Tag: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey

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Jenna Cloninger: Anchovy Expert and Pyrosome Party Time, June 15, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jenna Cloninger

Aboard Bell M. Shimada

June 11 – June 26, 2025

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (Leg 1)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, California Coast

Today’s Date: June 15, 2025

Track the Ship: Bell M. Shimada

Weather Data Snapshot: 12:23pm, Pacific Daylight Time

Currently, the air temperature is 65°F (18°C) with a wind speed of 10 knots and a wave height of 5 feet. I was finally able to witness a sunrise this morning during my working hours, thanks to clear skies, and I am staying up a little bit past my “bedtime” to enjoy today’s sunshine.

Science and Technology Log

Trawling operations are in full swing here on the ship! Please enjoy this image of me in front of our two trawling nets, which we pull behind the boat at different depths to target different species of fish.

A woman in bright orange overalls and rubber boots poses for a photo in front of two massive spools mounted horizontally above the aft deck, such that they can be wound or unwound. The spools contain teal and yellow netting. One trawl net is partially unrolled, with buoys attached at different points.
Photo of me with our fishing nets, which we use for surface and midwater trawling.

In these first few days, we are seeing many anchovy! I have quickly become an expert at identifying the differences between anchovy and other fishes that may be brought up with our net. In addition to fish species, we see quite a few small squid and some other invertebrates known as pyrosomes in our net. (See the Did You Know? section below for more information.)

close up view of the corner of a plastic teal basket filled with small narrow fish, each about 3-4 inches long. a hand wearing a black glove holds a single fish out for display above the pile.
Photo of a basket of anchovy, with one being held by someone’s hand for a size reference.

After sorting our catch, we measure and weigh a certain number of the target species (sardine, anchovy, and mackerel) to collect data that helps us characterize their species and size distributions. In addition, some specimens are selected for dissection, where we determine the fish’s sex, reproductive stage, and health; collect tissue samples for genetic analysis; and extract otoliths for estimating age.(For more about otoliths, which are also known as ear stones or ear bones, click here.) This information helps scientists monitor fish health through their life history stages. It’s not possible to catch every fish in the ocean, so scientists study a smaller representative group instead, like we are doing aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. This age data, along with other information like length, weight, and sex, is used to create computer-generated models of the fish population. When combined with acoustic data, these models help estimate how many fish are in the wild and predict what might happen if people keep fishing.

A woman wearing heavy-duty orange overalls and black gloves stands at a measuring board on a metal table in the wet lab. With her right hand, she uses a tool to measure a small fish placed along the board. She looks down, absorbed in her work.
Photo of me measuring a very small fish with a digital tool called an Ichythystick.

In the picture above, you can see that I am using a special tool called an Ichthystick to digitally measure the length of each fish in a specific subset from our catch. I have discovered that, although I do not normally consider myself squeamish when it comes to science, I am not a fan of dissecting fish for otoliths. Instead, I do a lot of the measuring and weighing of the fish, as well as additional tasks to support my teammates while they work on extracting otoliths.

In addition to trawling for fish, NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada has a special piece of technology known as a CTD. A CTD is a scientific instrument used in marine science to study the properties of seawater. CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth. These three measurements help scientists understand what the ocean is like at different levels. The CTD device is usually attached to a metal frame and lowered into the ocean from a research ship. As it goes down, it collects data about the water’s temperature, how salty it is (measured by conductivity), and how deep it is. This information helps scientists learn about ocean currents, climate, and marine life. CTDs can also carry bottles that collect water samples from specific depths. Scientists use these samples to test for oxygen, nutrients, or tiny organisms. CTD data is very important for studying how the ocean changes over time. (I have not yet seen the CTD in action, but I pass by it every day on the side deck and am hoping that it will be deployed sometime soon during my working hours.)

