introduction – Page 3 – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

September 10, 2024September 10, 2024

Alexa Helm: Introduction, September 10, 2024

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Alexa Helm
Aboard R/V Tiĝlax̂
September 10-20, 2024

Mission: Northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Monitoring Project

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northern Gulf of Alaska – Port: Seward

Date: September 10, 2024

Weather Data from the Homer Spit

Time: 0930

Latitude: 59.601° N

Longitude: 151.410° W

Wind: ESE 1.9 knots

Air Temperature: 51.6°F

Air pressure: 29.97 in

Personal Introduction

Ahoy! My name is Alexa Helm, and I am so beyond excited to be joining the Northern Gulf of Alaska Long-Term Ecological Monitoring (NGA LTER) team for their fall cruise on R/V Tiĝlax̂! I live in Homer, which is a short (3.5 hour) drive down the road from Seward where we’ll be departing from tonight and beginning our 10-day science adventure in the Gulf. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will be as calm in Seward as it is right now in Homer… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

I work for an environmental education nonprofit called the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies (CACS), and my job is somewhat of a two-parter. During the summertime, I coordinate and lead overnight youth and family camps across Kachemak Bay from Homer, and during the school year I work as an educator leading a variety of day and overnight programs for students of all ages. We strive to make these programs place-based, culturally-responsive, and led by student inquiry and exploration to facilitate meaningful learning experiences and relationship building with all of the wonders within and surrounding Kachemak Bay.

A common theme for my job throughout the year is that I get to work with youth from Homer, other parts of Alaska, and from the Lower 48 outside in the incredibly rich and special ecosystems of Kachemak Bay. One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get the opportunity to learn just as much (and honestly, usually more) from the students I work with as they learn from me.

Here are a couple highlights from some of the programs I’ve had the privilege to be part of recently:

two middle-grade students (we cannot see their faces) stand on either side of table that contains a partially-laid out skeleton. each student grasps a bone (or perhaps bone replica) and works to place it in the layout. — Campers investigating marine mammal anatomy during a tabletop skeleton articulation. Photo courtesy of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.

three students - one standing, the other two crouching - are on a seaweed-covered pile of rocks at the edge of a tide pool. the middle student reaches down to grasp something. beyond, the bay is calm, we can see tree-lined mountains on the other side, and the sky is bright with many white wispy clouds. — Campers learning about intertidal ecology during low tide. Photo courtesy of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.

Four students stand around a table set up on an outdoor pavilion, with trees in the background. on the table in front of them are two salmon laid out on plastic; they've been partially dissected and salmon organs also dot the table. three of the students look on eagerly and reach to touch the organs. a fourth sits back, looking more skeptical, holding hands out of the way. — Campers exploring salmon organs during a dissection. Photo courtesy of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.

Science and Technology Log

The NGA LTER project is really cool for a lot of reasons. It’s focused on investigating the many different factors and processes that drive productivity in the NGA and that make it so rich and resilient, and how all of these pieces respond to short- and long-term changes associated with climate change. These are some pretty massive questions, which means that there are a lot of different disciplines, individuals, and institutions working together to learn more about this exquisite ecosystem. On this cruise, researchers will be diving into questions related to zooplankton, phytoplankton, nutrients and chemistry, physics, marine mammals and seabirds… the list goes on!

This cruise will be sampling stations along the 150-nautical-mile-long Seward transect line and in Prince William Sound, though the project also samples other transects in the NGA during other times of the year. Not only is this the 28th year of a fall survey along the Seward Line, but it also marks the 54th year of collecting data in the Gulf of Alaska more broadly.

a simple map of the Gulf of Alaska, including some shaded colors to indicate bathymetry and topography. survey transects are marked in dotted lines extending into the Gulf from, west to east: Kodiak Island (through Albatross Bank), near Cook Inlet (through Portlock Bank), south of Seward - GAK-1 - through the Amatuli Trough, then also from east of Prince William Sound (MI), and east of Copper River (KI). — NGA LTER survey transects (Photo credit: NGA LTER)

A huge part of this research is all of the partnerships and collaborations that help to make it all happen. The NGA was established as an LTER through the National Science Foundation back in 2018, and has been funded by the North Pacific Research Board, the Alaska Ocean Observing System, and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council since 2005. Before that, surveys were part of the U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics program, and even before that, it all started thanks to University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) professor Dr. Thomas C. Royer with the first Seward Line survey back in 1970. Don’t worry, I won’t quiz you on this, it’s just pretty cool to see how many different institutions have helped to make this research happen over the years.

