to observe the process for retraction. NOAA Corps crew actually push the button on the bridge for retraction, but Agne communicates over the phone with them to confirm what the centerboard control panel is indicating.

close up view of a metal panel - a red circle, surrounded by a yellow ring, on a red background. over the center of the circle, there's a beige-colored smear of what must be tiny barnacles.
Barnacles on a Shimada transducer after three legs of the 2023 hake survey. Photo taken by Elysha Agne.

Just down the passageway from the control panel are the double watertight doors that provide access to the instrument pod on the retracted centerboard. I include a picture of these doors in the Hook, Line, and Thinker section of blog post, “Let’s Get Specific in the Pacific.”

Once the button is pushed and the centerboard is ostensibly moved, Agne confirms the indicator lights on the control panel and looks through the porthole on the watertight doors nearby to confirm the white letter “R” (for “retracted) is visible on the appendage. Agne turns off the transducers (no pinging) before retraction starts in case the transducers accidentally go out of the water.

This is important because sound travels differently through air than in water. If the transducer were still pinging while a crewmember had their head through the open centerboard access doors—that wouldn’t be good for human ears. The transducer can actually be damaged beyond repair if it pings in the air. The centerboard actually has holes in it, so it fills with water when lowered, then drains as it is raised. I could hear the water draining during the retraction process. 

Career feature

CO Slater, wearing a blue NOAA Corps uniform, stands at a white metal post (housing what must be the gyro repeater) near a railing aboard NOAA Ship Bell M Shimada. He holds his right hand up, pointing out over the bright blue ocean, and looks in the direction he points.
CO Slater at one of Shimada’s gyro repeaters.
CO Slater, wearing a blue NOAA Corps uniform, sits in his Captain's Chair on the bridge. Facing away from us, he holds his binoculars up to his eyes to scan the horizon.
CO Slater sits in his Captain’s Chair and inspects the horizon.

Joshua Slater, CO (Commanding Officer)
Give us a brief job description of what you do on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.

I’m responsible for the safety of the ship and its 41 crewmembers (depending on the voyage), including safe navigation, accomplishment of science missions, project management, budget, personnel, and training of the crew.

What’s your educational background?

I have a Bachelor’s in Marine Biology and a Master’s in Marine Sciences both from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. I grew up in a Navy family, so we moved all around the world. I don’t consider one place home over another. After graduation, I wanted to go to either California or Hawaii. I got a job as a contractor with NOAA doing free-diving and scuba in Hawaii as a Marine Debris Technician. I removed derelict fishing gear and nets off the coral reefs of the northwestern islands. I joined NOAA Corps after that. I attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in King’s Point, New York. In the Corps, there’s a 2:3 rotation ratio in years spent on assignments at sea and on land.

I started out on NOAA Ship McArthur II. We sailed from Seattle out to Hawaii, down to South America, Mexico, and up the West Coast of the U.S. to Canada. My assignment after that was emergency response for incidents at sea such as hurricanes and chemical spills. One of those projects was on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response down in the Gulf of Mexico. My next ship was in South Carolina on NOAA Ship Nancy Foster, where I worked from Massachusetts to Key West, to Galveston, Texas. After that were land assignments in Washington DC, then Chief of Operations at NOAA’s Marine Operations Center for the Pacific (MOC-P) in Newport, Oregon. I’ve bounced between MOC-P and the Shimada in that land-to-sea ratio since then.

In the NOAA Corps, you start out as an Ensign (pronounced “en-sin”). Within 2-3 years you usually get promoted from ensign to Lieutenant junior grade. During your first sea tour, you need to learn how to drive the ship, keep everyone safe, and understand the basics of ship operations. During your second sea tour, you help coordinate logistics for operations. On the third sea tour you’re running all the administrative functions (hiring, firing, discipline), and on the fourth time out hopefully you are experienced enough to be considered for the ship’s Captain, overseeing the safety of the whole ship, and making sure operations are done efficiently. So, as you work your way through your career you also get promoted. Beyond the rank of Lieutenant junior grade, there’s Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, and then Admiral.

For civilians, Ship Captain and CO may be viewed as interchangeable. In NOAA Corps you can be a commanding officer and be any number of different ranks. In the civilian world, the ship’s boss is called “Captain” or “Master.” Since NOAA Corps stems from military origins, they use “Commanding Officer.”

What took you by surprise about sailing on the ocean?

What took me by surprise was the amount of operations we could do in less-than-ideal weather. You might have a calm day on shore, but at sea it’s usually windy and you have waves of some sort. We do the best we can given the situation.

Why are conditions rougher further out at sea?

A few things. Currents. Wind. Sometimes headlands protect you from wind when you’re closer to shore. How big the waves get is a combination of how strong the wind blows, how long it blows, and over what distance of water. That’s called the fetch. That gives the time needed for the swell to fully develop based on the wind. Wind at a short distance is a wave. Once you get beyond where the wind is that localized phenomenon, further away it’s the swell. While our wind may be calm here, we may still have a big swell because there’s a storm off Hawaii or Alaska. We’re not feeling the wind but we’re feeling the side effects. Or we could just be in the wind, it’s blowing 50, and not that bad right now, but give it 12 hours to develop, 24 hours, and it’s going to be a lot worse. You do what you can given what you have to work with. The ship is seaworthy and can handle a lot of different conditions. 

an illustration of the surface of the ocean, if it were contained in a square angled toward the viewer. an orange arrow entering the square from the left is labeled Wind; a blue arrow exiting the square to the right is labeled "direction of wind advance." near the arrow, small curved white lines indicate small waves emanating out in all directions, but in the direction of the arrow there are many more; farther to the right, they spread out some; all the way to the right, they are large waves. This progression is labeled "ripples to chop to wind waves," then "full developed seas," then "changing to swell." An oval with a point at the back describes the center of the image, where most of the waves are, and a nearby measurement bar marks the length of that shape as the length of fetch.
An illustration of fetch. Image origin.

What’s the biggest weather you’ve been in on the Shimada?

Probably 20-foot waves, although waves are not consistently one height, they’re a range. They may be normally 16-18 feet, but you might get a 22-foot wave come through. The ones I’ve been in consistently were about 20.

At what point is it not safe to conduct operations?

It depends what the wind is, what the swell is, whether they’re from the same direction or opposing directions, or 90 degrees off. Sometimes our whole project is in the trough, which means the waves are hitting us from the sides, so we’re rolling a lot. The way transects are laid out for trawling and sampling gets us rolling a lot. If it’s really bad we’ll angle our way from one location to another. We do have safety standards for operations. Once the wind is above a certain limit, or the waves above a certain range in height, we’ll reassess. Usually, we reassess the operation if wind is over 30 knots, but we’ve done ops in 40 knots before. We’ve also done ops in 16-foot waves. There are a lot of variables to be considered, including the type of operation we’re attempting to execute.

We’ll get people who have never been out here before, or we’ll get people that are so focused on the science, they don’t think about safety. My job is to make sure they don’t forget about safety! We have a daily safety meeting of department heads on the ship. There are weekly drills at sea. During monthly safety meetings, we go over accidents in the NOAA fleet. It’s a lot easier to learn from other people’s mistakes. We all want to come home with our fingers and toes!

What advice do you have for a young person interested in ocean-related careers?

Grow where you’re planted. In NOAA Corps, you don’t get to necessarily choose the jobs where you go next. A board of officers chooses for you, based on your skill set and the needs of the service at that time. For example, I can list my preferences, but there’s no guarantee I will get any of them. There have been many times where officers haven’t even received their second or third choice. My advice to everyone is, you may not want to go to a particular assignment or a particular part of the country, but you’re there, so make the most of it. Every place I have been assigned has good qualities, good things to offer. Those are what I choose to focus on. When I talk to some people, they never seem happy no matter where they are.  I think that is a mindset issue. One of my favorite quotes is, “Positivity is a superpower.” The term “Shimada-tude” got its start in the early days of the ship’s service to NOAA and is all about positivity. We want to like what we do and want people to like coming out to sea. We want them to have a good experience, and treat everyone with respect. 

Do you have a favorite book?

Growing up I often looked for the Newbery Prize Medal seal or the Newbery Honor seal on a book cover when I was walking through the library. I figured if somebody liked it I might as well try it. It’s hard to pick just one book. I tried a lot of the classics and have made my way through most of “The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written.” Some were enjoyed while others were not. I remember taking an interest in The Odyssey and The Iliad, by Homer; Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe; Shipwrecked, by Robert Louis Stevenson; The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux; and Dracula, by Bram Stoker—to name a few. 

Lately, I’ve been reading more and more about financial education. One book I recommend is The Richest Man in Babylon, by George Samuel Clason. It uses fictitious ancient parables to give you sound monetary advice, and that is something that I don’t think is really taught anymore.

As for children’s literature, I’ve recently read a few of the Harry Potter books with my son. I remember reading and enjoying The Chronicles of Narnia series, by C.S. Lewis, Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell; and Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. 

NOAA Fishwatch logo, reading: FishWatch U.S. Seafood Facts, NOAA, www.FishWatch.gov


Floating (Food) Facts (& Opinions)

Here’s the part where we “Let them eat hake.” If you can get your hands on some hake through a company like Pacific Seafood (headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon), then you can decide for yourself whether all this fuss over hake is worth the hype.

Hake (Pacific Whiting) is the most abundant commercial stock on the Pacific Coast.

If you aren’t into hake but consume other seafood, use Fish Watch. NOAA Fisheries hosts sustainable seafood profiles with current information on marine fish harvested in the U. S.

The first couple of paragraphs on the Fish Watch site define “sustainable seafood:”

“Sustainable seafood is wild-caught or farmed seafood that is harvested or produced in ways that protect the long-term health of species populations and ecosystems. The United States is a global leader in sustainable seafood. U.S. fishermen and seafood farmers operate under some of the most robust and transparent environmental standards in the world. If the seafood you purchase is caught or farmed in the United States, you can feel confident you’re making a sustainable seafood choice. 

Marine wild-capture fisheries in the United States are scientifically monitored and regionally managed. They are enforced under 10 national standards of sustainability through the Magnuson-Stevens Act—exceeding the international standards for eco-labeling of seafood.”


You may have stood in front of the seafood counter and noticed those green (best choice) and yellow (good alternative) labels. I have yet to see red, which means avoid, which seems counter to the marketing impulse of grocery stores. These labels are based on the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch guidelines. Here’s a pocket guide for my West Coast friends. There are a handful of seafood guides you can consult, but not all are created equal. This article from 2017 captures the frustration consumers sometimes have about what fish to choose.

Part of my confusion is often based on the many names a single species has! For example, I just now learned (on the NOAA Fish Watch site) that Bocaccio are rockfish and are the Oregon Red Snapper I recall from shopping trips and meals as a kid. For me, the thing that makes NOAA’s Fish Watch site superior to the rest is the comprehensive overview of each species profiled. You get detailed sections on Population Status, Appearance, Biology, Where They Live, Fishery Management, and Harvest all in one place. Bon appetit!

photograph of a hake, cutout and superimposed on a stylized background. text reads: Wild Pacific Hake (Whiting). A North Pacific Speciality. Wild Pacific Hake (Whiting) is unique to the waters off the coast of Oregon and Washington. But chefs worldwide like this sustainable fish for its rich, white flesh, flaky texture, and mild and slightly sweet flavor. Calories: 90 per serving. Protein: 18.31 g per serving. Fat: 1.31 g per serving. Omega-3: 260 mg per serving.
Image of a hake with nutritional information from American Seafoods.
image of plated Garlic Baked Whiting on a bed of rice, garnished with lemon and parsley.

Garlic Baked Whiting
Ingredients

4 whiting fillets
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
5 Tbsp butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
Juice and zest from 1/2 a lemon
1 lemon, sliced into rounds
Parsley for garnish
Directions

    Preheat oven to 400°. Season whiting with salt and pepper and place on a small baking sheet.
    Mix together butter, garlic, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and zest then pour over whiting fillets. Place lemon rounds on top and around fillets.
    Bake whiting for 10-12 minutes or until fish is fork tender.
Hake recipe courtesy of Pacific Seafood.
Click to enlarge.
image of plated spicy baked whiting with sides of couscous and asparagus

Spicy Baked Whiting
Ingredients

4 Pacific whiting fillets
2 Tbsp olive oil

Rub ingredients:
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp of lime juice
2 tsp of seasoned salt
Directions

    Preheat oven to 400°F.
    Mix all rub ingredients together.
    In a baking pan, coat fish with olive oil. Then coat the fish in the spice mixture.
    Place the fish the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until fish is flaky.
Hake recipe courtesy of Pacific Seafood.
Click to enlarge.


Personal Log

Fog persisted on our steam north back to Newport. Without the temptation of visibility on the flying deck, I took extra time vacuuming the stateroom… that’s a joke because vacuuming a 4-person stateroom takes all of 5 minutes. In truth, my roommate and I took care to leave our space Pine-Sol fresh for Leg 4. After packing away my gear I bounced around the ship like you might in a hotel room—surreptitiously checking drawers for items you may have forgotten. That last nautical mile seemed to take forever. I kept looking out of the portholes in the acoustics lab to see nothing but white. Excitement for home began to build once it was time to gather on the flying deck and peer through the misty water vapor. Yaquina Bay Bridge slowly materialized, an elevated street floating in the sky, weirdly disembodied from the solid ground that usually frames it. As we went under the bridge the fog disappeared. Beyond, an 80° Oregon summer in the Willamette Valley beckoned. The Wet Lab Crew ate dinner together while the crew of the Shimada safely docked and worked with the port crew to reattach the gangplank. After hugs and handshakes all around it was time to part. My drive home was uneventful save a dramatic sky. 

A HUGE thank you to the Shimada crew aboard Leg 3! You welcomed me, answered my questions, allowed me to look over your shoulder, tolerated me taking photographs of you, and clarified things I didn’t understand. You all are amazing. I appreciate your labor and am thrilled to have witnessed you all working in sync to do science! My students at Peninsula thank you as well—even if they don’t know it yet. Your time and attention will enhance not just one, but many ocean-related lessons I share with them in the forthcoming year. A special thanks to my blog editors: Chief Scientist Steve de Blois and XO CDR Laura Gibson. Your feedback polished these meanderings and gave me confidence that I correctly represented NOAA and the hake. 

You Might Be Wondering…

What Next?

