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Jo Slavitz: A Lot of Fish in the Sea: July 26, 2026

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jo Slavitz

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

July 19 – August 10, 2026

Mission: Summer Pollock Acoustic Survey, Leg 3

Geographic Area of Cruise: Bering Sea, Alaska

Date: July 24, 2026

Weather Data from Bering Sea

Latitude: 58° 48.960’  N

Longitude: 173° 43.168′ W

Winds: E at 15-20 mph

Air Temperature: 45.68° F (7.6° C)

“The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.” – John Buchan

Science and Technology Log

As the saying goes “there are lots of other fish in the sea,” so how exactly does NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson find mostly Alaskan pollock in such a huge ocean? It’s a combination of structured transect planning, analyzing complex acoustic data and a little bit of luck.

Transects: At first glance the map of the 3 legs of the Alaskan Pollock Survey look like a crazy zig-zag path, so what’s going on and where are we going? The Oscar Dyson is traveling on a transect. A transect is a line drawn by scientists across an area used to measure, count and record the species living there. Oscar Dyson scientists are tasked with figuring out how many pollock are living in the Bering Sea, what age they are and their reproductive stage. As Oscar Dyson travels along each transect, the scientists decide where good places are to sample the pollock population using a long trawl net. It’s difficult to look into the ocean (though we will talk about cameras later) so NOAA scientists actually “listen” for the fish as they swim under the boat.

line drawing of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson demonstrating acoustic calibration. we can see the sounding board extending beneath the hull; metal calibration balls are suspended farther beneath the sounding board.
The sounding board on the bottom of Oscar Dyson sends and receives frequency information. (NOAA Fisheries)

EchoSound: Many people are familiar with the way animals such as bats and dolphins emit sounds and use echoes to gather information about their surrounding environment. The scientists on the Oscar Dyson also use sound and echoes to gather information about their environment in the Bering Sea. The boat has a sounding board underneath called a transducer that emits energy pulses at different frequencies  and receives the echoes as they are bounced back. Objects with different densities send back different amounts of echo energy. Scientists in the Acoustic Lab onboard Oscar Dyson watch a screen for echo patterns that match the patterns that are expected from individuals and  schools of pollock. 

photo of a screen displaying an echogram. in this graph, the x-axis is time and the y-axis is depth; colored dots represent the intensity of backscatter from a particular frequency encountered at each depth over time.
An echogram is a visualization of an echosound

Check out this image of an echogram. Echograms are a visualization of detected echo sounds. The bright red lines at the top and the bottom of the screen represent the surface and the dense ocean floor. The top wave of blues and greens is referred to as the “munge” ; it is a mixture of stirred up air bubbles, algae, plankton and other things that the team has determined is not pollock. Pollock are primarily in the area just above the bottom to about the middle of the water column. Boney fish such as pollock have a specialized organ called a swim bladder which allows them to take in and release gas, thus changing their density and allowing them to rise and fall in depth like a submarine. Not only is this organ useful to the fish, the air it contains has a different density from the surrounding water and reflects the echo energy that is emitted and picked back up by the ship’s transducer. Look carefully and you can see little colored dots and patches just above the ocean bottom depicted on the echogram. Those are fish and schools of fish. The scientists are confident that they are pollock but to be sure they need to collect a sample of the fish in those areas and get measurements from them. 

diagram of a trawl net being pulled behind a vessel. labels point out the codend (the narrowest part at the back); the headline rope; the sweeps (lower lines); the weights attached to the lines; warp wires connecting the trawl to the vessel; and otterboards to help direct fish into the net.
Basic Trawl Net (source: Nettingland.com)

Trawl: Once a spot has been identified by the scientists, a call goes out to the crew, “Fishing, Fishing, Fishing”. This alerts all aboard that the vessel is going to break from the transect and drop the nets into the spots that had lit up with fish patterns on the echogram. The net is rolled out from a giant spool controlled by the deck crew rather than the scientists. The tip of the net is called the codend, from the old English word “cod” meaning a bag or pouch and this is where the fish are collected. At the opposite end of the net is the opening where fish enter. The weave, or meshes, of the net gets progressively tighter the closer it is to the codend. 

three crewmembers wearing hard hats and life vests kneel to attach equipment to a portion of the trawl net on the deck of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
“Turtle” being attached to the kite
photo of the output from the FS70 echoscan showing a radar image across two-thirds of a circle
FS70 Echoscan


Attached to the net are several pieces of equipment that allow the scientist to analyze what is going into the net and when, during the trawl. The FS70, or netsounder, is a bright yellow device that also uses echoes to gather information. This piece is also sometimes called the “turtle.”  You can see the crew here connecting it to a special part of the net called the kite. The kite and netsounder are attached and fly just above the opening of the net allowing the scientist to monitor what is going in.