Nowadays, the NGA LTER project has a lot of incredible people working on it from a lot of different places, including UAF, Western Washington University, University of California Santa Cruz, Oregon State University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Hawaii Manoa, Axiom Data Science, and the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. NGA researchers supply data and written contributions to NOAA’s regular Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Status Reports, and collect larval fish samples for other NOAA Fisheries research projects. Oh, and did I mention that R/V Tiĝlax̂ is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife vessel? The list of collaborators seems endless; it’s pretty incredible to see so many people and institutions coming together to learn more about the NGA.

view of the 120-ft long research vessel alongside a pier. the sky is gray and cloudy, and the water in the harbor is very still. — R/V *Tiĝlax̂* in the Homer Harbor this spring!

I’m so grateful to be part of NOAA’s 2024 crew of Teachers at Sea, and can’t wait to bring you all on this adventure with me!

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024

Sam Garson: Introduction, September 2, 2024

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Sam Garson

Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow

September 6–25, 2024

Mission: 2024 Fall Bottom Trawl Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeast Atlantic Ocean

Date: September 2, 2025

Weather Data from Friday Harbor, Washington

Latitude: 48.52°N
Longitude: 123.02637°W
Wind Speed: N 0 MPH
Air Temperature: 12°C (53°F)

Introduction

Hello, my name is Sam Garson and I am thrilled to be a part of this year’s cohort of Teachers at Sea! I teach science and CTE STEM courses at Friday Harbor High School (FHHS) on an island off the coast of Washington State named San Juan Island. I teach AP Biology, AP Chemistry, Anatomy & Physiology, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science A, Robotics, Electric Vehicle Principles, Project Management and 3D Design and Fabrication… rural science education is no joke, folks.

I have been involved with education for 20 years now in roles from a substitute teacher in Miami, Florida to an education programs coordinator with a program not so dissimilar from the NOAA TAS program. In my current role as a rural remote educator, I push students to think about the world in terms well beyond their trips to “America” (the mainland), and instead adopt a “Glocal” perspective of thinking globally and acting locally.

view over the railing from the deck of a commuter ferry. we see the ferry's trailing wake through calm, bright blue waters; along the horizon are forested islands. The sky is bright blue and clear, with only a few wispy clouds toward the left of the image. Hanging on the railing is an orange life preserver with the name of the ferry, Kaleetan. — Island Life when the only access is by boat or plane Photo Credit: Sam Garson

Teaching science is something that I am incredibly passionate about, and I have worked hard to help my students realize the amazing STEM pathways that exist in today’s world. Especially now in my rural community, I want my students to see STEM as the gateway to a world economy desperate for their creativity, ingenuity and problem-solving skills. I strive to bring the real world into my classroom and allow my students to try and solve the issues they see in the world around them and ask BIG questions of what could be.

an enormous high-altitude weather balloon - perhaps 50 ft tall - inflated and ready to deploy from what appears to be a large parking lot or airplane runway. a construction vehicle, perhaps an excavator, is parked nearby, boom folded. in the far distance we can see mountains along the horizon. — World-View high altitude Balloon carrying FHHS student sensor up! Photo Credit: NASA

This past year, students from FHHS found themselves designing a radiation sensor for a NASA and World View high altitude balloon mission while being named State Finalists for Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow Challenge.

I am thrilled to be able to show students a piece of the world that many of them have probably never thought about, and share with them the excitement of real world research, data collection and all the amazing technology, teamwork and collaboration among a host of different STEM careers that go into making this sort of survey possible.

Science and Technology Log

In just a few days time, I’ll be lucky enough to be back at sea aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow sailing out of Newport, Rhode Island. The Bottom Trawl survey operates along the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf, sampling at stations from Cape Lookout, North Carolina to Canada’s Scotian Shelf (NOAA Fisheries). This survey is actually the longest running of its kind in the world! There are more than 60 years worth of data from these surveys. Given the dynamic nature of climate change and ocean acidification, this data is needed more than ever.

a simple map of the area around Georges Bank (northeast of Cape Cod) and the Gulf of Maine. All land is shown in a plain beige color. Throughout the water are dots, labeled with numbers, showing sample stations. There are at least one hundred dots. The resolution of the image makes it difficult to read the station numbers. — Northeast Fisheries Science Center 2024 Spring Bottom Trawl Survey stations on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

The amount of cooperating technology, science and engineering that goes into a mission like this is truly incredible. I’m excited to be in a position to share the people, science and data that we collect over the next three weeks.