To complete my commitment to NOAA as a Teacher at Sea I agree to blog, write one science-related lesson, one career-related lesson, and either present at a conference or publish an article about my experience. I’m back in my school building this week and will soon be working on lessons. At least part of the science lesson will follow the path of hake otoliths (ear bones) from the ocean to the lab back on land. Many thanks to Liz Ortiz, Fisheries Technician, for helping me connect the dots on how the otolith contributes to our understanding of Pacific whiting (hake) life cycles. I’ve decided to publish an article, although I will likely also present at a conference in years to come. I have reviewed children’s books for the national journal, School Library Connection, since 2011, and will start my query for publication there.

view over the aft deck (probably from the flying deck) of NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada back at Yaquina Bay, and the Yaquina Bay Bridge. In this photo, the sky is bright blue and clear, and the water is calm and bright blue as well.
The sky was blue when we left Yaquina Bay on Day 1, not so on Day 14.
A brief video reflection of Leg 3.

Hook, Line, and Thinker

Do you eat or consume products harvested from the ocean? Where do those products come from?

If the country of origin for products consumed isn’t the U.S. does that country have an equivalent of NOAA that gathers data and prioritizes sustainability in its policies? For context, consider this recent article from NPR: Demand for cheap shrimp is driving U.S. shrimpers out of business. I’m doing a homemade pad thai recipe this week and reading this motivated me to pay attention to where my shrimp came from. All the shrimp choices at Fred Meyer (Kroger) were imported so I went elsewhere (paid more) and found some from the Gulf of Mexico, harvested in U. S. waters. 

While you’re eating your own pad thai with U. S. shrimp, or Pacific whiting mac ‘n cheese, consider NOAA Fisheries first-ever National Seafood Strategy, just released on August 9th, 2023.

A Bobbing Bibliography: Reflections of a Librarian at Sea

Additions to the Science Crew’s Reading Recommendations:

Chris Hoefer, OSU marine mammal & seabird project – The Three-Body Problem, science fiction by Liu Cixin (Scientific American article about the concept behind the name.)

Samantha Engster, eDNA Scientist – The Shell Collector, short stories by Anthony Doerr

***

Parting thoughts from your Teacher-Librarian at Sea as inspired by quotes from a few children’s literature classics.

“Look at that sea, girls—all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

In my current reading of this quote, I can’t help but immediately extract the tension between commerce and being. It seems to be a theme I have returned to again and again throughout my blog posts. To be, to exist on our planet, is dependent on a healthy ecosystem, and a healthy ocean. NOAA Fisheries leans on the scientific method to tackle a barrage of pressures: consumer demand, climate change, economic prosperity, pollution.

We would do well to remember that NOAA is made up of ordinary people. The government, by the people and for the people. Many of these you have met in my interviews. I was at a dinner party recently (since I’ve returned to land) and there’s always someone in the crowd who makes half-joking remarks about “the government.” What? You killed fish in the name of science? What? Do the fisherman have the same opportunity to trawl? C’mon. Who do you think “the government” is made up of? Your uncle with a Ph.D. in physics. Your daughter with a passion for birds. “Things not seen,” are confusing, intimidating, sometimes scary. NOAA is utterly transparent. The amount of unfettered data available for citizen scientists to freely examine on the internet is mind-boggling. Keep asking questions, then ask more questions! Then do some research—ask a librarian for help!

“The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in.”
― Sharon Creech, The Wanderer

It said “Come in” the loudest when smooth and glassy. While there were no swimming opportunities on board the Shimada, I have since returned to swimming at my local health club. While doing laps and staring at the dirt, hair bands, and Band-Aids at the bottom of the pool I thought about the chemicals, hair bands, and Band-Aids at the bottom of the ocean. This is not what the sea meant when she said, “Come in.” NOAA Fisheries is an integral part of the solution to the problems that face us as a species. Homo sapiens is only one of many species that have a right to thrive—both for our benefit and their own.


“The castle of Cair Paravel on its little hill towered up above them; before them were the sands, with rocks and little pools of salt water, and seaweed, and the smell of the sea and long miles of bluish-green waves breaking for ever and ever on the beach. And oh, the cry of the seagulls! Have you ever heard it? Can you remember?”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

While perusing a glossary of nautical terms in the downtime after a marine mammal watch, I discovered “caravel” a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship used by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Niña and the Pinta, of 1492 notoriety, were caravels. I wondered whether this term had inspired C. S. Lewis’ naming of Cair Paravel. I will not remember the cry of seagulls so much as I will the cat-like meow of the common murre, at least that’s what they sounded like to me at the time. I’m a compulsive Googler, so that’s how I came upon this Minecraft version of Cair Paravel.

It made me think of my students and how NOAA scientists are the stars of real-world exploration and discovery. Scientists are also world-builders of a sort—reports on their findings influence policy-makers, lawmakers. As science moves forward, it continuously corrects itself as new things are discovered. Listening to the latest science can make or break the world.  

And oh, the cry of the scientists! Have you ever heard it? Can you remember? 

screenshot from a video game showing a castle near the ocean
A Minecraft version of Cair Paravel.
photo of a hatchetfish and a lanternfish on a metal table, facing one another. Jenny has added speech bubbles so that the hatchetfish says: "So, what did you think of the Teacher at Sea experience on the Shimada?" and the lanternfish replies: "It was illuminating - and that's not just my photophores talking!"
A hatchetfish and a lanternfish reflect on the Teacher at Sea experience.

Germaine Thomas: Hurry up and Wait, or What to do when the Weather Sets In, August 16, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

Mission: Acoustic Trawl Survey (Leg 3 of 3)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean/ Gulf of Alaska
Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Weather Data
Lat 59.47 N, Lon 144.1 W
Sky condition: Cloudy with Rain
Wind Speed: 22.62 knots
Wind Direction: 125.44°
Air Temp: 14 °C

Science and Technology Lab

While on the third leg of our cruise we have had a lot of weather delays, so when the going gets rough the Oscar Dyson science team calibrates! Plus they do not hesitate to work on a couple special projects. No time is wasted. In a secluded bay, waiting for the storm to pass, lots of work can be done to further science.

As I mentioned, this summer has been cold, dark, rainy, and windy. As a fisher person who works in this environment, I cannot overstate how important the internet has become with weather apps like Windy. They accumulate data from oceanic buoys, local weather stations, and satellite images to create a picture like the one you see below.

a screenshot showing simple political map of the Gulf of Alaska coastline. it has been colored with a scale to indicate wind speed. small white dashes are scattered through the image, showing the wind blowing up from the southwest, into the center of the coastline, curving  counterclockwise toward Anchorage. A few major locations are labeled with air temperatures: Anchorage: 59 degrees, Homer: 57 degrees, Kodiak: 55 degrees, Juneau: 55 degrees, Whitehorse: 59 degrees.
This image is from the weather app Windy. The white lines indicate the wind direction and the warmer colors are higher wind speeds.

The crew and scientists were able to be proactive in their decision to find a safe place to harbor and then could set up a work plan through the weather day.

Calibration of the Ships Echosounders

The Oscar Dyson’s echo sounders get calibrated about four times a year, at the start and end of the winter and summer field seasons. Because this is the last leg of the cruise, and we are nearing the end of the summer, a weather day is a good day to make sure they are working well

The first step in calibration is to set up down riggers on the starboard, port and aft decks.

Abigail, Robert, and Matthew pose for a photo in the wet lab, each holding a downrigger. The downriggers look like heavy-duty black fishing poles that can be secured onto the deck railings. Abigail is wearing a red light headlamp.
From left to right Abigail McCarthy, Robert Levine and Matthew Phillips, part of the night crew, head outside to place the down riggers.

Once placed, the downrigger lines are very cleverly connected underneath the boat, so all three lines meet.

a downrigger, which looks like a heavy-duty black fishing pole, attached to a railing of the ship. a fishing line extends down from the end into the water, angled back toward the ship to meet up with the other lines. The water is a calm, gray-blue, with fog-shrouded mountains not far in the distance.
Downrigger mounted on a railing

Where all three lines meet, a single line is suspended directly down underneath the keel of the boat where the echo sounders are located. The down line has a tungsten carbide sphere suspended above a lead weight. The scientists use the known target of the sphere and the known properties of the water column to figure out the difference between expectations and reality in their calibration. The tungsten carbide sphere works extremely well for calibration because it is extremely dense when compared to water, has a known sound reflection, and allows calibration at multiple frequencies.

photo of a computer screen; on the left, many circles (most blue, some white, one red) within a larger circle; on the right, a table full of numbers.
Pictured above is a screen scientists see as they are moving the sphere around for calibration.

The picture is showing a black circle representing the transducer face as observed from above. The blue dots represent individual measurements of the reflected echo of the calibration sphere as it is moved around in the transducer beam. Using this calibration software the scientists can evaluate the measurement sensitivity and the beam characteristics of the echo sounders.

Calibrating the acoustics was not the only event that happened while weathered deep in a fjord arm of Nuka Bay.

The MiniCam

While waiting out the weather, other members of the science team had a chance to work with a new piece of equipment called a minicam.

small underwater camera apparatus sitting on deck
The MiniCam, pictured above, has two stereo cameras which can film marine organisms.

The purpose of this camera is to connect the images it records to the backscatter shown with the Oscar Dyson‘s echo sounders. Again, backscatter, as I mentioned in the previous blog, are images that are produced when the echosounders’ different frequencies are reflected back to the ship. The images created by sound are shown on a computer screen and can be used to identify different species of fish or other marine organisms. The images need to be verified by either the minicam or trawl sampling. Scientists want to make sure that the length and species of what they see in the camera can relate to the scaling of the backscatter. The minicam was deployed by scientists and the crew several times to look at the fish and euphausiids in the water column, while we waited out the bad weather.

Germaine and another crewmember, wearing life vests, hard hats, and boots, stand on deck in the evening. the minicam, attached to cables extending beyond the top of the image, sits on deck near the railing, awaiting deployment. In the background, we can just barely see dark blue water, and a darker blue mountain, hidden in fog.
Getting ready to suspend the MiniCam before it is lifted over the side of the boat from the Hero deck.

Recreational Fish Finders “Little Pingers” Project

This is a project by NOAA oceanographer Robert Levine. The echosounders that are suspended below the Oscar Dyson are extremely precise and expensive. Robert and a colleague want to compare the echosounder’s data/readout for recreational fish finders to the echosounders on the Oscar Dyson. There are situations where scientists would love to monitor fish and marine organisms’ populations, but may not need the accuracy and precision of the scientific Simrad echosounders.

Robert, wearing a life vest, works on a laptop inside a storage area with one door open to an outer deck. he appears to be sitting on an overturned bucket. in front of him, another overturned bucket props up equipment (probably fish finders). Behind Robert, we see other equipment, hoses, life preservers, a fire extinguisher, a ladder.
Robert Levine working with the ” Little Pingers.” Environments on board a ship can be challenging to work in, as seen here.

They also might not be able to recover the fish finders, so having them less expensive is very important.

At this point they are just collecting data and monitoring performance with the recreational fish finders, affectionately called “little pingers.” Later in the project they will do more of a data comparison to the Oscar Dyson‘s echo sounders.

Personal Log

On board a ship, one way to keep the crew’s spirits up in bad weather is excellent food. According to the people I have worked with so far on the cruise, the meals on this leg of the acoustic-trawl survey have been amazing.

Meet The Dream Galley Team

Rodney and Angelo pose for a photo against a wall in the mess. They are standing in front of a coffee machine. Rodney wears an Oscar Dyson trucker cap. Angelo is wearing a black chef's uniform.
From left to right, Rodney Bynum and Angelo Santos

Meet the Dream Galley Team. From left to right, Rodney Bynum and Angelo Santos. These men share a passion for food and see how it brings smiles to the faces of their customers, friends, and family. Both have fathers who worked on ships in the Steward Department. Rodney fondly remembers his father bringing home exotic food from all over the world. His father inspired him to open a Soul Food restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia. Years later, Rodney decided to take his culinary career in a different direction: cooking on a ship. The Oscar Dyson was his first time working on a ship and he has really enjoyed it thus far. The crew loves his congenial personality, mad cooking skills, and awe-inspiring work ethic. 

Angelo started cooking at the age of 11, often helping his mom roll lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) and make other traditional Filipino food while religiously watching Giada de Laurentis, Emeril Lagasse, and Ina Garten on Food Network. Angelo grew up in San Francisco and rural Oregon, spent 3 years in San Diego, and is now based in Oregon once again while traveling the world for work. In Oregon, he decided to major in Culinary Arts and graduated with his associate’s degree after going through Linn-Benton Community College’s Culinary program. Angelo mentioned, “culinary school isn’t required, but it helps you gain a fundamental understanding of cooking to prepare you for the real world.” He recommends trying out a restaurant job before spending money on tuition for culinary school.

East Coast meets West Coast aboard the Oscar Dyson. Both men have solid fundamentals in cooking from their years of experience as restaurant chefs. Angelo is the Chief Steward while Rodney is the 2nd Cook. The Chief Steward is in charge of galley operations while the 2nd cook provides breakfast and assists as needed. Chief Steward is like an Executive Chef position on land while 2nd cook is like a breakfast cook/prep cook/dishwasher. Rodney and Angelo often collaborate for menu ideas and feed off each other’s passion for delicious food. 

Both of them enjoyed high school and had lots of advice for students looking into a career in Culinary Arts. As I interviewed them, they’d often finish each others’ sentences in agreement.

Rodney: “If you’re looking to become a good chef, don’t be afraid to taste everything, including food that may not be familiar to you. Every job in the kitchen matters, whether it’s the prep cook, dishwasher, or executive chef. Learn every position and never stop learning.” 

Angelo attended culinary school shortly after graduating high school, so he found it to be stressful and chaotic, but very rewarding. He mentioned, “Focus as much as possible on having a good work-life balance. Find the joy in simple pleasures, take care of your mental health, and make friends outside of work. Work on networking with peers who share your passion for food as well as people outside of your cohort. Connections can help a lot.” Angelo enjoys cooking on ships because the compensation was very good. The only chef jobs on land that compare to this salary are executive chefs at very high end venues and private/personal chefs. Being able to travel around the world on business was a cool perk of being a chef at sea.

Overall, both men agreed that some of the best moments of pursuing a career in the food industry have been about seeing the joy that good food brings to people. Life is too short to not eat well and this is especially appreciated when one works on a ship. It makes all the difference for the morale of a ship to know that while you’re away from your loved ones, you can still eat well.