Next to the picture of the crew you can see the image of what is being recorded by the netsounder on an information panel. This image of the “turtle” shows whether it is flying correctly, or oriented in the correct direction. The 2/3 circle image is a visualization of the echos the netsounder is receiving. The rainbow of color on the very bottom of this circle is the echo bouncing back from the bottom of the ocean, above that is another rainbow that represents the bottom of the net, above that if you look closely there are small blue marks just forming an oval with the rainbowed net bottom, those are the top of the net. When fish go into the net, they are represented as small dots, or blobs if a whole school is captured within this oval. The screen showing the echogram from below the ship and the screen with the netscan are placed next to each other on the control panel so that scientists can see the fish coming and hopefully adjust the nets accordingly to catch them.

close up view of a control panel showing two displays: the FS70 echoscan output, and the echogram of acoustic backscatter.
The control panel on the Bridge.

Scientists only want a sample of the fish, so they monitor the netsounder until they feel they have enough fish to accurately represent what they are seeing and then call “Haul Back.” This call tells the crew to raise the net back onto the boat, and the science crew to put on their wetlab gear in preparation for fish processing.


Try It on Dry Land

Swim bladders allow fish to change the density and buoyancy of their bodies, allowing them to change their position in the water column. Buoyancy is an upward force of an object causing it to float or sink. You can make a simple model of a fish’s swim bladder (and a fun catch game) using items found around your house.


You need:

  • Paperclips
  • 1 pen cap (Bic pen or other with the stick part) 
  • 1 soda bottle with cap
  • Clay

Instructions:

illustration of a hand holding a plastic bottle filled with water and the pencap diver
Source: sciencebob.com
  • Fill bottle to top with water
  • Secure clay around stick of pen cap (do not cover opening)
  • Bend paperclip to form hook
  • Attach paperclip into clay with hook pointing down
  • Drop cap/hook into soda bottle so that it floats
  • Twist another paperclip into an L shape and drop to bottom
  • Put cap tightly on bottle

To Activate:

  1. Squeeze the bottle and watch the pen cap drop
  2. Release your grip and pen can will rise
  3. Practice controlling where in the water column you can direct the cap
  4. Can you dive the cap to the bottom and hook on to the L shaped paperclip?

What in the Science is going on… The cap holds a bubble of air underneath which allows it to float. When you squeeze the bottle the pressure makes the bubble smaller and changes the density of the cap causing it to sink. A fish’s swim bladder works by the same principles. Find out more here:  www.instructables.com/Cartesian-Divers/ 

Personal Log

a circle, representing the earth tilted on its axis. arrows point out the north and south celestial poles, the meridian, the zenith (90 degrees). ellipses inside the circle represent three different paths of the sun. the first, closest to the north celestial pole, is labeled "Sun's path on July 21." The middle one, around the celestial equator, is labeled "Sun's path on March 21 and Sept 21." The third, closer to the south celestial pole, is labeled "Sun's path on Dec 21."
Sun Path Diagram

Life on Oscar Dyson is different in many ways then life on land. For one, the scientists work in shifts. There is a 4 am to 4 pm shift considered the dayshift and another from 4 pm to 4 am considered the nightshift. Acoustic monitoring and fishing happen all day and all night. I am on the day shift. Adding to the change in daily rhythms is the extended amount of daylight during the Alaskan summer season. The sun is up and bright when I hit my bunk to sleep. The sun will not set until approximately 12:30am, some nights I have gotten up in the night to watch the sunset out my window. I report to the Acoustic Lab at 4 am in the dark to find out what the night shift has been working on, the sun will then rise again at around 7 am. It takes some getting used to as the sun is a natural trigger for my body to know when to be active and when to rest. It makes for a long day, but who can complain with such a stunning beginning.

a beautiful view of sunrise over railing of the ship. there is a pile of rope in the foreground. the sky is golden, and the water, curling softly with the ship's wake, reflects the gold light.
Bering Sea Sunrise

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Stacey Morris: Off to Sea! July 29, 2026

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Stacey Morris

Aboard NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker

July 26-August 10, 2026

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: West Coast Pacific Ocean

Date: July 29, 2026

Weather Data from the Bridge

Latitude:  40° 00.3’N

Longitude: 124° 46.1’W

Wind Speed: 22 knots

Air Temperature: 16.0 ° C/ 60.8 °F

Science and Technology Log

Interview with Zach Skelton, wet lab lead, marine biologist

What is the purpose of the Survey?