Jenna, wearing a Teacher at Sea beanie and a Teacher at Sea t-shirt under heavy orange overalls, stands next to the CTD rosette - a large metal apparatus that hosts both the CTD probe and a ring of gray water sampling bottles.
Photo of me next to a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) device for size reference.

Personal Log

Adjusting to life at sea is an ongoing process. I experienced a bit of seasickness yesterday right after lunch, but I was able to go to my stateroom at noon (which is the end of my night shift) and sleep it off until my next shift began at midnight. As a person who traditionally struggles with sleep, I am so exhausted after each shift that I am sleeping much better on the ship than I do at home, which I did not expect! In addition, I am eating much better on the ship than I do at home, thanks to our amazing Chief Steward who has been cooking fabulous meals for us. I have learned that mealtimes are very important on the ship, because sitting with your colleagues while enjoying good food is a boost for team morale and helps everyone stay energized.

Did You Know?

A lot of different animals can become caught in a trawling net while fishing, but pyrosomes are some of the most common animals we see during night trawls (aside from our target species of anchovy, mackerel, and sardine). What are pyrosomes? NOAA’s website tells us that pyrosomes are pelagic tunicates, which are part of the phylum Chordata. In other words, pyrosomes are tough, bumpy, gelatinous tube-like animals that gather in large clusters at the ocean’s surface. Like many jelly-like animals in the ocean, we still don’t know a lot about pyrosomes and how they live. This makes it hard to understand how they might be affecting ocean ecosystems. For example, pyrosomes can grow quickly and filter large amounts of water, which could have a big effect on phytoplankton blooms. Before this experience, I had never even heard of a pyrosome, and now, I feel like I am part of a pyrosome party every night!

top down view of a green plastic basket filled mostly with pyrosomes (which look like pink gelatinous tubes) with some various fish mixed in.
A basket full of pyrosomes (the pink gelatinous tubes) mixed with fish.

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Jenna Cloninger: Finding My Sea Legs on the West Coast, June 12, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jenna Cloninger

Aboard Bell M. Shimada

June 11 – June 26, 2025

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (Leg 1)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, California Coast

Today’s Date: June 12, 2025

Track the Ship: Bell M. Shimada

Weather Data Snapshot: 5:18am, Pacific Daylight Time

Currently, the air temperature is 64°F (17°C) with a wind speed of 4 knots and a wave height of 4 feet. The sea looks quite calm from the side deck, and the air feels a little chilly to this Georgia girl. Yesterday, I wore shorts and a sweatshirt and felt fine. Today, I am wearing jeans with a long-sleeve thermal shirt, a T-shirt, and a fleece jacket and am still feeling quite cold. The sun is only just starting to rise, but there is a dense layer of cloud cover and fog in the area at this time of year, so I have yet to witness a true sunrise while at sea. Hopefully the sun will make its appearance at some point today.

Science and Technology Log

Before we can talk about what’s happening on the ship, I need to highlight the amazing visit to the La Jolla location of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center on my second day in San Diego. My Teacher at Sea mentor and newfound friend, Melissa Liotta, took me to see where she works and to learn about some of the incredible things happening with her colleagues at the Center. There are too many names and faces for me to remember everyone, but I want to emphasize how genuinely excited everyone was to meet me and to work with me as a Teacher at Sea. It was quite a warm welcome, after flying across the country by myself and not really knowing what to expect when I landed on the west coast for the first time in my life.

Photo of me using large binoculars on a terrace at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

There was one part of this visit that deserves its own highlight, and that’s my tour of the experimental research aquarium at the Center. Melissa introduced me to Kathy Swiney, a research fisheries biologist who studies abalone populations off southern California. What are abalone, you might ask? Abalone are a family of marine gastropods, which are invertebrates related to snails, found within the phylum Mollusca. In other words, they are soft-bodied creatures with hard shells that crawl along the ocean floor. Here is a NOAA article if you would like to learn more about abalone.