Finally, I have to give Angel credit for helping me write the sections about the “Dream Galley Team,” not only is he a great cook but also a fantastic writer.

top down view of a purple mug on a red table containing a latte with foam designs
This beautiful latte was made by Angelo Santos on the Oscar Dyson

Gail Tang: Contemplating the Enormity of the Minuscule, August 14, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Tuesday August 8, 2023 

Weather Data from the Bridge

Temperature: 27.06° C

Latitude: 29°53’0” N 

Longitude; 174°24’0”W

Science and Technology Log with Career Highlights

Previously, I wrote about the day-time operations focused on surveying whales, dolphins, and birds. Through the 25-powered binoculars (big eyes), the large mammals in the distance look microscopic. Now, the sun has set and I take us underwater to learn about the tiny world of ichthyoplankton, magnified to reveal intricate details of their exquisite structures.   

Weather permitting, Nich Sucher (Survey Technician) works with the deck crew to deploy the CTD, which measures conductivity, temperature, and depth. This information is used to help scientists understand the physical, chemical, and biological changes of the ocean to help inform them of environmental changes. For example, Nich explained that data from CTDs are used to better understand why tuna were migrating away from Hawaii and towards California. The data can help answer whether the tuna are moving north for access to more oxygen in the water or for cooler temperatures. On our project, we deploy the CTD down to 1000m because that is where some of our deep diving cetacean species feed. Also, the temperature & pressure affects how sound travels through the water. This information can be used to calculate the speed of sound at different depths.

a view down the starboard rail of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. We see Logan, wearing a hard hat and life vest and facing away from us, lean his right arm over the rail. He looks down at the water as the CTD apparatus descends below the purple-blue surface of the water. In the distance, the sun has just set over the horizon, leaving orange, yellow, pink, purple skies dotted with a few scattered clouds.
Logan Gary (Able-bodied Seaman) deploys the CTD at sunset. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

Nich wanted to work for NOAA since he was in middle school! In high school he fell in love with fish. Initially he went to college in Iowa for soccer and then transferred to Carthage College, in Kenosha, Wisconsin to study environmental science, conservation and ecology. Nich did an independent study with his aquatic ecology professor on a coral reef project in Roatan, Hondurus. His senior thesis investigated the feasibility of releasing captive-bred axolotl (an adorable salamander that’s critically endangered and possibly extinct in nature) into the wild. After college, he had a job at an aquarium, and while he temped at US Fish and Wildlife studying chub and salmon, NOAA reached out about his job application. He started in January 2022 on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette!

Nich, wearing a hard hat, life vest, and an illuminated flashlight attached to his vest, looks straight at the camera as he holds up with both hands a styrofoam head decorated with marker designs and compressed (by water pressure) from its original size.
Nich Sucher (Survey Technician) with recently pressure-shrunken styrofoam head. Photo Credit: Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer)

Since the CTD is deployed to 1000m, a common extracurricular activity is to attach styrofoam objects to the instrument because they shrink as a result of the pressure! On a previous leg, Commanding Officer Fionna Matheson shrunk a styrofoam head, which can be seen in the picture of Nich above. A few of us shrunk decorated styrofoam cups.

a hand holds up a stack of four upside-down compressed styrofoam  cups, decorated, top to bottom, as purple design, smiley face, triangles, orca with hearts.
Artist of the cup from top to bottom: Jennifer McCullough (Lead Acoustician), Erik Norris (Acoustician), Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician). Photo Credit: Gail Tang

The whole process of the CTD deployment and retrieval takes about an hour to an hour and a half. The Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT) net tow usually follows. Jessie Perelman and Dre Schmidt are the plankton researchers on board this leg of HICEAS. Most nights, we do 2-3 tows of the net. (They are affectionately called a “tow-yo” because the net gets towed in and out several times.) They use an inclinometer, a.k.a. angled angle, to measure the angle of the line (see picture below) and then confer with a chart to determine the length of the line needed to reach the desired depth. The chart is a good way to avoid on-the-spot trigonometric calculations. But it’s a good exercise to ask yourself anyway: if you know the desired depth and the angle, how would you calculate the length of the line needed?

Dre stands on deck at night, facing away from the camera, over the rail. She wears a jacket, a life vest, and a hard hat. Beyond her, we see a davit arm leaning over the water and a cable (attached to the net) extending at an angle off to the right. With her right arm, Dre holds out an angled angle - it's a metal semicircle, like a protractor, with a swinging arm attached at the center point of the straight edge. Dre holds it by a handle, lining the straight edge parallel to the extended cable. The swinging arm hangs straight down to the ship. Dre can read the resulting angle in the markings on the semicircle.
Dre Schmidt measuring with the angled angle. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

After the tows, we bring the larvae into the wet lab and the fun begins. The goal is to sort out the fish larvae from the other larvae. Truthfully, I am not very good at sorting the fish and I just like to look at the organisms under the microscope. The most awe-inspiring creatures I saw under the scope were the shelled pteropods (sea butterflies) and a juvenile sea star that, according to Dre, may have recently morphed from the larval stage. With the naked eye, they look like marks made with a sharp pencil, but under the scope, the enormity of their existence is profoundly moving. While I could not capture these beauties in a photograph, I was able to capture other creatures.

view through a microscope of a tiny squid surrounded by other, unidentified organisms. the squid's large purple eyes stand out.
Squid

Personal/Food Log with Career Highlights

As I fall into a daily routine, I periodically need small bits of irregularity for stimulation. This week, I was privileged enough to work with Chef Chris. Chef Chris is originally from north Philadelphia. In the absence of cable during childhood, he watched cooking shows like Yan Can Cook, Frugal Gourmet, and Julia Child on PBS. He started off cooking on NOAA Ship Rainier and now is the Chief Steward on NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. We collaborated to make some pork dumplings and vegetable spring rolls for everyone. I cook at home often, but not for so many people, so Chris was essential in helping me scale up the dishes. We bonded over not measuring out ingredients so here is approximately the two recipes we used.

Chris, wearing a black chef's cap, stands at a large fryer in the galley. he's cooking three foods - eggs, pork, onions in large piles - and he reaches toward them with a spatula or perhaps a large knife.
Chief Steward Christopher Williams cooking the eggroll fillings. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

Pork Dumpling Filling

  • 5 lbs of ground pork (when my mom makes these, we use a mix of lean ground pork and fatty ground pork)
  • Mirin (I use Shaioxing wine, but mirin is a good substitute!)
  • Soy sauce (we used Kikkoman; I like to use Pearl River Bridge Light Soy)
  • Green onions
  • Sugar

Egg Roll Filling

  • Green cabbage
  • Red Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Mushrooms
  • Soy sauce
  • Hoisin

Several of us worked together to help fold the dumplings and egg rolls. I delighted in the number of different hands that contributed to feeding our community. Chef Chris expertly cooked everything and it was all gobbled up!

four people around a table wrapping egg rolls; there's a large bowl of filling, a tray of completed rolls, and two rolls in progress.
Gail Tang, Octavio De Mena, Jamie Delgado, Jessie Perelman rolling eggrolls

At night, I assist Jessie Perelman and Dre Schimdt with their plankton research. They were the first to come by to help fold dumplings. Jessie did her undergraduate work in biological science at University of Southern California (USC) with a plan to go to veterinary school. She worked in a marine science lab at USC, and then studied abroad in Australia to take more marine biology classes not available at USC. After she graduated, she got a job as research assistant at Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institution, where she solidified her passion for research. She applied for graduate school and ended up at the University of Hawaii studying biological oceanography. Her dissertation focused on oceanographic influences on mesopelagic communities across eastern Pacific Ocean using insights from active acoustics, nets, and other sampling techniques. An interesting interdisciplinary part of her background includes learning about international policy on issues like deep sea mining. The international meetings with delegates were very informative for her. She’s also worked on science communication writing, such as science blogging. In Fall 2022, Jessie started as a Marine Ecosystem Research Analyst at NOAA!

Dre Schmidt received her bachelors in biology at Florida State University. She took Calculus, Mathematical Modeling for Biology, Analysis and Statistical Design, and Physics to supplement her biology degree. She volunteered at a research lab on campus and after college, took a couple of years off to work in marine science education for 5th grade to college level students. She went for her master’s degree in Kiel, Germany to study physiological effects of low-level warming on coral and their larvae. She has been at NOAA for 2 years, first as a research associate and now as an essential fish habitat coordinator. What she loves about her job is the variety of responsibilities. She keeps busy by sorting plankton, doing genetics lab work, analyzing data in R, writing up results, and going to sea! Engaging in these different tasks help to activate different parts of the brain, which I can totally relate to! Her advice to students is to know your worth and ask for what you deserve. Her favorite fish larva is the very ugly Centrobranchus andreae simply because her name is found within the name of the organism. I can’t blame her because my favorite flower is the Gaillardia for the same reason.

Andrea, wearing a mask, stands for a photo in front of a screen displaying a larval fish
Andrea with Andrea

Matt Benes (Able-bodied Seaman and Deck Boss) took a break in his duties to fold some dumplings with us. Though Matt declined to be interviewed, I can tell you we share a deep appreciation for food as a mechanism for cultural, historical, and political understanding.

Jamie Delgado (Medical Officer) joined in on the egg roll wrapping. Jamie received her bachelor’s in science and nursing at Rutgers University. She joined the Public Health Service (PHS), and worked at the Indian Health Service (IHS) in northern Arizona. Later, she worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a research nurse specialist.  Jamie earned her Doctor of Nursing at University of Maryland before coming to NOAA as ship medical officer. Jamie has so much good financial advice about scholarships and loan repayments programs. Check out these links to learn more:

She also shared that you can retire in a total of 20 years with uniformed services, you get a pension, healthcare benefits, a housing allowance, a food allowance, 30 days paid leave, and unlimited sick leave. Jamie has been in service for 10 years, and with NOAA for 1 year and 5 months.

Jamie also helped me out during our in-port during Leg 1. Snorkeling had dislodged some ear wax and clogged my ear for a couple of days making daily life really uncomfortable. Jason Dlugos’s (3rd Assistant Engineer) “ear beer” helped, but I was still off balance. Jamie had to endure the task of flushing my ear out over the course of two days. Eventually, I did have to go to urgent care to get the rest out. Now I’m 100%!

Last but never least, Octavio De Mena, a.k.a OC, (General Vessel Assistant in the Deck Department) came by to roll some egg rolls. He is originally from the Republic of Panama and loves classic rock music. While we have no intersection in our movie tastes, we share some similarities in the food we ate growing up due to the large Chinese population in Panama. According to the Harvard Review of Latin America, the first Chinese immigrants arrived in Panama in 1854 to build the Trans-Isthmian Railroad. The inhumane treatment and disregard for the workers’ welfare is reminiscent of the situation a decade later with the Transcontinental Railway in the United States. This convergence of cultures led to haw flakes and dried plums in both our childhoods!

OC was an aircraft mechanic in the military reserves, and a security contractor in Latin America. He decided to come back to the U.S. to fulfill his dream job as a professional mariner. On his journey in pursuing his dream, he volunteered for the civil air patrol, and served as an auxiliary for search and rescue flying small Cessnas. He saw a NOAA ship at this job which prompted a search for a position within NOAA. He has been on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette since February 2023. On the ship, OC and I are regulars in the forward mess. Sometimes having opposite tastes works out in your f(l)avor, as I get to eat OC’s tomatoes and watermelon jolly ranchers.

Did you know?

You can track us! Visit this site to see where we currently are: https://www.windy.com/station/ship-wtee?26.549,-172.551,5

Germaine Thomas: What Does Acoustic Trawl Sampling Really Tell Us? August 13, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

Mission: Acoustic Trawl Survey (Leg 3 of 3)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean/ Gulf of Alaska
Date: Sunday, August 13, 2023

Weather Data
Lat 59.12 N, Lon 150.11 W
Sky condition: Partly Cloudy
Wind Speed: 13 knots
Wind Direction: 330°
Air Temp: 14 °C

Science and Technology blog

The ocean is a really big place. We have really only mapped about 5% of the ocean bottom. How do we manage fisheries if we have to count fish in an area that is overwhelmingly large? This is where the genius of acoustics and trawl sampling complement each other. The scientists aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson use the echo sounders to find fish or other animals lurking in the ocean and then they can extrapolate and upscale that data to a much larger area which is covered by their transects.

Wait! That is a lot of information using language that folks don’t really use at the dinner table. Could you please explain this in more basic terms? You bet, as a matter of fact in the last couple of days I have been swimming in a sea of new vocabulary, talking to really smart people and trying to keep up with the conversation that it almost makes my head explode. Don’t worry, I am safe. But it’s really impressive how scientists have developed ways to accurately know fish and marine organism populations in the ocean with out having to sample all of it.

Acoustics

Acoustics uses the echo-sounders a lot like a fish finder, but the ones on NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson are much more capable than the type you would find on your boat. The echo-sounders are attached to the bottom of a lowered centerboard—essentially a large keel—in the center of the boat, and they measure five different frequencies with different wavelengths.

A photo of a computer screen displaying five echograms (graphs of recorded echoes) in a row. Germaine has added annotation: a black arrow points at the top of the echogram with the label "Top of the ocean," and another points to a solid, dark red bar midway down the echogram with the label "bottom of the ocean." Dashed marks, angled up or down, are scattered across the echograms, concentrated in upper portions. Germaine has drawn a black circle around some of these, with the label "The colored marks in the oval indicate "backscatter," which could indicate fish or other marine organisms." At the top of each echogram, in its title, Germaine has circled the frequency measured, but they are difficult to read.
View of the 5 different frequencies measured by the echosounders, one in each frame. The darker marks on the screen could be fish, jellyfish, krill or other marine organisms, this is referred to as “backscatter.” The red circles show the different frequencies used to measure the backscatter.

So, if we can see the fish using acoustics, why do scientists need to sample using a trawl net? As you can see above, the marks in the backscatter can show the depth and the approximate shape of objects, but there is not enough detail to tell exactly what kind of organism is present. Most of the scientists on board have a pretty good idea what kind of fish or organisms are present, but the most definitive way to know is to take a trawl sample.

Trawl Sampling

The trawl net as seen in the picture below is being set off the aft deck.