Targeted Pelagic species

The goal of the survey is to give a general assessment of the stocks of coastal pelagic species (CPS), which are anchovy, mackerel, and sardine. And in order to do that, we estimate biomass off of acoustic signals. So we run a transect (a set course that our ship follows to gather constant observations and marine specimens), use sonar, and map out bait balls (where the fish gather) on those transects. And then from there, we can estimate biomass. Then we use our nighttime trawling to help verify the species proportions and also the size distribution and age distributions within those species. We run these east-west transects about every 10 miles up the coast from the Mexico border to the Canadian border. Historically, we have worked with both Mexico and Canada and have gone into Mexico and Canadian waters. But this year, we are just in U.S. waters. We run those transects to the continental shelf, and so the distance of those transects is going to vary based on the coast. For instance, off Southern California, where we have the Channel Islands that are off far off the coast, those transects can run up to  110 miles, but in norther California, it’s a lot shorter because the continental shelf is a lot closer, more like 35 to 40 miles. 

Acoustic imagery of fisheries

Generally the daytime acoustic trawl (using sonar) is paired with the following nighttime trawl to help estimate those species proportions and biomass for that specific 24-hour day period. One of the hard things to do with CPS (the target fish species) is that they tend to be a lot deeper and in tighter balls during the day, and it’s harder to fish for them when they dive that deep. But during the nighttime, they come up to feed on what’s called the scattering layer. The scattering layer is  basically this migration of invertebrates and small pelagic fishes that hang out in the twilight zone during the day to avoid visual predators, and then they make this (diel) vertical migration up from the depths to the surface at night to feed on all the phytoplankton and zooplankton that are up in the water column. So during the day they’re in tight schools avoiding visual predators, but at night they’ll scatter and they’ll spread out and feed on all those other smaller fishes and invertebrates. So we tend to only fish at night time while the CPS are up near the surface and spread out. We also have a nearshore survey, as we are inhibited by our ability to go into shallow waters based on the size of our boat; we have transducers and a beam that extend far below the surface, and we can’t go into super shallow waters. We contract out other fishing vessels, like the  Long Beach Carnage and the Lisa Marie, and they will pick up the inshore portions of our trawls. That way we can extend our survey into the areas in which young CPS like sardine and  anchovy tend to aggregate.

Personal Log

Travel Day to the ship:

The flight to San Francisco went smoothly and I checked out the bird’s eye aerial view of our southern route that we were soon to repeat on our return trip north along the western coastline of Califronia and Oregon. The hotel was in a lively part of downtown Oakland, and in the morning, I wandered the streets of China town, where street vendors haggled over vegetables and fruits, and there were many small stores selling a variety of products that I wished I had time to peruse.

Coffee & Grab ‘n Go items

But I was eager to get to the ship, and caught an Uber to the Coast Guard base in Alameda. I arrived at the guard station and the Reuben Lasker‘s Executive Officer, LCDR John Katchenago, met me. He took me to the ship, which looked small next to the Coast Guard cutter docked alongside it. But the NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker is plenty big and I quickly became lost as John showed me around the ship. He was very kind to give me a quick overview of where everything was and introduced me to the Operations Officers,  LCDR Michael Fuller and LT Ariane Huddleston. They told me a little about their background and history and about how they fit in with NOAA (I will introduce them more in detail later on in a future blog post!). The scientists were next on board and my berth is among theirs–speaking of which, we each get our own on this survey, no need to share rooms, which I guess is uncommon. They are very comfortable living quarters, with their own bathroom with shower, a comfortable bunkbed with linens, a locker for your clothes, a small refrigerator, a desk and a porthole. There’s even a TV! AND…wifi! I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep my Duolingo and Wordle streak going on this trip, but I’m in luck! 

NOAA Reuben Lasker watercolor painting

Kevin Stierhoff, Chief Scientist/Acoustician, and Melissa Liotta, fish biologist/survey coordinator, two of the scientists on the survey, were going out for our final meal on land and I joined them in exploring Alameda. When we returned, we met the rest of the science crew that had arrived onboard, Chris F. –fish biologist surveyor, Zach Skelton–marine biologist/wet lab lead, and Brad Erisman, life history program lead/wet lab. 


Day 1:

I stayed up late unpacking and getting settled in my berth, but still woke up refreshed and ready for the day ahead. Breakfast was at 07:00 and I can tell I’ll need to use the onboard gym with all the tasty goodies available. There are ice cream bars whenever you want, along with other grab and go snacks. Breakfast had empanadas, pancakes, bacon, sausage, all sorts of ripe, fresh fruit, eggs, and AN ESPRESSO MACHINE. I also got to see the rest of the crew, as everyone eats at the same time. At least for now…soon we’ll have a night crew and a day crew with opposite schedules. The kitchen will save your meals though, if you are working, so you never have to go without. 