Two abalone from the experimental research aquarium at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

I had seriously underestimated how interesting they could be! Kathy explained their anatomy, their reproductive strategies, and NOAA’s conservation efforts to me as I held one of the sweet little creatures in my hands. (My abalone even did a little “dance” where it wiggled its shell – so cute.) Most species of abalone are endangered or vulnerable due to overfishing for their meat and their beautiful shells, and Kathy’s team works to breed abalone that can be reintroduced to the ocean to help supplement wild populations.

Photo of me and Kathy Swiney in the experimental research aquarium. Here, I am holding a live abalone for the first time.

Now, back to the ship. Since this is the first leg of the Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey, many operations and procedures have been modified to combine data collections from two previously separate surveys, one targeting Pacific hake, and the other targeting a collective group of coastal pelagic species (CPS), including sardine, anchovy, and mackerel. The plan is for the ship to trawl for Pacific hake in the midwater region during the day and to trawl for CPS at the surface region at night, which means the science team is working 24 hours a day to maximize the use of resources while at sea.

Photo of some artwork from the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center that demonstrates some of the sardine, anchovy, and mackerel species we will we targeting on our survey.

While initial operations are underway, I am learning my way around the wet lab, which is where we will be sorting, measuring, and dissecting different fishes after each trawl. There is a lot to learn! As a teacher, I am reminded how overwhelming it can be for my students to learn new vocabulary, concepts, and processes in a short period of time. Each interaction with a member of the science team is like a miniature lesson all on its own, except there are no guided notes handouts or Google Slides for me to refer back to. Although it is overwhelming, it is also exciting to learn more about the oceanographic concepts that I teach to my students each year. This experience is helping me understand how critical it is for teachers to be able to explain concepts in age-appropriate ways and in small enough “chunks” for students to grasp in a single learning session.

Personal Log

Overall, there has been quite a bit of free time for me while we wait for normal operations to begin. While the scientists are busy preparing equipment and setting up their data collection programs, I have had time to get settled into my stateroom and chat with the other scientists about the best ways to avoid seasickness, which has been on my mind since we embarked. (Motion sickness medication, eating light meals and snacks, and looking at the horizon are all common recommendations.) The most interesting adjustment for me is the fact that everything is moving all the time at sea. Whether you’re in the wet lab, in the shower, or walking up and down steep staircases, you are constantly swaying in a corkscrew-like motion as the ship wobbles back and forth in the water. It can be quite disorienting during waking hours, but when it’s time to sleep, I have found the rocking motion to be comforting.

The view from the porthole in my stateroom.

Speaking of waking hours, I’m in the middle of adjusting my sleep schedule so that I am awake from midnight to noon each day. That means that I am going to sleep early in the afternoon and missing dinner so that I can be awake around 11:00pm to begin my shift. I am told that the first three days are the most difficult, but after that, your body starts to settle into the new routine.

Did You Know?

At the research aquarium, I learned about rockfish and something called barotrauma, which is a type of bodily trauma caused by a sudden change in pressure when rockfish are captured and removed from deep water. When rockfish are brought to the surface too quickly, the air inside their bodies expands, leaving them unable to control their buoyancy. When released back into the ocean, these fish may have trouble swimming downward, which leaves them vulnerable to predation at the surface. Other symptoms of barotrauma in rockfish include bulging eyes and a bloated belly sticking out of the mouth. But don’t worry – there is hope for the rockfish! Recompression devices and strategies can be used when a fish is returned to its normal depth, which allows its body to adjust back to its normal state. Here is a NOAA article if you would like to learn more about rockfish barotrauma and recompression.

A friendly rockfish from the experimental research aquarium.

That’s all for this blog post – focusing on this laptop screen while at sea is making me feel a little queasy! I hope to provide more concrete updates on our trawling operations over the next few days, as well as career insights and personal anecdotes about my experience at sea. Thanks for reading!