A crewmember wearing a hard hat, life vest, and heavy work overalls stands off to the side as the trawl net is lowered off the aft deck from a large yellow A-frame.
The part that is in the air is called the codend. That is the section of the net where the specimens are ultimately collected.
view of two rollers - like large spools - containing rolled up fishing nets. the net on the right is orange. the net on the left is white and partially paid out.
The trawl is a about 172 meters long and it stored on these rollers on the back deck.

When the trawl is deployed to the depth that the scientists want to sample, the net will funnel fish and other organisms into it. This is called flying the net.

A photo of a monitor screen displaying information about the position of a deployed trawl net. There are three different views, represented by simple line drawings of a boat followed by diagrams of the trawl net and attached lines. In the Top View, we see the shape of a boat from the sky. A straight red line measures the distance between the boat and the opening of the net as 210 m. The net is being dragged at an angle 13 degrees to the right of center. For the side view, there's the shape of a boat on a horizontal line representing the water's surface. A straight red line measures the distance from the water's surface to the top of the net as 21.5 m. There's also a front view, showing the net as a narrow set of lines extending below the front profile of a boat. At top, the screen notes the course at 158 degrees and speed at 4.3 Kn.
The screen above diagrams three different views of the net as it is pulled through the water. You can see that the trawl net was not directly behind the boat and went to a depth of 21.5 m.
photo of a computer screen displaying data about the position of the net, along with a more detailed diagram. Germaine has added arrows to label "The doors help open the net" and "the codend at the end of the net that collects the sample." We can see that the set length measures 457 meters.
In this image you can see the net and how far back it trails behind the Oscar Dyson.

I just have to include one more view of the trawl net from the bridge as it is pulled behind the boat.

A photo of a computer screen showing a 3-d rendering of the deployed trawl net and the following measurements: door depth port - 16.5 m. door depth starboard.- 15.7 m. door spread - 59.4 m. door pitch port - 4.7 degrees. door pitch starboard - 6.1 degrees. headrope horizontal range - 204 m. headrope true bearing - 326.0 degrees. depth - 21.0 m. change meters/minute - -0.2 m.
This image was taken when the crew was bringing the net back into the boat, so the depth is shallower.

The next image shows the path that the net was pulled through the water.

photo of a computer screen displaying an echogram (graph of recorded echoes.) This echogram shows the returns from a single frequency. Germaine has annotated it with arrows pointing to: Header rope or top of the trawl path, and  Footer rope or bottom of the trawl path. Another arrow points to colored specks and reads: The echosounders show backscatter, which could be fish or other organisms.
The acoustics show the backscatter which the scientists make the trawl target. The next step is to process what is captured in the codend of the trawl and see exactly what is present.

Because the trawl is dragged through the water, it catches different organisms at different times. The scientists want to know when the different organisms were caught so they have cleverly attached a camera to the side of the net. Through the camera they can see which type of fish came into the trawl. Ultimately, this links the kind of acoustic backscatter viewed in the echograms recorded during the trawl to exactly the type of organism caught by the trawl.

view of a trapezoidal metal apparatus, containing underwater cameras and floats, attached to a blue trawl net, spread out on deck
The camtrawl: a camera that records the type of fish entering the net and when they enter.

Below is a picture of some fish as they enter the trawl net and move towards the codend.

a photo of a computer screen displaying a black-and-white underwater camera feed. a few fish (pollock) are visible swimming by the net.
The camera is looking across the net as the fish move past. The fish in the picture are pollock, the type of fish we are looking for on this leg of the cruise.

Transect Lines

So how do scientists take this information and extrapolate the data to a broader area? While the Oscar Dyson is out at sea they run transect lines while recording acoustic data. Transect lines are specific paths in the ocean. The picture below shows the transect lines that we plan to do and have done on this leg of the cruise.

a screenshot of an electronic nautical map of the Gulf of Alaska. straight lines extending toward and away from the coast are superimposed across the map.
The red lines are the transects we have done and the blue lines are the transects scientists plan to do in the remainder of this leg of the cruise. If you look closely there are pictures of fish symbols on the transect lines where the ship has made trawl samples.

Using the acoustic data that the echo-sounders provide and verifying the types of fish and other marine organisms through the trawl sampling allows the scientists to predict, with a high level of certainty, the amount and types of marine organisms that are present along the transect lines that were not trawl-sampled. Thus saving the taxpayers money, and allowing fisheries managers to use good data, keeping the fishery viable, and allowing commercial fishing boats to have reasonable catch limits.

Scientist in the Spotlight

Honestly it takes a team to make all of this happen. But, half of our team is sleeping at the moment, I have the night shift from 4pm to 4am, so I am going to introduce one fabulous expert in acoustics and fisheries:

Abigail, wearing a blue hoodie featuring a drawing of a salmon, sits back from a long computer desk with eight computer montiors mounted above and to the side. She smiles at the camera.
Abigail McCarthy in the Acoustics Lab

Abigail McCarthy has been working for MACE: Midwater Assessment and Conservation Engineering Program since 2007. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Wellesley College and then obtained a Masters in Fisheries from Oregon State University.

For fun, she surfs and enjoys long-distance prone paddle board races. She has recently found a new love with fly fishing.

Aboard the Ship Oscar Dyson, she is working as a specialist helping to run the acoustics lab.

I asked Abigail what she thought of about her educational experience? She immediately said, “I love learning! High school and college were both a lot of fun.”

What would be a good suggestion for a young aspiring high school student pursuing a degree related to ocean studies or science in general?

Her response was great: “Being curious and working hard is more important than being brilliant. Persistence and determination will get you where you want to be in the future.” Finally, “Learn to code! Become familiar with programing languages like Python and R.”

Hopefully, I answered your burning questions about the use of acoustic trawl sampling, and surveys. Yet, there is so much more to learn. Why not take a trip yourself? Check NOAA’s website out and just apply.

Gail Tang: And We’re Off! Aug 8, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Tuesday August 8, 2023 

Weather Data from the Bridge

Temperature: 26.97°C

Latitude: 27.428517 N

Longitude: -167.325400 W

Science and Technology Log

Scientific results reach the general public as a nice package of carefully curated nuggets designed to attract the average reader. It’s not unlike watching a production (movie, play, etc) in its final form. The audience is glamoured by the show or results; we aren’t usually privy to the behind-the-scenes efforts in putting together these massive operations. With this view, there is an illusion of perfection that can hide the true nature of knowledge production. This is often the case in a traditional mathematics classroom that utilizes lecture-based teaching; the instructor works out a problem beforehand and presents the solution to the students. The students do not witness the creative process of trial and error, idea generation, incubation, evaluation of each step, decision-making, or any possible collaboration involved. In brief, the beauty of doing science or math is largely hidden for the general public. I believe that the opportunity for growth lies in the process of discovery just as much as the discovery itself. My access to the data collection process of this project is one of the main reasons I am so thoroughly enjoying myself on this HICEAS (Hawaiian Islands Cetacean Ecosystem Assessment Survey) mission. 

Today is our fifth day at sea. Every moment is invigorating. During our first two days underway, we searched for the elusive Cross Seamount beaked whales (BWC). These whales have been identified acoustically, but not visually or genetically. The acoustics team heard them throughout the night on our first night, and the visual team had a sighting of a suspicious unidentified beaked whale during the third day but we didn’t get close enough for any species or individual identification. There was a lot of excitement on the ship. To learn more about beaked whales check out my roommate and lead acoustician, Jennifer McCullough’s, newest paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mms.13061 

Though I missed it, there was an important bird sighting of the Hawaiian bird, the nēnē. This is a notable sighting because it was formerly endangered (now listed as threatened). After conservation efforts, the population increased from 30 in 1950 to 3,862 in 2022. To read more about the nēnē, visit: https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-12/plight-nene 

The most exciting sightings for me were the rough-toothed dolphins and the bottlenose dolphins. They came by to ride the ship’s bow waves. It was utterly magical. In a conversation with Marine Mammal Observers Andrea Bendlin and Suzanne Yin, I learned a little bit about these two species that I’ll share here.

You might recognize the bottlenose dolphin from Flipper, a popular TV show from the 60s or the movie version in the 90s. You may have also seen these dolphins at the aquarium as they can survive in captivity better than other dolphin species. They are described as the golden retrievers of the ocean. In the wild, they are regularly observed hanging out with other species.

An interesting observation of an interaction between a mother humpback whale and a bottlenose dolphin was captured by scientists and written up in a paper. They hypothesize three reasons for this interaction 1) aggressive whale response towards the dolphin 2) epimeletic (altruistic behavior towards a sick or injured individual) whale response towards the dolphin 3) they were playing!

To read the paper check out: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228684912_Two_Unusual_Interactions_Between_a_Bottlenose_Dolphin_Tursiops_truncatus_and_a_Humpback_Whale_Megaptera_novaeangliae_in_Hawaiian_Waters

Three bottlenose dolphins swim through bright blue water. Two have breached the water's surface, giving us a clear view of their dorsal sides. A third is visible swimming underwater, underneath the two breaching.
Bottlenose dolphins came to say hi! (Permit #25754) Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries Gail Tang

Rough-toothed dolphins are named for their rough teeth. They have a more reptilian sloped head. These animals communicate via whistles and clicks. Echolocation clicks are primarily used for sensing surroundings and searching for prey vs. communication. According to roomie and Lead Acoustician Jennifer McCullough, usually whistles look like a smooth increasing and then decreasing function, however, their whistles look like “steps” and are named stair step whistles (see the pictures below).

A graph of frequencies (measured in kilohertz) over time (measured in seconds). It is titled: Figure 1. Spectrogram of whistles produced by Steno bredanensis (44.1 kHz sample rate, 1,024 FFT, Hann window.) The background of the graph is gray with white speckles - looks like 'fuzz' - but distinct black lines trace the stair-shaped patterns of rough toothed dolphins' whistle frequencies.
Figure from Rankin et al. (2015, p.5)

Rough-toothed dolphins can take a while to identify because their echolocation signals (clicks) are outside the general frequencies for dolphins (e.g. bottlenose, striped, spinner, spotted) and “blackfish” (e.g. killer whale, false killer whales, pygmy whales, melon-headed whales). Blackfish signals go from 15-25kHz, dolphins go from 30-50kHz, while rough-toothed dolphins bridge these two ranges at 20-35kHz. For reference, the frequency range of adult humans is 0.500 kHz and 2 kHz.

Reference:

Rankin, S., Oswald, J., Simonis, A., & Barlow, J. (2015) Vocalizations of the rough-toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis, in the Pacific Ocean. Marine Mammal Science. 31 (4), p. 1538-1648. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12226

Career Highlights

As I mentioned earlier, the information I’m receiving about the animals are from the scientists on board. In this particular post, Marine Mammal Observers Andrea Bendlin and Suzanne Yin (who goes by Yin), and Lead Acoustician Jennifer McCullough gave me insight to the dolphins. I’d like to share some of their background to give students an idea of their career trajectories. 

Andrea Bendlin double majored in zoology and psychology at University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a focus on animal behavior. For the first 4 years after college, she worked on several different field projects including, 4 winters of humpback whale research, one summer study on bottlenose dolphins, and several summers in Quebec studying large whales. Then she started working on boats doing snorkel trips and whale watches. I can attest to Andrea’s snorkeling expertise as I had my favorite snorkeling experience in Hawaii when I was following her around. She pointed out my favorite snorkeling sighting which was an egg sack of a Spanish dancer nudibranch! As you can see in the picture below, it looks like a ribbon wound around itself. For math folks, it is a hyperbolic surface! Since then, Andrea has collected data for many cruises with cetacean research programs.

this egg sack, perched on a rock underwater, consists of elegant reddish-pink folds - from a distance it looks like a flower, like a carnation
Spanish Dancer Egg Sack. Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Yin studied biology at Brown University. After school, she worked at Earth Watch, and also did field work on humpback whales, spinner dolphins, and bowhead whales. These projects were conducted on what they call “small boats” (less than 50 ft long) as opposed to a ship like the one we’re currently on, which is is 224 ft long. On these small boats, Yin drove, took photos for species and individual identification, collected acoustic data, and used theodolites to measure angles.  Later, she attended graduate school at Texas A & M University for her Masters degree. She studied wildlife and fisheries science with a focus on acoustics of dusky dolphins and tourist impact on them.  

Gail, in front, takes a selfie with Andrea (to her right) and Yin (to her left) inside a stateroom. We can see bunk beds, luggage, a fan, metal lockers.
Andrea Bendlin, Gail Tang, Suzanne Yin in my Leg 1 stateroom

Jennifer McCullough is the Lead Acoustician on HICEAS 2023. She first started at Hubbs Sea World Research on killer whales where she learned acoustics. She participated in a joint polar bear project with the San Diego Zoo. She then completed a Master’s thesis on the giant panda breeding vocalizations through the San Diego Zoo and China Wolong Panda Reserve. She spent 6 months over 2 years in the Sichuan region. We talked about the Sichuan peppercorn for a bit since I love them so much. She prefers them whole, while I prefer them ground up. After that she worked at Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California and later moved to the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and was the Acoustics Lead during HICEAS 2017. With the exception of a HICEAS project year, she is at sea for 30-60 days a year and the rest of the time she is ashore analyzing data from previous missions and constructing equipment for future ones! She loves the balance between the equipment work (technical side), field work (data collection), and lab work (data analysis). As a side note: she makes amazing quilts!

Jennifer holds up a quilt with both hands to show off the design: an abstract, feathery shape made from a fabric of many blue shades, sown onto a white background.
Jennifer McCullough with the quilt she just finished!

Personal Log

Life at sea reminds me a bit of my college dorming-days; you’re sharing a room and you leave your door open to invite others in! I share my room with really great roommates. Dawn Breese is a seabird observer and creates a nice vibe in the room with flowers she picked ashore and some sweet feathers taped to the wall. Alexa Gonzalez is an acoustician with whom I do crosswords and play “road-trip”-type games. Jennifer McCullough, highlighted above, is going to teach me how to watercolor!

All in all, I am fairly comfortable on the ship. I spend time bouncing between the acoustics lab, the flying bridge (where the visual team observes), the local coffeeshop—The Forward Mess—(where I do most of my work), and the grated deck, stern, and wet lab (where the plankton team works). The acousticians and visual observers work from dawn to dusk, while the plankton team works from dusk until a few hours before dawn. This means I have very long days and have succumbed to the napping culture aboard the ship!

When not checking in on the scientists, I have been spending my free time getting know the people on board, learning knots, riding the stationary bike on the boat deck, and attempting pull ups. It’s a wonderful life!