After breakfast, we did safety drills, and I found out where I need to go in case there is an emergency and how to deploy a life raft if needed. There are different horn signals that let you know what emergency is happening, such as the fire alarm (continuous bells on the general alarm for 10 seconds), man overboard (3 long bells),  and abandon ship (“get the heck off the ship nooooww”– more than 6 short bells and one long bell). I also got to try out putting on my “Gumby” suit (immersion suit), which is a big, red, lobster-looking thing that will keep you warm if you think you might be going overboard. It was a little awkward squeezing into it, but more comfortable than a wetsuit, if not as stylish. 

Emergency Gumby suit

Lunch followed, and it’s definitely not cafeteria food. Tasty chicken and porkshops, a salad bar, garlic potato wedges or rice, sauteed green beans… I might never leave!

The gangway was then lifted by a crane, and I knew this was it… no turning back now, although why would I with those cooks onboard?? We started through the channel, cut through the sailboat forest in front of us, passed all the freighters and cargo cranes sitting idle on the weekend. The San Francisco skyline faced us and we eased into the bay. The bay bridge cut across our bow and we sailed under on our way to circle around Alcatraz. It was a beautiful vista, looking at it all from an angle that most people don’t get to see. Remnants of an old Spanish fort nestled under the Golden Gate, and we ducked under this famous span as the cars streamed overhead. Open waters loomed ahead of us as we said goodbye to land. 

I’ve never been seasick but I took everyone’s advice and took Dramamine the last couple of days to get acclimated to it. The ship does have an interesting roll to it. It was built with a flat bottom in the stern and is very maneuverable. It also has an open center section where they can lower the acoustic equipment for surveying fish. However, it creates an odd circular rolling motion that I can see could lead to feeling nauseous. I feel okay so far, but I think I’ll continue with the dramamine. 

, ,

Day 2

Today was mainly spent trying to adjust to a night schedule. I fitfully napped throught out the day, but I was able to catch some z’s before we went down for our first trawl. Everyone was buzzing with excitement to see what we would find. We were pretty tired by the end of the night, but everyone was satisfied with our large catch and a successful night of capturing data. I’ll go into more detail about our survey data in my next blog!

Deploying the net for fishing

Did you Know?

There is a traditional Japanese art form called Gyotaku (from gyo meaning “fish” and taku meaning “stone impression”). Developed in the mid-1800s, it involves applying ink or paint directly to a dead fish and pressing paper or fabric onto it to create an exact, life-size replica of the animal. (Ponytail Journal)

Gyotaku attempt

We tried it last night, but we quickly found out why it’s an art. You need the proper paper and a a lot of practice. But it was fun to try and very unique!

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Cheyanne Vanderdonckt: Underway, July 27-28, 2026

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Cheyanne Vanderdonckt

NOAA Ship Oregon II

July 27 – August 12, 2026

Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Bottom Longline Survey, Leg I

Geographic Area of Cruise: Atlantic Ocean

Date: July 28, 2026

Latitude: 27° 04.803’ N

Longitude: 85° 14.792’ W

Weather Data from the Bridge: West winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Waves west 3 feet at 4 seconds and south 1 foot at 8 seconds. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning.

Science and Technology Log

For the first days of our journey, we will be traveling south from Pascagoula through the Gulf to the Straits of Florida. This means we will not be starting our survey work until later in the week. So for this post, I will be giving you some background information on the survey’s mission, our ship, and what I’ve learned about the maritime industry while staying in Pascagoula.

Mission

If you’ve ever been fishing you know that it is governed by very strict rules. There are short seasons when you are allowed to catch certain species, as well as limits on the number, sex, and size of fish you are allowed to take home. When it comes to fishing, it is important that we have an accurate picture of the health and abundance of fish stock to promote the health of our marine ecosystems. NOAA Fisheries plays an important part in this. The Shark/Red Snapper Bottom Longline Survey takes place in four stages/legs every year in late summer in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The team decides on specific areas to sample and they make records of everything they haul in. (More details on how this is done will come in later posts.) Because they visit the same region annually, the scientists can measure trends in the health and abundance of species across time.

NOAA Ship Oregon II

Our home and workplace for the next 17 days is NOAA Ship Oregon II. Its home port is Pascagoula, Mississippi where it was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, which is still in operation today. This shipyard played an important role in World War II, as it built nearly 100 ships for the United States and British Royal Navy. Oregon II is 170 feet long. It has a beam (width at its widest point) of 34 feet and a draft (the distance from the waterline to the lowest part of the boat) of 14 feet.

You can follow Oregon II on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NOAAShipOregon2 to see the various types of missions its crew and scientists carry out throughout the year. If you would like to track Oregon II or any other NOAA vessel, you can use its unique identifiers (IMO Number 6728068 or MMSI Number 303976000) on a variety of marine vessel tracking websites. 