Personal Log

This cruise is an exciting and slightly strange one for me to participate in due to a few interesting coincidences. The first one that struck me was that I am a graduate of Henry B. Bigelow Middle School in Newton, Massachusetts. A name that, unless I have forgotten, the significance of was never revealed to me as a student there.

Perhaps the most striking coincidence with this cruise is the return to Rhode Island. As a new teacher in Seattle, Washington 15 years ago, I was one of the inaugural members of the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Teacher at Sea program. I had participated in a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research program earlier that year and was alerted to this new opportunity by a colleague. What followed was 7 years of work with the Ocean Exploration Trust helping to take students and teachers out to sea on the E/V Nautilus.

That time in my career was incredibly transformative and the educational tools and values I developed there have been central to my pedagogy as a teacher in the 9 years since I left and returned to the classroom in Friday Harbor. I have tried to show my students how far and wide STEM can take you and all the different stories of people in those STEM fields.

Four men pose for a photo behind a desk in an office lined with trophies and framed photos. Two men on the right hold up an American flag, while Sam and the other man on the left hold up the Moroccan flag. — From working with educators in Meknes, Morocco as part of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program…( Photo Credit: Hassan Elhilali)

Only Sam's legs are visible, sporting a wet suit and flippers, as he dives into the water in front of a pier. A building on the pier has a large sign that reads University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories. Beyond, there are cranes, other docks, small vessels anchored in the harbor, and a tree-lined shore. — …to clearing kelp while working with researchers on the Friday Harbor Laboratories Ocean Observatory. (Photo Credit: Kirk Sato)

I am thrilled to return to sea with a very different type of expedition. Exploration is a key aspect of our understanding of the world’s oceans, but this opportunity to be a part of a longitudinal study to help understand the ecosystems and fauna present on the Northeast Coast is one that I am thrilled to be embarking on.

Did You Know?

Despite being the home of the Southern Resident Orcas, Orcas Island in the San Juan Archipelago is actually named for Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas who sent an expedition to the islands in 1791!

August 16, 2024August 16, 2024

Lisa Werner: Introduction, August 16, 2024

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Lisa Werner
Aboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
September 3 – 20, 2024

Mission: Hydrographic

Geographic Area of Cruise: Alaska

Date: August 16, 2024

Weather Data (Mukwonago, WI)

Date: 08/16/2024
Time: 09:00
Latitude: 36.98°N
Temperature: 60°F
Longitude: 122.01°W

Introduction

Hello! My name is Lisa Werner and I am so excited to be a Teacher at Sea for the 2024 Season. I have been teaching for 15 years, and currently teach 3-year old kindergarten through 8th grade music, 4th-8th grade band, and 5th-8th grade choir in Wisconsin. I am passionate about showing students the link between music and other subjects, as music has so many connections to everything we do. The students in my classes are curious about the world around them and have a very adventurous explorer mindset. I will be entering this experience armed with all of their questions to answer upon my return!

a bulletin board with a yellow background and a sky-with-clouds border, titled Band Students Make Waves! cut out images of sound waves are stapled throughout - near each is pinned a smaller paper that says "Answer." at the bottom is the question: Can you guess which sound wave goes with which band student? — Students regularly study sound waves in band, choir, and music classes!

Our school music program is a bit unique – we are regularly exploring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) concepts and turning them into STEAM (adding the A for Arts) concepts. Students in my classes use Virtual Reality headsets to practice performing their music to fight off performance anxiety. We study the effects of music and vibration on plant growth. We’ve even designed experiments for a zero-gravity parabolic flight. All of these music class units show students how music is interwoven into so many facets of our lives!

A St. Bruno student using a Virtual Reality Headset to practice for an upcoming performance.

Science and Technology Log

I will be aboard NOAA Ship Fairweather as a NOAA Teacher at Sea. The Fairweather is a ship used to map the ocean in order to ensure safe navigation and commerce. The crew aboard the Fairweather collect data from sonar scans and echo sounders and then pass this information to NOAA cartographers who create updated nautical charts to support marine navigation. The data from the Fairweather is also used to study fishery habitats and marine ecosystems. The Fairweather is named after the tallest peak in the Fairweather Mountain Range, Mount Fairweather, located in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park.