Oh and please enjoy this photo of me in my “gumby” suit (a protective suit in case of abandon ship).

Gail in a red survival suit, thumbs up. She's in an interior room of the ship.
Gail Tang in gumby suit. Photo Credit: Suzanne Yin.

Food Log

To be honest, due to limited physical activity on board, I stopped eating breakfast or even going down to the mess at that time because I have no self-control when it comes to food! The oxtail udon is the highlight so far. It was incredible! Third assistant engineer, Jason Dlugos, requested it and even brought his own rice cooker with his own rice down to dinner.

Jamie and Jason sit at a table. Jamie rests her chin on crossed arms above empty plates. Jason sips from a travel cup in his left hand, and with his right, holds a spoon over his bowl of udon and rice. The rice cooker is on the table in front of him.
Jamie Delgado (Medical Officer), Jason Dlugos (3rd Assistant Engineer) and his personal rice cooker.

Catch of the Day!

Ichthyoplankton researchers Jessie Perelman and Andrea Schmidt caught two squaretail fish (Tetragonuridae), one live fish and one in its larval stage. Not much is known about this fish. One thing we do know is that these fish live inside (!) the body of an invertebrate called salp. Below is a picture of some fish living in a salp.

three small, likely juvenile, fish swim inside a gelatinous blog called a salp. the fish in front is rounder, while the two fish flanking it are narrower.
Fish inside salp. Photo credit: Rich Carey/Shutterstock.com

Germaine Thomas: Big Boats and Little Boats and How They Fish Differently, August 10, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

Mission: Acoustic Trawl Survey (Leg 3 of 3)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean/ Gulf of Alaska
Date: Friday, August 10, 2023

Weather Data
Lat 59.47 N, Lon 149.36 W
Sky condition: Cloudy and rain
Wind Speed: 23.73 knots
Wind Direction: 72.22°
Air Temp: 14.47 °C

Science Log

Comparing Set Netting to Trawling

There are many different ways to catch fish. I am comparing set netting, in a little boat, a 24 ft. skiff to trawling on NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, a big boat which is 208 ft. This is a little bit like comparing apples to oranges; set netting and trawling are different gear types used to catch fish very differently. Set netting targets mostly salmon, while trawling in Alaska targets mostly pollock. Both of these methods of fishing can be used by scientists to collect samples and to catch fish commercially to sell in global markets.

Set Netting:

I am a commercial set netter, which uses a gill net, specifically designed to catch salmon by the gills. Salmon will swim along the shoreline. Set netters place their nets perpendicular to the shore so salmon have to swim around the nets or try to swim through them. When they try to swim through the fish get caught by the gills. Watch the video below on how I pull the net in using a hydraulic roller and pick fish out.

Pulling in the net and picking a Sockeye salmon

[Transcript: Yup, here I am, picking a… Sockeye salmon! Yup, here it is, a beautiful, lovely, amazing Sockeye salmon that I picked. This is what I do in the summer! Yeah!]

When you watch the video you will see the net is a light color that matches the water. Again, salmon do not see the net and try to swim through it and then they are caught. At the end of the video I place the fish in a brailer bag filled with ice and sea water to keep the fish cool. The better the fish are cared for, the better the product that goes to market.

Trawling

Unlike set netting, which is done on a small skiff with just a few people, trawling is done on a large boat with a big crew. The Oscar Dyson has the ability to use echo-sounders to find out where fish are, and then they can lower a trawl net into the water specifically sampling at that depth for fish. A trawl net is like a big bag with are large opening that funnels fish into it.

The Scientists on NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson use a much smaller net than a commercial trawler does to catch fish. They compare what they see on their echo-sounders to what is caught in their net. They use this information to get a general idea of what kind of fish are present in a specific part of the ocean they are sampling. This helps scientists provide accurate information to both the federal and state government to help manage fisheries and keep intact healthy populations of fish.

A commercial trawler will try to catch a specific kind of fish, their target species. If they catch fish other than their target species this is known as bycatch. Large commercial trawlers can have nets up to 50 meters in length, so they can catch a lot of fish. They can only keep and sell their target species. The fish that the Oscar Dyson catches cannot be sold or eaten, but the data the collection provides scientists a great deal about what kind of fish, approximately how many, and at what stages of reproductive development, are located in specific areas of the ocean.

How trawling can impact salmon fisheries like set netting:

Knowing what is happening in a different part of the ocean is very important to other fisheries. Salmon initially develop in fresh water lakes or rivers and then migrate to the ocean. They spend most of their adult life migrating large distances in the ocean, and they depend on food that is present out where the trawlers are fishing. They also may be caught by trawlers as bycatch.

Below is a short sped up video of crew members retrieving a trawl net.

Crewmembers aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson retrieve a trawl net. [No audible dialogue.]

In Alaska there is a bit of controversy over one gear type taking away fish from other gear types. Specifically there is concern about commercial trawling, picking up non-target species like salmon from local coastal fisheries and subsistence users. A lot of the answers may exist in the data that the science team is collecting.

Personal Log

At the beginning of the blog in the weather report you will notice that the wind speed is pretty high at 23.72 knots. A gale is heading towards our area in the Gulf of Alaska. We are finishing a transect line and then heading into a protected bay in the Kenai Peninsula to wait out the weather. While the ship is protected, the science team will work on recalibrating the echo-sounders below the ship. The science team has been experiencing a bit of unexplained noise in one of their lower frequencies. Hopefully, the opportunity to do this calibration will help.

Crew Member in the Spotlight

The Oscar Dyson has a science team and a crew that work together to collect the data for the acoustic trawl sampling and run the ship. Working for NOAA can provide exciting opportunities for young people to experience life on the ocean. When you are on board the ship, you have free lodging and food, which on this leg of the cruise is quite excellent, so you can save money while on board. So far everyone I met enjoys their job and is willing to let me ask them questions about how they got here.

Dee gives a slight smile for a portrait photo. She is wearing a black NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson hoodie, with the hood pulled up over a gray NOAA logo beanie (which also has the hull number of Oscar Dyson, R 224). She stands in front of a framed watercolor of the ship superimposed on a nautical chart of the waters around Kodiak Island. The frame is surrounded by gold garland.
Dee with a picture of the Oscar Dyson in the background

Meet Elvricka “Dee” Daniels from Jacksonville, Florida. She has been on NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson for about 2 months. She was originally temping for an agency in Florida when a friend told her about a subcontractor for NOAA, Keystone. She is currently working as a deckhand for the contractor Keystone.

What does she enjoy aboard the ship?

“Fishing! What kind of different fish come in the trawl net. There is always something different every time we fish.”

She also really likes being on whale watch on the bridge. The science team cannot set out the net if there are whales in the area, so there is always a crew member looking for whales.

As a high school teacher, I like to ask people what their school experience was like. Everyone has a different experience in high school some good some, perhaps not so good, but many go on be successful adults. What was high school like for Dee?

“It was good at first and then it got bad. I made poor choices that impacted my life, I had to go to summer school to make up for missed school. Doing well in school is very important to my family.”

So now here she is out in the Gulf of Alaska helping science happen and impacting others by what she does.

Gail Tang: Teacher NOT at Sea, July 14, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: July 14, 2023

Update!

We got notification that we have a Chief Engineer. However, we also got news that the ship needs some repair. The new sail date is now Friday July 21, which means I will not be able to sail on Leg 1 and that I will be returning home. Luckily, Chief Scientist Erin Oleson, the Teacher at Sea Program, and my university granted me permission to sail on Leg 2 of the HICEAS Survey! I will teach my classes on board NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette, so I will truly be a Teacher at Sea!

Engineer Highlight

In my previous post, I talked about the structure of the crew on the ship. We currently have four engineers on the ship: Jason Dlugos (3rd Assistant Engineer), Dylan Hepburn (3rd Assistant Engineer), Greg White (JUE), and Shannica (Neek) Matthews (General Vessel Assistant). I was fortunate to spend a good deal of time with each of the engineers. The engineers are responsible for a myriad of tasks on the ship, and the primary one is making sure the engines of the ship function properly. The engine room also holds generators, as well as the salt water filtration system that cools the ship and provides the ship with drinking and cleaning water. I am simplifying the engine room for this post, but it is very clear that the jobs of the engineers on the ship are absolutely crucial to mission success.

Shannica crouches in the engine room, gripping a ribbed yellow hose with her right hand. She's turned her head to call to someone over her left shoulder. She wears yellow earphones. She is surrounded by machinery, pipes, other yellow hoses, and a row of wrenches mounted on the wall behind her.
Shannica (Neek) Matthews, General Vessel Assistant, Wiper in the Engine Room
Greg stands between two of the ship's large engines and looks directly at the camera, his hands on long rails that line each engine. His earphones are propped up high on his head, not covering his ears at the moment.
Greg White, Junior Engineer (JUE) in the Engine Room
In this photo, taken from an outer, lower, deck (or perhaps the dock) we are looking up at two levels of decks above the main. On the highest deck, Jason leans over the rail, supporting himself on a lower railing rung, to smile for the photo. Behind him we see two bright orange fast rescue boats in their storage berths, and a mounted satellite system. Below Jason, Dylan leans casually on a rail on a lower deck. 
Top: Jason Dlugos, 3rd Assistant Engineer. Bottom: Dylan Hepburn, 3rd Assistant Engineer.

In this post, I will share some of my conversations with Neek. Neek’s homebase is in Virginia. After high school, she worked in the shipyard painting ships and installing insulation. She spent most of her time at dry dock, but then learned about opportunities working on traveling vessels. She started looking into jobs on vessels that explored the world. Now, she splits her time working on ships at the shipyard and ships out at sea. Through her job, she’s traveled nationally to Seattle and Hawaii, as well as internationally to  Japan, Greece, Italy, and France. She said it’s the best decision she’s ever made! What she enjoys the most about her work is that she gets to solve problems and be creative.

In her current position, Neek is learning new things in the engine room so that she can work more within that department in the future. Her company is also sponsoring her to take classes to further her engineering career. As the Wiper, she performs her work in every space of the ship. She describes her responsibilities as keeping spaces clean (picking up trash and wiping down oil and water), and making sure everything is secure. Both cleanliness and security are very important for all of our safety aboard the ship. When I’ve run into Neek on the ship, she’s been working with Dylan on fixing plumbing on toilets, examining leaks, and using the technique of sounding to measure the height of fluids in tanks. Unfortunately, Neek is only on Leg 1 so we will miss sailing with each other on NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette! Regardless, it’s been a blast hanging out with her and the other engineers!

Science and Technology Log

The Marine Mammal Observers (MMO), Birders, and I continue to help the Monk Seal and Green Turtle groups prepare for their projects. Since everything is so new to me, I really enjoy learning about the science!

I helped Biologist Shawn Murakawa from the Marine Turtle Biology & Assessment Program sort green turtle humeri! In my conversations with Shawn and in my reading of the National Sea Turtle Aging Laboratory Protocol for Processing Sea Turtle Bones for Age Estimation (Goshe et al., 2020) she provided, I learned about the process and will provide a summary of it below. 

Humeri bones are important in estimating the turtle’s age and growth since there are currently no known age estimating techniques using external structures. By looking at the cross-sections of these humerus bones, scientists can analyze growth marks to estimate the age of a turtle—similar to looking at the rings of a tree, but not quite. This age-estimation method is called skeletochronology. Before all this, scientists need to carefully clean the humerus bones and then dry them—a process that can take up to 30 days. Measurements of the bones such as diameter and length are taken, followed by cutting cross sections. Thin 2-3 cm cross-sections are decalcified and then stained with hematoxilyn. The stained thin section is now ready to be mounted on a slide for imaging. An example of the final result for a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) is shown below:

a blue, vaguely oval-shaped image that reveals a discernible growth rings. two points along a horizontal line are labeled "A - annulus"; a red line connects the two, with the measurement 7.57 mm. The annulus seems to span the middle of the image, before the rings start. Two points, farther out from the center, are labeled "B" and connected with a horizontal red line with the measurement 11.95 mm (maybe). This may mark the outer range of the clearly readable rings.
Stained cross section of a humerus bone from a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle

I helped to sort bones that were already dried. If the clearing and drying process is not sufficient, the bones begin to degrade and are no longer useful for skeletochronology. My job (then Suzanne Yin, Allan Ligon, and Dawn Breese joined me later) was to sort the bones into three categories:
1) moldy bones for discarding
2) good candidates for skeletochronology that came from turtles with no tumors from Fibropapillomatosis
3) good candidates for skeletochronology that came from turtles with tumors from Fibropapillomatosis. 

According to the NOAA (2011), fibropapillomatosis is a tumor-causing disease that debilitates sea turtles and can cause death depending on the severity and size of the tumors. While the disease is most common in green sea turtles, it is now found in all seven sea turtle species. It is not yet known how this disease is spread or caused so there is not yet any treatment for it.

Later, Yin organized a group of us to go take a tour of the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), a University of Hawaiʻi campus on Moku o Loʻe (Coconut Island). Lars Bejder, the director of the Marine Mammal Research Program at the institute, was our host and gave us a tour of the labs on the islands. Some of the research conducted by the labs include testing out shark deterrents, creating structures to grow coral, and recording the body condition indices of female whales during gestation and after birth. For internship and volunteer opportunities, check out their webpage: https://www.himb.hawaii.edu/education/interns_volunteers/

After the tour, we listened to a talk by Jessica Kendall-Barr, a Scripps Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Marine Biotechnology & Biomedicine at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in UC San Diego, on the sleeping behavior of Elephant Seals. Jessica’s integrated art and science into her talk which made it very engaging. She did a really good job motivating the research and outlining the implications of the results. In a nutshell, wild animals have developed sleeping adaptations to balance feeding and sleeping while avoiding predation (Kendall-Barr et al., 2023). For example, “cows sleep-chew, horses sleep-stand, ostriches sleep-stare, and frigate birds sleep-fly” (Kendall-Barr et al., 2023, p.260). After developing a new submersible system to record brain activity, heart rate, depth of dive and elephant seal motion, Kendall-Barr et al. (2023) showed that elephant seals sleep-spiral at depths of approximately 300 m, where they are largely out of sight of predators, for a total of about 2 hours a day over the course of 7 months. The results have implications on conservation efforts as well as aid in understanding conditions for human free divers.