For parents and teachers, this could be a great way to teach children about geography, transportation, and economics. You can “adopt” a ship and watch it travel the globe or track how long it takes a container of goods to travel to your nearest port from across the world. My hometown Baltimore, Maryland, has a “roll-on, roll-off” (Ro Ro Cargo) port that allows cars, trucks, farm equipment, and other vehicles to be driven right off the ships. Car-loving children might enjoy tracking how their favorite imported models arrive.

The image is a screenshot of the website Vessel Finder showing the location of Oregon II in the Gulf of Mexico along with other vessels in the vicinity.
Screenshot from vesselfinder.com

Maritime Career Focus: Shipbuilding

Are you interested in shipbuilding or know a student who is? While people zip around the world on airplanes, the majority of our goods still travel the way they have for millennia: on the water. Although technology changes, waterways are still vital for commerce and the demand for ships and those who build them is still strong. According to Fortune magazine, there is a shortage of 250,000 workers in the industry. Shipbuilding requires “workers from across nearly every skilled trade. Shipyards rely on welders, electricians, pipefitters, and machinists.”

The image shows a ship docked with cranes
Operations at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi 

Personal Log

The image shows Cheyanne Vanderdonckt standing in front of Oregon II at dock
Finally I get to see Oregon II up close! (Photo credit: William Tilley)

After spending two nights in Pascagoula, I boarded the ship Monday morning at 7:30. Although I was able to see the ship at the dock from the street the day I arrived, this is my first close up view of Oregon II. I have seen many pictures of it from the NOAA website and Teacher at Sea alumni blog posts, so it was kind of like meeting my favorite celebrity in person. I received a warm greeting from William (Will) Tilley, a NOAA fisheries biologist who has been my contact for pre-travel orientation. I was nervous about boarding and departure, but Will was so welcoming I immediately felt more at ease. 

The first order of business was to find my stateroom (a bedroom on a ship) and get unpacked and settled in. Space is tight and I am sharing with another member of the science team, so tidiness is key. I received a mesh laundry bag with linens for my stay and made up my bed. I haven’t slept in a bunk bed since my days of sharing a room with my sister! I will be working the day shift (noon to midnight) and my roommate works the opposite shift so that we will each get time alone in the room.

The image shows bunkbeds and a storage cabinet in the stateroom
The image shows an orange box labeled EEBD with instructions for use
The image shows Cheyanne Vanderdonckt’s safety card with instructions for location and duty in case of various emergencies
The stateroom has two berths (a bed on a ship) and storage space for our belongings. The “EEBD” (Emergency Escape Breathing Device) helps you breathe in case of fire evacuation. This card reminds me what signals I will hear in case of an emergency, where I should muster (meet up with my team), and what my task will be.

After moving into my stateroom, I met with members of the crew and the science team for orientations and safety briefings. There are other volunteers aboard ship — mostly undergraduate and graduate students — and they assured me I was in for a lot of fun. Everyone has been friendly and welcoming. 

Without other duties for the day, I had plenty of time to explore the ship and enjoy the views. I found a shady spot on deck and read a book on my Nook. (I’m on my second book since I left Baltimore two days ago!) I did not bring any physical books in order to save on space, but the ship has a small library. If you’re a big reader like I am, you know how cool it is to see somebody else reading a book you love. I had a moment like that as I looked through the books and saw that there is a copy of Men Against the Sea, part of the Bounty Trilogy by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. This is a classic true story of endurance and survival at sea. Seeing a story I love in the library is another way that I feel welcomed to the ship.

close up view of the cover of an old trade paperback edition of Men Against the Sea by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. a price sticker in the lower corner reads $5.98. Cheyanne is holding the book up for the photo - we can just barely see her hand - in front of a well stocked bookcase.
A true find in the library of the ship’s lounge.

A great moment this afternoon was when I saw my first container ship on water. I turn into a little kid when I see big working ships. Soon after the big news story of the Evergreen Evergiven running aground and blocking the Suez Canal in 2021, we had our own container ship drama in Chesapeake Bay. The Ever Forward (also an Evergreen ship) ran aground off Pasadena, Maryland in 2022 and I insisted on an outing to go see it. (Did I mention I like boats?)

The image shows a pink cargo ship with shipping containers of various colors on deck with the water and they sky
A container ship came into view off the starboard deck.
Cheyanne and her husband, sweatshirt hoods pulled up over their hats, take a selfie in front of the water with a container ship positioned on the horizon just between the two of them
My husband and me in 2022 with Ever Forward aground in the background.

In the evening, I witnessed a beautiful sunset over the water, which I had been looking forward to all day. I tucked into the ship’s lounge with some other science volunteers to watch a movie and write. Since our shift ended at midnight, we all dipped into the generous stock of snacks in the mess (dining room). I was nervous about how I would sleep but the cool, dark, and the gentle rock of the ship helped me sleep like a rock. Then in the morning, I got to enjoy some delicious coffee to warm my teacher’s heart. Today will be another day underway and it’s rainy with some thunder and lightning so we are staying indoors.