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Jenna Cloninger: From Sleeping with the Fishes to Sailing with the Fishes, June 1, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jenna Cloninger

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

June 11 – June 26, 2025

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (Leg 1)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, California Coast

Today’s Date: June 1, 2025

Embarkation Date: June 11, 2025

Personal Introduction

I have always had a deep love for all things conservation-related, ever since I discovered Steve Irwin, “The Crocodile Hunter,” on television as a small child growing up in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I love animals, I love nature, and I particularly love the ocean. After graduating from high school, I pursued a biology degree with the hope that my passion for the natural world would lead me to a job that I loved.

In 2018, I became a part-time overnight program specialist at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia. What is an “overnight program specialist,” you may ask? It means that I led educational “sleepover” tours after-hours at the largest aquarium in the United States, and instead of sleeping under the stars, I slept under the sharks. (Literally – sleeping in the tunnel of the Ocean Voyager gallery was like a dream come true.)

a view through a glass tunnel at the aquarium. schools of fish swim on either side, and a large manta ray swims overhead. in the center of the tunnel is an inflatable bed and a comforter.
A view of my inflatable bed in the Ocean Voyager gallery of the Georgia Aquarium, with an appearance by Tallulah, my favorite manta ray, in the upper right-hand corner.

In 2019, after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology and with my teaching certification, I became a high school oceanography teacher in Gwinnett County, Georgia. It was an opportunity to take all my knowledge from the Georgia Aquarium and share it on a deeper level. Being a high school oceanography teacher in a landlocked region of Georgia is not always easy, partially because many of my students have never visited the ocean themselves. And as a young adult, I have not had many opportunities to visit the ocean outside of the occasional beach vacation.

To help me gain more experience in the field of marine science, I joined the Georgia Association of Marine Education (GAME) in 2023. Each year, GAME holds a conference for educators from around the state, and I have been lucky enough to attend the last two annual conferences as a representative of my district, Gwinnett County Public Schools. These conferences are held on the Georgia coast, most recently on Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island. These conferences give me opportunities to network with other marine educators, but I am always left wanting “more”.

in the center of the image, in focus, a hand holds a clear plastic cup filled with seashells. in the background, out of focus, we a beach filled with large driftwood pieces
Collection of Shells from Jekyll Island’s Driftwood Beach, November 2023
Jenna holds up a shark with two hands. She's wearing sunglasses and a Georgia Aquarium baseball cap. we can see that she's on the deck of a small boat, with water and marsh in the background past the railing.
Me with a Juvenile Bonnethead Shark, St. Simons Island, October 2024

That’s why this opportunity with NOAA is so phenomenal – I am finally going to experience the concepts that I teach firsthand and gain valuable experiences that I can share with my students upon returning to the classroom in August. For 16 days, I will have the privilege of becoming a student again as I learn from the experts and engage in authentic research at sea.

Preparing for My Mission

Sailing aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada from San Diego, California, I will be helping the science team with the Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey. As a Teacher at Sea program participant, my job is to not only aid the research team with daily tasks, but also to communicate the science of our mission to the public in a manner very similar to how I communicate scientific information to my 12th grade students in the classroom.

I am currently typing this blog post from my home in Georgia, where my husband is watching me attempt to pack nearly three weeks’ worth of clothing into a single carry-on suitcase. Participating in a fisheries survey is dirty work, so instead of bringing along my usual summer clothes, I have purchased a variety of secondhand clothing from local thrift stores. Since the climate near the California coast is not nearly as hot and humid as Georgia’s, I have also packed a variety of layers so that I will be warm during my assigned working shift from midnight to noon each day. (There is a second shift from noon to midnight, and each person on the ship is assigned to one shift for the entirety of the cruise.) And in addition to clothing, I have packed plenty of anti-nausea medication, just in case I discover that I am prone to seasickness!

I am looking forward to switching roles from “sleeping with the fishes” and “teaching with the fishes” to “sailing with the fishes” in just a week’s time. Until then, you can track NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada here and join in my excitement as I prepare to visit the west coast of the United States, and the Pacific Ocean, for the first time!