You can access the article here:

Brain activity of diving seals reveals short sleep cycles at depth

References:

Goshe, L.R., L. Avens, M.L. Snover, and A.A. Hohn. 2020. National Sea Turtle Aging Laboratory Protocol for processing sea turtle bones for age estimation. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-746, 49 p. https://doi.org/10.25923/gqva-9y22.

Kendall-Bar, J., Williams, T., Mukherji, R., Lozano, D., Pitman, J., Holser R., Keates, T., Beltran, R., Robinson, P., Crocker, D., Adachi, T., Lyamin, O., Vyssotski, A., & Costa, D. (2023). Brain activity of diving seals reveals short sleep cycles at depth. Science, 380, 260-265. DOI:10.1126/science.adf0566

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Fisheries. (2011, February 11). Fibropapillomatosis and Sea Turtles – Frequently Asked Questions. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/fibropapillomatosis-and-sea-turtles-frequently-asked-questions#:~:text=%E2%80%9CFibropapillomatosis%2C%E2%80%9D%20commonly%20referred%20to,also%20form%20in%20internal%20organs.

Personal Log

I had been looking forward to sailing since 2019 and was thrilled to finally meet the scientists and crew; they are all so inspiring! Each task the Chief Sci had us work on was all so exciting and new. I truly enjoyed working with the MMOs and Birders to support the monk seal and green turtle research teams. When I first got the notification that the mission was delayed a second time, curtailing it to just one week at sea, I was devastated because it meant I would be probably going home. I am really grateful that Erin (Chief Sci) and Emily (Teacher at Sea) could arrange for me to join leg 2! I’ve been learning the visual surveying procedures and bonded with the MMOs and the birders so I’m overjoyed to be returning. Let’s just keep in mind that I’m not guaranteed to sail because anything can still happen.

Below are some group pictures with my team!

Gail and five colleagues seated at a table in a busy, well-lit restaurant
Introduced dim sum to a couple of folks! Left to right: Dawn Breese and Mike Force (Birders), me, Ernesto Vasquez, Allan Ligon and Paul Nagelkirk (MMOs). Photo credit: Paul Nagelkirk
a group selfie (by Jason, seen in close-up) at a volleyball court. Gail is wearing her Teacher at Sea t-shirt.
Volleyball! Jason Larese, Suzanne Yin, Paul Nagelkirk, Kym Yano, Erin Oleson, Me, Juan Carlos Salinas, Ernesto Vasquez
group photo of 8 people on a picnic bench. not far behind them is a beautiful view of a cove, a coastal city, and mountains. the sky is cloudy with patches of bright aquamarine sky.
Late lunch at He’eia State park. Back row: Ernesto Vasquez, Allan Lingon, Paul Nagelkirk, Me, Juan Carlos Salinas. Front row: Dawn Breese, Suzanne Yin, Andrea Bendlin. Photo credit: A postal worker on their lunch break.
a silly group photo at night, on the dock, with the ship darkly visible in the background. Gail is wearing a NASA t-shirt (hey!) and flower leis. Jason has jumped in front of everyone.
My last night at the ship. Back Row: Logan Gary, Darryl Henderson II, Paul Nagekirk, Dylan Hepburn, Andrea Bendlin, Ernesto Vasquez. Middle Row: Nich Sucher, Evan Schneider, Denzil Simons. Front: Me, Greg White. Photobomber: Jason Dlugos.

Food Log

a whiteboars reads: Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Spaghetti & Meat Sauce. Salmon. Garlic Bread. Broccoli. Salad bar. Mushroom ravioli. Brownies. Bone-apple-tea!!
Menu for Wednesday, July 12

The food on board continues to be too good. On weekdays while in port, we get breakfast and lunch. The menu is displayed on a whiteboard. As you can see in the image, there is usually a little spark of joy written on them that bring a smile to my face. (I think Medical Officer Jamie Delgado writes them!)

Ichthyoplankton researcher, Justin Suca, invited us to a Fish Fry to enjoy the fish he and his friend, sailor Ateeba, speared. It was my first fish fry and it was incredible! They caught Tako (Octopus), Nenue (Sea Chub), A’awa (Table Boss), Uhu (Parrotfish), and Kumu (Goatfish). They prepared the Tako as ceviche, Nenue as poke, A’awa as fish nuggets, and very interestingly, the Uhu and Kumu were prepared Chinese-style. Chinese-style fish is first steamed (in this case Justin “steamed” in foil on the grill), usually with ginger, garlic, and green part of scallions. After steaming, heat up oil, pour it on the fish, and delight in the sizzling sounds. Add some shoyu (soy sauce), and maybe some Shaoxing cooking wine, if you wish. The Kumu was my absolute favorite. It was so silky and smooth.

Kailua Beach. Left to right: Justin Suca, Gabriella Mukai, Kelly Anne Kobayashi, Atiba, Don Kobayashi, Me. Photo Credit: Cody Kobayashi

Did You Know?

Since the toilet water is pumped from sea water, you can see the bioluminescent life if you turn off the lights while flushing! I found the best time to do it is early in the morning when no one has used the toilet in a while. MMO and roomie Andrea Bendlin shared this little special gem with me.

Germaine Thomas: Meet the Teacher at Sea on NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, August 9, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

Mission: Acoustic Trawl Survey (Leg 3 of 3)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean/ Gulf of Alaska
Date: Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Weather Data
Lat 58.16 N, Lon 148.97 W
Sky condition: Cloudy
Wind Speed: 2.88 knots
Wind Direction: 301.28°
Air Temp: 12.44 °C

Personal Log

School will soon be starting in Anchorage at Bettye Davis East High School. I will not be in school for the first three days because I am having fun on a teacher’s field trip. Good things come to those who apply for it. I applied and got accepted on this cruise before the pandemic, but life and safety concerns made my journey about three years longer. Finally, I am living the dream and out in the Gulf of Alaska surrounded by pure ocean, whales, seabirds and catching lots of fish.

selfie of Germaine on a kayak (too close to see the kayak, but we can see she's surrounded by water, with some forested shoreline beyond.) she wears a life jacket, sunglasses, baseball cap. A small white dog peers over her left shoulder.
Kayaking in Prince William Sound with Loki the dog. My family commercial fishes for Sockeye Salmon in Main Bay.

My name is Germaine Myerchin Thomas. I was born and raised in Ketchikan Alaska. I am the daughter of a fishermen and a teacher. I, myself, am a teacher, and I commercial fish in Prince William Sound. So far I have spent most of my summer fishing in the Eshamy district about 45 miles outside of Whittier. It has been a cold dark wet summer( the word “summer” is debatable). Recently, I jumped from Set Net fishing for Sockeye (Red) Salmon, in small open skiffs, to the fabulous NOAAS Oscar Dyson.

Just visualize the ice sculptures, swimming pool and yoga studio on the Lido Deck… nope! The NOAAS Oscar Dyson is a research vessel that you can find more about by clicking the link above. Currently there are 24 crew members and 8 scientists. The ship is outfitted to conduct an acoustic trawl survey, but there are other scientific projects going on during this leg of the cruise. It, also has great food and two gyms. The waves rolling under the hull of the boat make the feel of gravity extra strong while trying to do push ups.

Already I have discovered that working out in the ocean requires being very flexible and adaptable. Sometimes the weather or wildlife can delay setting out the trawl net. Last night the boat was surrounded by whales (Fin and Sei), marine birds (Fulmars, Shearwaters and Black footed Albatross) all enjoying the abundant fish that we wanted to catch in our trawl net. Naturally we just let the animals enjoy the abundance while the scientist patiently waited for their turn in another area.

When the cruise ends I will head back to Anchorage and teach high school, chemistry, oceanography, and marine biology. I am really looking forward to meeting my students for the first time. I hope that I might be able to Zoom into my classroom and share what I am doing while I am out here.

Germaine Thomas: The Adventure Begins Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, August 7, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

Mission: Acoustic Trawl Survey (Leg 3 of 3)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean/ Gulf of Alaska
Date: Monday August 7, 2023

Weather Data
Lat 58.31 N, Lon 151.58 W
Sky condition: cloudy
Wind Speed: 12.43 knots
Wind Direction: 357.55°
Sea Wave height: 1 ft | Swell: 340°, 1-2 ft
Air Temp: 12.35 °C

Science log

The purpose of this trip is acoustic trawl sampling for pollock (Gadus chalchogrammus). There are other projects that people are working on during this leg that I will report on in other upcoming blogs.

Today, at about 5:30 pm we deployed a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth – Probe). This probe measures the salinity using conductivity, the temperature with a digital thermometer, and records the data all at different depths in the water column. This CTD also records fluorescence which is an easy way to determine the amount of plankton present. The plankton at the surface are producers and have chlorophyll, which reacts to fluorescence and can be recorded. This information will be important when we start taking trawl samples, so the ships crew will routinely send out the CTD while we cover our transects.

Watch the videos below of the crew members deploying and recovering the CTD.

Crew members deploying the CTD
Recapturing the CTD

The data from the CTD collection are shown on the picture of the computer screen below:

a photo of a computer monitor showing a screen with three graphs in a row. The first depicts fluorescence (indicating chlorophyll levels) and turbidity v. depth. Chlorophyll levels start out high toward the surface but asymptote toward zero as the probe travels deeper. The central graph is blank. The third depicts salinity and temperature v depth. Salinity stays largely constant, but it does gradually increase with depth. Temperature is higher toward the surface, declines quickly and then slowly with depth.
CTD Data: Fluorescence, or Chlorophyll (green) and Turbidity (orange) v. Depth on the first graph, and Salinity (yellow) and Temperature (blue) v. Depth on the third graph.

The data from the CTD are presented in graphical form. The first frame shows chlorophyll, which is the green line. The second frame is percent oxygen (which they were not measuring so it remains zero). The third frame shows salinity (yellow line) and water temperature (blue line).

Personal log

Currently we are cruising out to our transect destinations over the continental shelf. The seas are a little rough (6-8 foot waves) and I am enjoying some saltine crackers that help with mild sea sickness.  It has been a while since I have been in a large boat in rolling seas.

Three days ago, I flew from Anchorage to Kodiak Island on an a sunny afternoon and met the science team for the cruise. The whole team was extremely welcoming, sharing stories of past cruises, colorful characters and the science behind acoustic trawl sampling. Later, they invited me to go surfing the next day at a beach on the far side of the island.

Through the camaraderie of playing in the waves I was introduced to these amazing people and their knowledge and love of the ocean. They are very professional and willing to share what they are studying.  They also have a deep concern for the changes occurring in the ocean and honestly hope that their information can be shared and understood in order to mitigate the impact of change.  Sitting on my surfboard I quickly learned I was the beginner, and they were the experts. With the experience of time, they would effortlessly snap up and slice through the waves.  Smiles and whoops encouraged each other as the sea crashed into the beach.

Four surfers sit on surfboards, facing away from the camera, awaiting the next wave. Beyond the surfers we see a line of mountains. The image is a color palette of grays: gray cloudy sky, gray ocean, dark gray-blue mountains.
Surfing off of Kodiak Island. Photo credit: Mathew Phillips
A surfer rides a wave back toward shore. We can see a mountain, part of Kodiak Island, behind the surfer. Both the sky and the ocean are gray.
Surfing off of Kodiak Island. Photo credit: Mathew Phillips

Surf photos courtesy of Mathew Phillips

The next day was spent with the science crew getting ready to bring aboard equipment they will be using, accessing and streamlining the information they need for the data collection, and also a little bit more shore time with fishing and hiking. I hiked up a local mountain called Pyramid.

Overall this has been a great start for a wonderful trip. I love to get my students outside experiencing the real world. After a year of taking both Oceanography and Marine Biology my students get to touch, see and smell the ocean through a field trip. They get to see marine birds and mammals, touch and taste icebergs and smell the brine scent of the ocean. They also get a chance to apply the knowledge and skills that they have learned in my class. The NOAA as Teacher at Sea Program is my field trip. I get to see the science and technology in action and share it with my students, friends and family. Thanks so much for letting me play!

Martin McClure: Navigating the Seas, August 7, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Martin McClure

NOAA Ship Oregon II

July 25– August 9, 2023

Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Bottom Longline Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean

Date: August 7, 2023

Latitude: 30°33.167’N

Longitude: 81°04.685’W

Air Temperature: 31° Celsius

Wind Speed: 12.01 knots

Rachel, wearing a navy blue NOAA Corps uniform, stands for a portrait photo next to a plaque on an exterior wall of the ship that reads: R.V. Oregon II, designed by R. H. Macy for U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, built by The Ingalls Shipbuilding (Company), a Division of Litton Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi, 1967
Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander Rachel Pryor

Navigating NOAA Ship Oregon II is at once one of the most important and complex tasks on board. It is in motion 24 hours a day and must have skilled individuals to keep the crew safe and accomplish the mission of the survey. I spoke with Commander Adam Reed, Acting Commanding Officer, and Lieutenant Commander Rachel Pryor, Executive Officer, about this task.

Oregon II operates on two engines with one propeller (prop). It has a controllable pitch prop. This means that the pitch of the blades can be changed in order to change speed or even reverse the direction of the ship. The rudder turns the ship to port or starboard. There are also bow thrusters that turn the bow one way or the other.

There are a variety of devices that the navigator uses to know where the ship is, and to stay on course. They have two different GPS devices, in case one goes out. Additionally, they have a magnetic compass as well as a gyrocompass.

A storm and cruise ship off near Jacksonville, FL.

There are two radar units to see where other ships are and to get detailed weather information. One unit is more precise than the other but may pick up rain storms which may interfere with spotting ships. The other unit will still work in that situation.

When navigating, it is important to not just maintain the correct heading but also monitor course over ground. Even though the ship is heading in the right direction it can be pulled off course by the water currents and winds. This is very important to keep in mind not only across long distances but also when approaching the high flyer to pick up the longline. They must approach at a 90° angle and then turn to follow the longline. This is a fairly precise maneuver that is affected by both wind and current. 

view of the bridge, empty of personnel. It is lined with windows facing three sides. We see control panels and map tables, the helm, electric boxes on the interior wall.
The bridge. This is where NOAA Corps officers navigate Oregon II.

One important factor affecting the operation of the ship is the weather. Careful consideration of any weather conditions must be factored into any decisions made. No one is allowed on the deck if there are winds of 25 knots or more, waves of 4-5 feet, or lightning within 25 miles. Weather information is always monitored through five different sources. Decisions must be made while consulting and comparing different sources of data.