The image shows a sunset over the water with light waves
Sunset on Monday, July 27, 2026 viewed from the starboard deck of Oregon II.
The image is of a window through which you can see water, the sky, and part of a throw ring
A view of the rainy weather from inside the ship’s lounge.

Did You Know?

Without roads, how do ships know how to get into port without running aground like our friend Ever Forward? Besides their charts and equipment, they also use a system of buoys called “lateral marks.” When leaving port, the ship will keep the green buoys to the starboard (right when facing the front of the boat) and the red buoys to port side (left side when facing the front of the boat). When returning, the colors will be reversed, giving way to a classic nautical mnemonic: “red right returning.”

The image shows a green buoy in the water with some land in the background
The image shows a red buoy in the water with some land in the background
Leaving the port in Pascagoula we pass through the navigational buoys.

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Jo Slavitz: Getting There is Half the Fun, July 20, 2026

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jo Slavitz

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

July 19th – August 10th

Mission: Summer Pollock Acoustic Survey, Leg 3

a travel coffee mug sits on the window sill of a ship's square window. out the window, we see a green mountain at some distance, perhaps across a harbor; the sky is cloudy and gray.
View of Dutch Harbor out the ship’s window

Geographic Area of Cruise: Bering Sea, Alaska

Date: July 20, 2026

Weather Data from Dutch Harbor, AK

Latitude: 53° 50.68′ N

Longitude: 166° 34.79’ W

Winds: NW at 7-10 mph

Air Temperature: 49.5° F (9.7° C)

“A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.”  — John A. Shedd

Personal Log

a view of waters off of Dutch Harbor; from a rocky shoreline, with a purple lupine prominently in the foreground, we look across gray waters to a line of green-covered mountains. two ships are visible transiting between the land masses.
Lupines in Dutch Harbor

A lot has to happen before the first pollock net is even cast. First the crew, including officers, engineers, deckhands and scientists must meet the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. If you are traveling from Dover, NH the trip is over 4,200 miles or about ⅙ circumference of the Earth.  Dutch is a remote community nestled within an archipelago of volcanic islands which formed approximately 60 million years ago where the Pacific tectonic plate forces under the North American Plate. This meetup takes planning, time, and sometimes patience as the Aleutian Islands are often windy and foggy, making air travel from mainland Alaska unpredictable. Read more information about NOAA Ocean Exploration’s geological studies in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

a nautical chart of the Eastern Bering Sea, on which someone has drawn with different colored markers the planned north-south transect lines for Leg I (orange), Leg II (pink), and Leg III (green). Taped on top of the chart are two pieces of paper containing titles: "DY26-04" and "Summer Pollock"
Survey Transect Map

Once everyone is onboard, NOAA officers pilot Oscar Dyson out of Dutch Harbor and the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea. Check out this map of the Summer Acoustic Pollock Survey. The black line represents the path of the summer pollock survey which takes place over the course of 3 separate trips. I am traveling on the final survey of the summer, so it’s the farthest western side of the Bering Sea pollock survey that needs to be completed, the black line on the map not yet highlighted. It takes over a day to get out to this part of the ocean, but the crew and scientist have lots to do to get ready for the trawl during the trip.

Science and Technology Log

Running a science research center in a remote part of the ocean comes with “boatloads” of STEM challenges. Without the ability to order things online, go to a local home improvement store, or buy specialized parts off the shelf, the scientists and crew need to create their own solutions to the challenges that arise. Just like a STEM makerspace, NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson is well stocked with a tool workshop, 3D printer, and rolls and rolls of duct tape. Here are some of the amazing inventions from the super simple to the more complex that were designed onboard the ship.

pegboard holding tools - funnel-shaped plastic holders have been attached to the peg board to hold the tools in place
Pegboard holding tools

Pegboard Modifications: On the high sea, wave and wind motion can be powerful, traditional pegboard hooks are just not going to cut it. These bright-colored accessories were custom designed and 3D printed on board to secure tools in their place. The calipers proved a bit trickier due to their asymmetrical design.

Underwater Camera: This underwater camera was created because the science team needed more information about what is going on beneath the ocean’s surface. To keep it from crashing into the ocean floor and becoming damaged, it was designed with sensors that move the robotic cameras up and down as it detects obstacles.

underwater camera: at this angle, we mostly see a sideboard and buoys or rollers.
Underwater camera
view of a scanner with the top pulled open; on the bed of the scanner is a 3-D printed grid with squares of two different sizes
Krill scan insert

Krill Scan: Needing a way to get tiny organisms measured and recorded, NOAA scientists came up with this 3D printed gadget designed to fit on the ship’s scanner. Soon after a trawl is pulled in, a pocket net (a small net used to recapture small fish that escape the larger net) is emptied and krill samples are sorted into their own square within the grid. Images are scanned and recorded while the creatures are still fresh. Marking around the squares allow scientists to calculate krill size easily and the boxes keep specimens from clumping together.

a red plastic cell phone stand on a bench next to a microscope
Camera stand

Microscope Camera Stand:This tool was designed and 3D printed to hold a cell phone in place to capture images of objects under the microscope.

Ichthystick: When fish come aboard, data on their length needs to be quickly calculated. The motion of the moving boat, and the slipperiness of a squirming fish make using traditional tools such as rulers and tape measures cumbersome and impractical. Meet the Ichthystick. This nifty device was designed by a NOAA scientist on Oscar Dyson for just these situations. Simply put the fish on the measuring board,  set the magnetic marker at the fork of the fish’s tail and it instantly gives the fish’s length on screen. It can also toss the data right into a data collecting program. Look up the prefix “Ichthy” and find out why I think the name “Ichthystick” is such a perfect name for a device designed for keeping tabs on native Alaskan Pollock who often end up in your freezer.

view of the electronic fish measuring board, with the name Ichthystick and a simplified image of a pollock printed in the bottom corner. a red magnet that ends in a point, which sports a matching pollock picture, rests on top.
Ichthystick and magnetic reader

Try It on Dry Land

STEM Scholars don’t just gripe about problems, they create solutions to these challenges. Think about things around you that don’t work quite right or annoy you as you try to complete your work. Design a device that helps you solve a reccuring challenge in your environment. Diagram your idea, or  build a prototype to see if it works.

Here are some common middle school challenges or think up your own:

  • Your pencil frequently rolls of your desk
  • Your pet leaves muddy footprints across the floor
  • You can never find your sports gear when it’s time to leave
  • You can’t reach something you want on a top shelf
  • Your backpack is not keeping you organized
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Guy Sturdevant: The Wet Lab, July 18, 2026

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Guy Sturdevant

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

June 21 – July 15, 2026

Mission: Summer Pollock Acoustic Survey, Leg 2

Geographic Area of Cruise: Bering Sea, Alaska

Date: July 14, 2026

Weather Data from the Bridge

N 58.16° W 172.21 °, 0 AMSL

Conditions: Overcast, Seas at < 1’

Visibility: >3  NM

Wind: 4°/ 6 kt

Barometric Pressure 1010.3 mBar

Dry Bulb Temp: 46 ° F

Science Log

Last time we left off with a bin full of fish waiting to be processed. Today we’ll dive into the wet lab where we sort, measure, and process the fish. 

a large bin full of hundreds of pollock (fish)
A full bin of pollock awaiting immediate processing. A full haul can take between 1.5 and 3 hours to process.

Trigger Warning: In order to provide you with the most accurate understanding of the important science aboard Oscar Dyson, I will describe laboratory procedures and handling processes that require dissection of select fish. 

While no one involved enjoys this, it helps scientists understand and protect this natural resource. Fish caught are handled ethically, bycatch (catching species other than the intended target) is extremely minimal, and any sensitive species are immediately released back into the ocean.

The wet lab is just that, wet! Seawater is used to process and clean fish, so every device and surface in the lab must be waterproofed and corrosion-resistant. Before we hop into the lab, we need to don cold-weather rain gear to keep us warm and dry. Once suited up, the science team uses a conveyor belt to sort the haul.

Each haul is unique; the wet lab supervisor decides which sorting method to use. To ensure we have gathered a statistically representative sample of what we are seeing on the echosounder, we aim to process approximately 350 pollock per haul, as well as sample any other species captured. This sample lets scientists divide the acoustic backscatter they recorded on the transect into categories by fish species and size classes- without the catch, there’s no way to know exactly how to assign this backscatter. A skilled acoustic lead scientist aims to land the perfect amount of fish; no more, no less.