Executive Officer Rachel Pryor explained that there are two types of weather patterns to keep in mind when considering operations. The first are small squalls, which can be fast moving and may have lightning. These squalls may keep moving in the same direction and you can calculate when they will arrive. But they can sometimes dissipate, change course, or stay where they are. There are also larger weather systems to consider. These tend to be slower moving but can have seas “kicking up,” increased wind speeds, and lightning. These may require seeking some sort of shelter or even docking at a port. 

photo of a screen displaying radar data from the website Windy.com. We are looking at map centered approximately on Brunswick, Georgia, extending south to the northern counties of Florida, north to Charleston, and west to about the border of Alabama and Georgia. The radar shows a storm system concentrated on the Georgia-Florida border with other storm patches in central Georgia.
Radar showing an approaching storm system.

Weather has impacted the survey several times during this cruise. One of the most memorable was when I was working my shift and we were told to expect a long delay due to the weather. After about 30-45 minutes we were told to go ahead and bait the hooks and lay the longline. It takes about 2 ½ hours to run a station from putting the first hook in, to pulling the last one out of the water. The weather was beautiful and the seas were relatively calm during the station. Within a few minutes of finishing, the winds began to kick up as a system approached. In my estimation, these were pretty amazing calculations by Lieutenant Commander Pryor who was Officer of the Deck (OOD) for the haul.

The other incident to include here was a larger storm system that we were told on a Tuesday would arrive on Friday. Sure enough, it did. We headed in for cover near Cape Fear, NC. In this case, all fishing stopped and we sailed in an oval pattern keeping the waves to the bow or stern as much as possible. This led to a work stoppage of about 36 hours. In both cases careful calculations were made to keep the crew safe and maximize mission success. 

Meet the Crew: Taniya Wallace, Fish Biologist

Taniya and another crew member stand on deck, each wearing life vests, work gloves, and rubber boots. The other crewmember grips a small (2-3 foot long) shark firmly with two hands, holding it at an angle toward Taniya. Taniya grasps the shark's head with her left hand and reaches with her right to remove a hook. Both Taniya and the unnamed crewmember look down at the shark, focused on their work.
Fish biologist Taniya Wallace unhooks a small shark

Taniya Wallace is a fish biologist contractor on the science team here on Oregon II. Taniya hails from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where she grew up and still lives. Her mother is a teacher and her father works in naval ship design. Taniya credits her 6th grade teacher with first inspiring her interest in science. She says, “Science challenged my mind and made me wonder how things worked.”

After graduating high school, she got a summer internship at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory where she developed an interest in marine biology.  Taniya attended Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi. She played softball for her university and they won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship three years in a row! At Mississippi Valley State, she earned a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. 

Taniya sits at a desk, facing a computer with two monitors. The screen is too bright to make out. She holds a microphone from an intercom system up to her mouth with her left hand, perhaps ready to read out data or provide direction.
Taniya works on a computer


After college she was hired as a contractor during the Deepwater Horizon disaster working on small boats trawling for fish and crustaceans to gather samples for NOAA Fisheries Seafood Inspection program.  This was a three month contract.

Next, she was contracted to work with NOAA for the Plankton Unit for the next four years. On the surveys, she worked with the team to collect plankton (microscopic organisms) in three different sized nets. Then, back in the lab, she sorted and identified decapods (crabs, lobster, shrimp) and red snapper. 

In 2014, she moved to the trawl survey. In this survey, they pulled a large net behind the boat and caught a variety of marine animals. They sort, identify and record measurements on what they find on the boat. Back at the lab, they would identify unknown species. This included different kinds of fish as well as invertebrates. She explained to me that the science team uses only scientific names so, often, she may not know the common name of species she is cataloging.

Here on the shark and red snapper survey her computer and data entry skills are evident. She catalogs otoliths (ear bones) and other parts quickly and easily. I am not sure if patience, kindness and equanimity are requirements of her job but she, like the other members of the science crew, excels in these qualities. And, her shark handling skills are really impressive. 

Personal Log: A very exciting haul!

Every day continues to be full of new experiences and animals. Yesterday, there was a haul which on paper would look pretty boring but it proved to be anything but. First, we brought up a royal sea star ( Astropecten articulatus), a beautiful hand sized star with cream colored feet, with orange edges filled by a deep purple band. I half expected Trey, our lead on the science team, to claim it for Clemson. (Go tigers! Or, is that LSU? Yes, there is a school rivalry playing out among the science team.)

close-up view of a sea star held on the open palm of a gloved hand. the sea star is purple and orange with cream-colored 'feet' that looks like frills.
Royal sea star

Hook number 33 had a feisty seven foot nurse shark. The next shark, a nearly seven foot sandbar shark, was on hook number 43.

Hook number 49 had a baby tiger shark that was being pursued by a great hammerhead. The hammerhead was closing in on its prey when the gangion tightened and the tiger shark was hauled out of the water. I cannot say what was in the hammerhead’s brain, but it was certainly animated. For the next few minutes, it searched in vain for the tiger shark, circling and making several passes on the starboard side of the ship and showing its dorsal fin.

view over the rail of NOAA Ship Oregon II of a hammerhead shark swimming at the surface of the water in the direction of the ship
Hammerhead, thwarted in pursuit

Confusion? Anger? We can only speculate but I can imagine how strange the situation was from the hammerhead’s point of view. “Just another second and then, yum. Wait… where did it go?” I know this is purely unscientific and I am anthropomorphising (giving human characteristics to animals) but it really was a sight to witness. 

Now where did that darn fish go? I know its here somewhere.


Later on that same haul, we hooked into a large tiger shark. It is not unusual to see a shark sucker or cobia, maybe two, hanging out around the shark as we bring it in. We have even caught a shark sucker on a hook. But this tiger had at least 10 cobia following it in.

A group of cobia following a tiger shark.
Photo credit: NOAA Corps Lieutenant Junior Grade Cassidy Ring
She was big and had no intention of getting tagged.

She broke the line, and we were not able to measure and tag her. In this haul, only one fish was landed, but each of those events excited all involved and will be remembered and shared long into the future. 

Martin rides a stationary bike in the workout room, facing the camera and smilng for a photo. He is wearing a Nokomis Staff t-shirt that reads "We run with the wolves" and a Teacher at Sea hat. A rack full of weights is visible on the floor to his right.
Enjoying some time off shift.

Animals seen: Shark sucker, royal sea star, brittle star, sea fan, nurse shark, cobia, royal tern

Did you know? Sometimes hammerhead sharks swim on their sides.

Jenny Gapp: Literate Fish, August 4, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jenny Gapp (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

July 23, 2023 – August 5, 2023

Mission: Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) Survey (Leg 3 of 5)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean off the Northern California Coast working north back toward coastal waters off Oregon.
Date: Friday, August 4, 2023

Weather Data from the Bridge
Sunrise 0614 | Sunset 2037
Current Time: 0700 (7am Pacific Daylight Time)
Lat 43 16.7 N, Lon 124 38.0 W
Visibility:  10 nm (nautical miles)
Sky condition: partly cloudy
Wind Speed: 5 knots
Wind Direction: 030°
Barometer: 1020.3 mb
Sea Wave height: 1 ft | Swell: 340°, 1-2 ft
Sea temp: 13.7°C | Air Temp: 16.2°C

Science and Technology Log

On Wednesday night I stayed up to participate in the first CTD cast of the evening. What is a CTD? The short version: a water sample collection to measure conductivity, temperature, and depth. eDNA information is also collected during the CTD casts.

The longer version: As is true of all operations, all departments collaborate to get the science done. The bridge delayed casting due to erratic behavior from marine traffic in the area. When that vessel moved away, the deck crew got busy operating the crane that lowered the CTD unit to 500 meters. The Survey Technicians, along with the Electronics Technician, had just rebuilt the CTD unit days before, due to some hardware failures at sea. The eDNA scientist prepared the Chem Lab for receiving samples that would confirm the presence of hake as well as other species. 

When I arrived, Senior Survey Technician Elysha Agne was watching a live feed of the sensors on the CTD unit. Agne explained what was happening on the feed: There are two sensors per item being tested, then both sensors are compared for reliability of the data. There is one exception: A dual channel fluorometer, which gauges turbidity and fluorescence (which measures chlorophyll). Turbidity spikes toward the bottom in shallow areas due to wave action. Salinity is calculated by temperature and conductivity.  Sometimes there are salinity spikes at the surface, but it’s not usually “real data” if just one sensor spikes. The CTD unit is sent down to 500 meters as requested by scientists. Measurements and water collection occur at 500, 300, 150 and 50 meters. The number of CTDs allocated to a transect line varies according to how many nautical miles the line is. For example, multiple readings at the 500 meter mark may be taken on a line. CTD casts west of the one done at the 500m depth contour are spaced every 5 nm apart. Scientists are not currently taking CTD samples beyond the ocean bottom’s 1500m contour line.

The main “fish,” called an SBE 9plus, has calibrated internal pressure. As it descends you can tell the depth the “fish” is at. Sea-Bird Electronics (the origin of the SBE acronym) manufactures the majority of scientific sensors used on board, with the exception of meteorological sensors. The Seabird deck box (computer) is connected to the winch wire. The winch wire is terminated to a plug that is plugged into the main “fish.”

The other day, the termination failed. Termination means the winch wire is cut, threaded out, and the computer wire plugged into the winch wire. The spot it’s terminated can be exposed to damage if internal wires aren’t laid flat. Tension and tears may occur anyway because it’s a weak point. The plug on the main “fish” where the winch wire cable connects broke too, so the whole CTD had to be rebuilt. The “Chinese finger,” the metal spiral that pulls the load of the CTD on the winch wire, was also defective, so modifications were made. 

When the CTD is at the target depth, Agne presses a button in the chem lab that logs a bunch of meteorological and location data. She remotely “fires” a bottle which sends a signal to the “cake” that sits on top of the CTD. The signal is an electric pulse to release a magnet that holds the niskin bottle open. If it pops correctly, water is sealed inside. Since two bottles of water were requested at each depth, a second signal is sent to the second bottle. There are 12 niskin bottles on the CTD “carousel.” After two were done at 500 m, the winch operator takes the CTD unit up to 300 m; Agne fires two more bottles there, then two more bottles at 200 m, 150 m, and 50 m. About two and a half liters of water are taken per bottle. 


Samantha stands at a work bench in the wet lab. Wearing blue or purple latex  gloves, she pipettes water onto a filter above a section set up. Elsewhere on the bench, we can see a line of water filters, several styrofoam cases of test tubes, a notebook for recording data.
Samantha Engster, eDNA Scientist

Once the CTD unit returned to the surface, I got to help “pop the nipples” on the bottles to release the water into plastic bags. Back in the Chem Lab, eDNA Scientist, Samantha Engster, pours the water through a filter 1 micron thin. The filter is then folded in half and placed in a vial of Longmire’s solution until the eDNA can be analyzed in a lab back on land. Microscopes are not used for DNA analysis. Phenol-chloroform is used to remove proteins from nucleic acids. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) technique is then used to perform gene expression. This is the third hake survey that has been done in conjunction with eDNA analysis. 

While the CTD “fish” and all its sensors are collecting oceanographic data, Engster collects environmental data from the water samples. Surface water samples are also taken at the underway seawater station courtesy of a pump hooked up near one of the chem lab sinks. The eDNA verifies abundance and distribution of hake. When information from these water samples is partnered with data from the echo sounders, and “ground-truthed” with physical hake bodies in the net, the data set is strengthened by the diverse tests. 

Career Feature

Note: A handful of the people I have met aboard are experienced “Observers.” NOAA contracts with companies that deploy observers trained as biological technicians. Find out more here.

The two Evans stand against an interior wall and smile for a photo. They are each wearing t-shirts and beanie hats. Their similar builds and beards add to the visual symmetry of the photo. On the wall behind them hangs a photo of the ship and several plaques. Right Evan has a walkie-talkie attached to the pocket of his jeans.
Engineers Evan McNeil (Right), and Evan Thomas (Left).

Evan McNeil & Evan Thomas, Engineers

Give us a brief job description of what you do on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.

Evan M.
I’m a manager over our engineers. Below me is the second engineer. We have three third engineers, a junior engineer, and an oiler, also called a GVA (General Vessel Assistant), or wiper. I set the pace of work everyday. I assign all the jobs. Traditionally the Engine Department is under the First Engineer, but technically the Engine Room is mine. The Chief Engineer and the Captain (NOAA Corps Commanding Officer in this case) are in charge of the safety of the whole ship. The Chief Engineer also directs jobs to me that need to get done and I’ll delegate those jobs out. 

Evan T.
Third Assistant Engineer, soon to be Second. I mostly fix stuff that is broken.

What’s your educational background?

Evan M.
I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Marine Engineering Technology with a minor in marine science from California Maritime Academy. I grew up near Bodega Bay, so my background is oriented toward the ocean. I really enjoy it. 

Evan T.
Graduated from Cal Maritime, 2019. I grew up in Southern California, Redlands, a desert that somehow grows oranges. I applied to all the engineering schools in California, and Cal Maritime was one of the few that replied back. I said “Yeah, I could see myself doing this.” And here I am! 

What do you enjoy most about your work?

Evan M.
I enjoy who I work with. It makes work go by quickly. I enjoy our schedule and our time off. This is what I enjoy about my NOAA job and about sailing jobs in general. Shore leave is a type of leave. There’s also annual leave and sick leave. We call it going on rotation or off rotation. Off rotation is usually for a month, and on rotation is usually two months. Every ship is different but that’s how it is for the Shimada, a two-on, one-off schedule. If you talk to other sailors they’ll tell you ratios for time on and time off. For example, I did Leg 2 of the hake survey, I’m on Leg 3, and then I’m off. 

Evan T. Learning new equipment, new ways to do things.

What advice do you have for a young person interested in ocean-related careers?

Evan M.
If you are interested in going straight to being an officer, I would go straight to a maritime academy. It’s a very niche thing to know about. No one knows what they want to do at 19. NOAA’s always hiring. If you are interested in being an engineer, you start out as a wiper, then you can work your way up in the engineering department pretty easily.  

Evan T. 
Imagine being stuck in an office and you can’t go home for a month. Find something that will distract you when you are out on the ocean for weeks at a time. Hang out with people, play games, read a book. You have to be ready to fight fires, flooding, that sort of thing. 

If you could invent a tool to make your work more efficient—cost is no concern, and the tool wouldn’t eliminate your job—what would it be and why?