view of the sorting table in the wet lab. three people stand - one on each side and one at the end - each wearing orange overalls and large yellow gloves. a pile of pollock (fish) is visible extending down the right side of the sorting table.
A nice, clean haul of juvenile pollock. Night lab lead David Bryan weighs and counts the fish into baskets for further processing. It is important that no bias is introduced in which pollock to include in the sample (no keeping just the big ones, etc.). Kevin McCarty and Julia Clemons are ensuring that only pollock make it to David. Anything else is diverted into other bins and handled separately.
top down view of a sorting table covered mostly in pollock (fish). yellow gloved hands reach into the frame from both sides of the table and image. one gloved hand lifts a jellyfish out of the pile.
Day lead Mike Levine removes a Chrysaora jellyfish from the sorting table. Jellyfish are far and away the most common bycatch. Luckily, Chrysaora jellies are unlikely to cause a reaction in humans.
top-down view of a salmon on an electronic fish measuring board set up on a metal table. a yellow gloved hand places a red magnet at the base of the fish's tail to electronically record its length.
A rare bycatch, Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), is quickly measured, weighed, and returned to the ocean. The icthystick measuring board was developed in the MACE fish lab and is now a commercial product that uses a magnet placed behind the fish’s tail to automatically record its length in CLAMS. A skilled user can process about 400 fish in about 20 minutes. The icthystick is a great example of the innovations being made by the Midwater Assessment and Conservation Engineering team.

The Midwater Assessment and Conservation Engineering (MACE) group of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center is responsible for running acoustic pollock surveys representing over 2.5 million square kilometers. To achieve this herculean task, the team has designed and continues to develop novel tools, processes, and methods. This spirit of innovation makes MACE unique.

screenshot displaying output from the computer program used to track fish data inputs; currently, it displays an image of an adult pollock, the name of the scientist doing the measurement, the weight and count
The CLAMS software suite, developed by MACE, allows them to quickly gather, organize, and analyze large data streams from both the wet lab and the cave.

In my next (and last!) post, we will look at some of these innovations and how they will empower scientists in MACE and across NOAA to produce the best possible data and science.

Personal Log

As my time at sea draws to a close, I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity and the very special crew of people that make this research happen. In my next and final post, we will look at the career pathways across the different departments and meet some of the new friends I’ve made aboard Oscar Dyson.

four NOAA Corps officers stand in a line at the controls on the bridge of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson. they each face out the windows, away from the camera. through the bridge windows, we can see green land and other docked vessels.
The junior officers on the bridge during docking at Dutch Harbor. Left to right: LT Jesse Pierce, LTJG Robert Sobelsohn, ENS Miles Litzmann, and ENS Alex Banh. Each operates a single control as ENS Banh practices what might be the toughest parallel parking job in the world.

Emergencies At Sea

During safety drills, we practice mustering to life rafts and donning survival dry suits. As we wait on the back deck, the lead for each lifeboat practices recording key information, such as our current location and the bearing and distance to the nearest land. As I sat on the back deck, flopping like a fish while I squeezed into my survival suit, it struck me that the nearest hospital could well be over 500 kilometers away.

Aboard NOAA vessels, medical emergencies are the responsibility of the medical person in charge (MPIC). MPICs are typically junior officers trained in basic life support who have access to a small medical bay, basic life support equipment, and a limited cabinet of medications. A fair comparison might be to think of the medical bay like the back of an ambulance. Unlike an ambulance, however, the medical bay could be tasked with keeping a person alive for days awaiting evacuation. The MPIC is not alone; they are supported by a team of medical professionals ashore, with access to live feeds of patients’ vitals, who will help guide the MPIC in providing care.

Aboard Oscar Dyson, we were incredibly lucky to have LCDR LeeAnn Keener, a nurse practitioner serving in the US Public Health Service. Were we to have an emergency, LCDR Keener’s training and practice as a licensed medical professional would be a great asset. Currently, only a handful of vessels sail with a licensed medical professional.

orange, white, and navy rescue helicopter in flight over water; the door is open, and one person leans out to help lower another person
A USCG MH-60 rescue helicopter prepares to lower a rescue swimmer to respond to an emergency. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Were an emergency to occur, the US Coast Guard would respond from their base in Kodiak, the largest USCG base in the world. First,  an MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter would scramble and begin moving towards the vessel in distress; this could take as long as 8 hours to arrive on scene. While underway, the flight surgeon aboard would contact the MPIC and begin preparing to receive the patient or patients. If necessary, Kodiak would begin marshaling additional resources to aid in the evacuation. In some cases, aircraft such as an HC-130 will be dispatched to a remote airfield to serve as the second leg of the emergency relay. Even with this incredible effort, it may take well over a day for a patient to reach the nearest level II trauma center in Anchorage. The total cost of such a remote rescue may well exceed $100,000. 

a U.S. Coast Guard rescue plane in flight past large icebergs in an ocean
The USCG operates the HC-130H, sister to the famous AC-130, a highly specialized aircraft designed to respond to nautical emergencies. The C-130 class of aircraft has astonishing range and endurance and can be equipped with specialized electronics, including radar and radio systems, that allow it to serve as a mobile command center at sea. NOAA Hurricane Hunters operate a similar airframe in their mission to predict and study the tropical systems that produce hurricanes. (photo credit: U.S. Coast Guard Visual Information Gallery)

Stay tuned for my final post where we put all the pieces together and profile career opportunities at NOAA!