Evan M.
A slide that goes from the bridge to the engineering operations deck.

Evan T.
I would go for an elevator on the ship.

Do you have a favorite book?

Evan M.
Modern Marine Engineering volume 1

Evan T. My 5th grade teacher wrote their own book that I found entertaining. I also liked Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain.

Vince reaches both hands to do something with a pile of wires mounted on the wall
Vince Welton, Electronics Technician

Vince Welton

Give us a brief job description of what you do on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.

I’m an electronic technician. I deal with everything that has to do with electronics, which includes: weather, navigation, radars, satellite communications, phone systems, computers, networking, and science equipment. All the ancillary stuff that doesn’t have to do with power or steering. Power and steering belongs to the engineers.

What’s your educational background?

When I was in high school my father had an electronics shop and I worked with him. He was career Air Force and an electronics technician as well. My senior year of high school  I was also taking night classes at a college in Roseburg, Oregon in electronics. I joined the U.S. Air Force and was sent off to tech school and a year’s worth of education in electronics. Then there was a lot of learning on the job in electronic warfare. I worked on B52s. I was a jammer. In order to learn that you had to learn everybody else’s job. That’s what makes mine so unique. You had to learn radio, satellite, early warning radar, site-to-site radar, learning what other people did so I could fix what was wrong with their electronic tools. I went from preparing for war to saving the whales, so to speak. Saving the whales is better!

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I enjoy the difficulty of the problems. We’re problem solvers.

What are the challenges of your work?

Problems you can’t fix! That’s what disturbs a technician the most, not being able to solve a problem. 

What advice do you have for a young person interested in ocean-related careers?

The sciences are important no matter what you do. Having curiosity is the biggest thing. My hope is that education systems are realizing the importance of teaching kids how to think. Young people need to grow the ability to ask questions, instead of just providing answers.

If you could invent a tool to make your work more efficient—cost is no concern, and the tool wouldn’t eliminate your job—what would it be and why?

I think AI has phenomenal potential, but it’s a double-edged sword because there’s a dark side to it as well.

Do you have a favorite book?

The Infinity Concerto, by Greg Bear
The Little Book of String Theory, by Steven S. Gubser

What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen at sea?

Actually seeing a whale come out of the water is probably the coolest thing. Watching that enormous tonnage jumping completely out of the ocean. If you look out the window long enough and you’ll see quite a few things. 

Markee, wearing a blue jumpsuit over a black hoodie and a beanie that reads "California Republic," smiles for a photo, standing in an interior hallway.
Markee Meggs, Able Bodied Seaman

Markee Meggs

Give us a brief job description of what you do on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.

I’m an AB, or Able Bodied Seaman. The job looks different on different ships. On the Shimada I stand watch and look for things that don’t show up on radar. Most ships you drive—only NOAA Corps Officers drive on the Shimada—I can drive rescue boats, tie up the ship, and do maintenance on the outside. I’m a crane operator. On a container ship you make sure the refrigerated containers are fully plugged in. On a refueling ship (tanker) you hookup fuel hoses. Crowley is a major tanker company. On RoRo ships (roll on, roll off) you work with ramps for the vehicle decks, transporting cars from overseas.

AB is a big job on a cruise ship. I did one trip per year for three years, then got stuck on one during the pandemic in 2020.  On the cruise ship you stand watch, do maintenance, paint, tie up the ship, drive the ship. There’s even “pool watch” where you do swimming pool maintenance. You also assist with driving small boats and help guests on and off during a port call.

I’m a member of SIU (Seafarers International Union) and work as an independent contractor for NOAA. I like the freedom of choosing where I go.

What’s your educational background?

I’m from Mobile, Alabama. I spent four years in the Navy (my grandad served on submarines during World War Two), one year in active Navy Reserves, then eight years as a contractor supporting the Navy with the Military Sealift Command. I spent a year as a crane operator in an oceaneering oil field, and have an Associate’s Degree in electrical engineering. On the oil field job we used an ROV to scope out the ocean floor first. After identifying a stable location I laid pipe with the crane, and took care not to tip over the boat in the process! My first NOAA ship  was the Rainier, sailing in American Samoa. 

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I most enjoy meeting different types of people. Once you’ve been to a place you have friends everywhere. I also love to travel—seeing different places. It’s a two-for-one deal because once you’ve finished with the work you are in an amazing vacation place.

What advice do you have for a young person interested in ocean-related careers?

If ships interest you, do the Navy first. They pay for training, and your job is convertible. Becoming a merchant mariner is easier with Navy experience than coming straight off the street. There is a shortcut to becoming a merchant mariner, but you’ll have to pay for classes. Finally, always ask questions! Yes, even ask questions of your superiors in the Navy. 

What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen at sea?

The coolest things I’ve seen at sea have been the northern lights in Alaska, whales, volcanic activity, and rainbow-wearing waterfalls in Hawaii.

Do you have a favorite book?

Some of my favorite books are Gifted Hands, and Think Big, both by Ben Carson. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story was turned into a film with Cuba Gooding Jr in 2009. Another book that made an impression was Mastery, by Robert Greene. Its overarching message is “whatever you do, do well.” 

Julia points her left index finger an echogram on a large computer monitor.
Julia Clemons, FEAT Team Lead

Julia Clemons

Give us a brief job description of what you do on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.

I am the Team Lead of the FEAT (Fisheries Engineering and Acoustic Technologies) Team with the NWFSC (Northwest Fisheries Science Center). The primary mission of our team is to conduct a Pacific hake biomass survey in the California Current ecosystem and the FEAT team was born specifically to take on that mission from another science center. The results of this survey go into the stock assessment for managing the fishery. Fisheries and Oceans Canada are partners in this survey. Hake takes you down many paths because their diet and habitat are tied to other species. For example, krill are a major prey item in the diet of hake, so understanding krill biomass and distribution is important to the hake story as well. Rockfish also have an affinity for a similar habitat to hake in rockier areas near the shelf break, so we use acoustics and trawling to distinguish between the two. 

What’s your educational background?

My undergraduate degree from University of Washington was in geological oceanography. I began with NOAA in 1993 and worked for the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory’s Vents program to study hydrothermal systems. This involved a diverse team of scientists: chemical and physical oceanographers, biologists, and geologists. I got my Master’s in Geology at Vanderbilt but shifted to NOAA Fisheries in 2000 working in the Habitat Conservation and Engineering (HCE) Program where we looked at habitat associations of rockfish. We looked at ROV and submersible video of the rocky banks off Oregon to identify fish and their geological surroundings. The HCE program shifted its focus to reducing bycatch by experimenting with net modifications and I moved to the FEAT team.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I think one of the most important components of Team Lead is to be a supporter—supporting the facilitation of good science, supporting people. I also think about what I can do to support the overall mission of NOAA Fisheries. That’s my favorite thing, supporting others. I love when the focus is not on me!

What advice do you have for a young person interested in ocean-related careers?

Think about ways you can put yourself in the right place at the right time. Ask about volunteer opportunities. Ask questions, explore, think about what you want to do and look at people who are doing that—ask them how they got to that position. 

What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen at sea?

When I was with the NOAA Vents group in 1994 I got to go to the bottom of the seafloor in the submersible Alvin. I was in there for nine hours with one other scientist and Alvin’s pilot. You think you’re going to know what it looks like, because you’ve seen video, and you think you’re going to understand how it feels, but then you get down there and everything is bigger, more beautiful, in all its variation and glory. We navigated to a mid-ocean ridge system that had an eruption the year previously. There was bright yellow sulfur discharge on black basalt rocks… after all those hours looking at ROV video, to see it in person through the porthole was incredible.

Do you have a favorite book?

The 5 AM Club, by Robin Sharma. I’m a morning person, and this book lays out how to structure those early hours and set you up for a successful day. When I was little I loved The Little Mermaid story by Hans Christian Anderson—the original, not the Disney version. I grew up in Vancouver, Washington and was always asking my parents, “Can we go to the beach?”

Taxonomy of Sights

Day 11. Three lampreys in the bycatch! Risso’s Dolphin (Grampus griseus).
Day 12. Blue Whales! I guess they read my blog post about the Gordon Lightfoot song. What may have been a blue shark came up near the surface, next to the ship. Strange creatures from the deep in the bycatch: gremlin looking grenadier fish.
Day 13. Pod of porpoises seen during marine mammal watch. 

You Might Be Wondering…

How often are safety drills?

Weekly drills keep all aboard well-practiced on what to do in case of fire, man overboard, or abandon ship. Daily meetings of department heads also address safety. One activity of monthly safety meetings is to review stories of safety failures on other ships to learn from those mistakes. Each time a member of NOAA Corps is assigned a new tour at sea they must complete a Survival-at-Sea course. The Fishery Resource Analysis and Monitoring division (FRAM) also requires yearly Sea Safety Training for the scientists. “Ditch Kits,” found throughout the ship, contain: a rescue whistle, leatherman, food rations & water, and emergency blankets. Additionally, there are multiple navigation and communication tools in the ditch kit: a traditional compass, a handheld Garmin GPS, a boat-assigned PLB (personal locator beacon) registered with the Coast Guard, and a VHF radio with battery backup providing access to marine channel 16.   

After a tour of the engine rooms, I learned that the diesel engines also have built in Emergency Diesel Generators (EDG). If you look up at the lights on the mess deck you’ll see some of the light fixtures have a red and white “E” next to them. This label indicates which would be powered by the generators, and which would not. 

Floating Facts

The NOAA Corps is not a part of a union, however there are unions that advocate for other NOAA employees. Licensed engineers are a part of MEBA, The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association. Non-licensed positions are represented by SIU, Seafarers International Union. Both of these unions are a part of AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the U.S.

I had been curious whether there was a database that housed an inclusive list of NOAA Fisheries field research, and NOAA did not disappoint. You can find the Fishery-Independent Surveys System (FINNS) here, and browse as a guest. I’m now brainstorming how I might use the database with students—perhaps as a scavenger hunt—to have them practice their search skills. You can search by: fiscal year, fiscal quarter, science center, survey status, and platform type. 

Which Cook Inlet species is the subject of Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) 2023 research, which is underway in a small boat?
Hint: Raffi 

Another tool I’m looking forward to using in the classroom is NOAA’s Species Directory, which can serve as a scientifically sound encyclopedia for ocean animal reports conducted by students.

Librarian at Sea

“The sea is a desert of waves,
A wilderness of water.”― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

This quote from Hughes’ poem, Long Trip, had me thinking about the surface of the ocean. I have seen the surface in many states over the past days: soft folds, jagged white-tipped peaks, teal, turquoise, indigo. Sometimes there are long snaking paths of water that have an entirely different surface than water adjacent. Whether it is due to currents colliding, chemical process, biological process, temperature difference—I cannot say. If I were to anthropomorphize the phenomena, I’d say these lines are wrinkles, as the ocean creases into different expressions. A hint of what lies within and beneath.

It also has me thinking about the interviews I’ve conducted with the people on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. I started with a superficial name and title, a face on a board near the Acoustics Lab depicting all hands on Leg 3. When I sat down to talk with people representing Scientists, Engineers, Deck Crew, Electronics, Officers, Survey, and Steward, I began to unspool colorful stories from a broad spectrum of life experiences, many from divergent habitats, all who have converged here to do in essence what the concierge at my Newport hotel said to me as I walked out the door, “Keep our oceans safe!” A tall order in so few words. From shore we’re a small white blip on the horizon; up close there’s a frenzy of activity, a range of expertise, a conviction that our actions can improve living for humans, for hake, and for all the species in Earth’s collective ecosystem.  

a view of the surface of the ocean extending toward the horizon on a clear day
A wilderness of blue water.

Hook, Line, and Thinker

We opened up a hake in the Wet Lab today to find it had a green liver. Why? Parasites? A bacterial infection? An allergy to krill? There’s always more beneath the surface, more stories to suss out. This is what makes science exciting, what makes living with 30+ strangers exciting. It’s what I enjoy about teaching. 

How do the albatross know when we’re hauling back a net full of hake? They seem to appear out of nowhere. First a couple, then maybe 40 of them materialize around the net, squabbling over fish bits. 

Have you ever discovered something unexpected and wondered about its origins?
How could the scientific method support you in finding out an answer… or to at least develop a theory?

A Bobbing Bibliography

Known as “charts” at sea and “maps” on land, NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada has a small library of charts. Find out more at NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. Paper charts are actually being phased out. “NOAA has already started to cancel individual charts and will shut down all production and maintenance of traditional paper nautical charts and the associated raster chart products and services by January 2025.”

view of a stack of long, thin metal drawers with printed labels, most too small to read in the photo
Paper chart library on the bridge.
photo of a portion of a paper nautical chart
Nautical chart of Oregon’s southern coast.

Jenny Gapp: “Lhuk xaa-ghii-la” (I found a fish), August 1, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jenny Gapp (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

July 23, 2023 – August 5, 2023

Mission: Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) Survey (Leg 3 of 5)
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean off the Northern California Coast working north back toward coastal waters off Oregon.
Date: Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Weather Data from the Bridge
Sunrise 0613 | Sunset 2034
Current Time:  0900 (9:00 am Pacific Daylight Time)
Lat  42 32.8 N, Lon 125 00.9 W
Visibility: <1 nm (nautical miles)
Sky condition: Overcast
Present weather: Fog
Wind Speed:  15 knots
Wind Direction: 350°
Barometer: 1017.9 mb
Sea Wave height: 2 ft | Swell: 340°, 3 ft
Sea temp: 16.6°C | Air Temp: 16°C
Course Over Ground (COG): 090.2°
Speed Over Ground (SOG): 9.9 knots

Science and Technology Log

Second Engineer Justin Halle provided a tour yesterday of the engine room and associated machinery kept running smoothly by the Engineering Department. Four Caterpillar brand diesel engines use about 1,800 gallons of fuel per day, although that number fluctuates depending on operations and weather. There are multiple fuel tanks in reserve that hold 5 – 15,000 gallons. A fuel manifold regulates fluid intake and a camera is fixed on fuel levels so the engineers can monitor them. Two valves per tank allow for filling or suction. Water evaporators separate sludge and water to keep fuel clean and bacteria free. We also looked up the exhaust shaft which vents out the top of the ship above the level of the flying bridge. 

We viewed the propellor shaft that drives the main propulsion of the ship. A secondary means of propulsion is the bow thruster, but it is primarily used in close quarters situations such as docking and undocking. We did not view the bow thruster on our tour.