NOAA Ship Fairweather on glassy-still ice-blue water in front of snow-covered mountains; the sky is light blue and mostly clear, and the water is perfectly reflective — NOAA Vessel *Fairweather* (Photo Credit: Hydrographic Survey Tech Kevin Lally)

Personal Log: Why would a music teacher be selected for this program?

I enjoy showing students connections between music and other subjects. I am a master at finding similarities between many areas of STEM fields and music concepts. The students I teach love learning about these connections and they often find inspiration to research and dig deeper into these experiences. My goal as a teacher is to help the students I work with find their spark – I know very few students I teach will become professional musicians, but I can help give them the skills they need to be successful in whatever area they choose. I can also help them to find their interests through experiences such as this one. I love to open the students’ eyes to life outside of our classroom and community and inspire them to make a difference.

Lisa wears a flight suit, floats in the air, and plays an instrument that looks like an odd, purple trombone. Around her float at least five other educators in flight suits. — Lisa Werner executing a student-designed experiment in zero gravity through the Space for Teachers Embedded Teacher Program (Photo Credit: Steve Boxall)

I anticipate using this program in a few different ways – I want to share the information we learn through the experience with the students. I plan to share the data with the students, and have them sonify the data into a musical composition. I want to record the sounds of the ship and the life at sea for the students to use in their musical composition recordings. While I am on the experience, I will also find similarities between the research going on and musical concepts I teach in the classroom, drawing comparisons between concepts students know from my class to help them understand what happens on a research vessel. Additionally, I want students to be aware of the missions of NOAA, and the research being done. I want to inspire curiosity in the students and to empower students to make changes to help the health of the Earth’s water. Seeing the important research being done will encourage students to look at how water is important in their own lives, even living a distance away from oceans.

I am excited to be selected for the Teacher at Sea program and have the opportunity to learn about bathymetry and oceanography careers. I can’t wait to share all that I learn with my students. Thank you to NOAA for giving me this opportunity to experience hydrography research in Alaska. I know that the students I work with and our community will be very inspired to learn more about the ocean!

August 7, 2024

Tonya Prentice: Introduction, August 2, 2024

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Tonya Prentice
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
August 8 – August 24, 2024

Mission: Northeast Ecosystem Monitoring Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeast Atlantic Ocean

Date: August 2, 2024

Weather Data from Southwest Harbor, Maine
Latitude: 44.2805 º N
Longitude: -68.326º W
Wind Speed: WSW at 11 mph
Air Temperature: 18.89° Celsius (66° F)

Introduction

Hello, my name is Tonya Prentice. I am so excited to begin my adventure aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow for the NOAA Teacher at Sea 2024 Season. I teach middle school science for grades 5-8 on Mount Desert Island, Maine, at Tremont Consolidated School in Bass Harbor. This is my 17th year of teaching, and I am passionate about engaging my students with project-based learning, community service opportunities, and STEM activities.

In my role as an educator, I strive to create engaging and interdisciplinary learning experiences for my students with a focus on ocean literacy. My students are the next generation of environmental stewards. They live on an island, and many of their families are lobstermen and/or fishermen who rely on the health of the ocean. We are fortunate that our school is located in a beautiful area that borders Acadia National Park and is across the street from Bass Harbor. This allows me to take my students hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing, and exploring the ecosystems all around us.

The health of our ecosystems may be altered in different ways by human impact. It’s vital that my students understand how climate change and coastal flooding may impact their lives in the future. As a NOAA Teacher at Sea, I am excited to bring real-world scientific research into my classroom and inspire my students with firsthand experiences. I look forward to sharing my adventures and discoveries with you, and I hope to ignite a passion for marine science and environmental stewardship in both my students and readers.

Stay tuned for updates from the sea!

A woman and a man pose for a selfie on a kayak in front of glassy water reflecting a lovely sunset. They are wearing sweaters, life vests, beanies, and sunglasses. — Tonya Prentice (right)

six students (with their backpacks) sit in a line, facing away from the camera, on top a large round rock overlooking a small inlet surrounded by forested hills; small islets are visible beyond. — Tonya Prentice (right)

Science and Technology Log

Next week, I will board the 209 ft. NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow in Newport, Rhode Island.

“The ship is named after Henry Bryant Bigelow (1879-1967), an oceanographer, zoologist, and marine biologist whose work helped establish oceanography as a scientific discipline.” (NOAA OMAO.)

NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow “is a fisheries survey vessel built specifically for NOAA to support the study and monitoring of marine fisheries and marine mammals.” (NOAA Ocean Exploration.) The ship conducts both acoustic and trawl surveys and has a wet lab where scientists can collect data about the different species of fish caught.

While aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow, I will have the opportunity to deploy a drifting buoy (also known as a drifter) as part of NOAA’s Adopt-a-Drifter Program. The buoy will collect data such as sea surface temperature, salinity, and ocean currents. This data will then be transmitted hourly to orbiting satellites which my students will be able to monitor.

Aerial view of NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. Photo credit: NOAA.

Personal Log

Last week, I attended the University of Maine’s RiSE Coastal TRACERS training.

“The University of Maine-based RiSE Center supports middle and high school students in real-world science research projects, including coastal monitoring and tracking the changes in local ocean water properties, as well as engaging in the design and construction of the sensor units used to collect this data.” (UMaine.)

As part of my training, I toured the “Buoy Barn” at the University of Maine Ocean Observing System (UMOOS). Dr. Neal Pettigrew, professor of oceanography, led the tour while explaining how these moored buoys in the Gulf of Maine help collect data and information about ocean temperatures, salinities, dissolved oxygen, wave heights and periods, and current profiles. “The buoys, designed, fabricated and maintained by Dr. Pettigrew’s team of oceanographers, engineers, computer programmers and research associates, have been transmitting real-time data since 2001.” Such amazing work is happening at the University of Maine!

Two large buoys in a storage shed. They are wide and round at the bottom, to float in the ocean, and towers of sensors and equipment extend upward from each base. The buoys are painted mostly yellow, with blue bottoms and blue lettering: the left buoy reads NOAA and the right reads UPRM. — *Land/Ocean Biogeochemical Observatory (LOBO) Data Buoys*

a large buoy in a storage shed (flanked by other buoys and equipment, only partially visible.) It are wide and round at the bottom, to float in the ocean, and towers of sensors and equipment extend upward from the base. The buoy is painted mostly yellow, with blue bottom and blue lettering: the buoy reads NOAA 41052. The word CariCOOS is visible in smaller letters on the tower portion. — *Land/Ocean Biogeochemical Observatory (LOBO) Data Buoys*

June 21, 2024June 21, 2024

Nick Lee: Teacher at Sea Introduction, June 21, 2024

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Nick Lee
Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
June 29 – July 20, 2024

Mission: Pollock Acoustic-Trawl Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Eastern Bering Sea

Date: June 21, 2024

Introduction:

Hello! My name is Nick Lee, and I am excited to be one of this year’s Teachers at Sea! I teach 11th/12th Grade Environmental Science and Computer Science at Codman Academy Charter Public School, located in Dorchester, MA (a neighborhood of Boston).

Nick stands on a small boat, wearing a life vest and holding a scientific instrument, probably one that measures water chemistry. We can see calm water surrounding the boat and a semi-developed shoreline not far in the distance. — Photo Credit: Ed Yoo

I love teaching Environmental Science, because I’m able to take students outside of the classroom on fieldwork (at Codman, we call academic field trips ‘fieldwork’). We have studied the trees in our schools microforest, visited local farms, and explored different parts of the Greater Boston coastline. This past year, we were fortunate to work with the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research, a partnership that allowed us to take students out on the water and collect samples in the intertidal zone.

Two students, wearing hoodies with the hoods obscuring their faces, stand in the seaweed wrack on a shoreline holding large white buckets. One is dipping the bucket into the water to take a sample, while the other, wearing a life vest, waits nearby. We see a small white skiff with an outboard motor, anchored in the water, in the far corner of the photo. — Environmental Science exploring the intertidal zone at the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research (Photo Credit: Ed Yoo)

My students even had the opportunity to build an ocean drifter, which helps scientists track currents and marine debris. A local fisherman helped us launch the drifter, and we’ve been tracking its movement off the coast of Massachusetts (you can find its current location here: https://studentdrifters.org/tracks/drift_stonehill_2024_1.html). I’ll hopefully be launching another drifter in the Eastern Bering Sea this summer, and next year’s students will be able to compare the paths the two drifters take.

a Google Earth aerial view of the coast of Massachusetts with two trajectories displayed in white and teal lines around the water; the trajectory lines are very squiggly, indicating that the buoys spent a while circling in the bay before clearing the "hook" of Cape Cod. — Path of Codman’s Ocean Drifter (white) as of June 21, 2024

I’m looking forward to learning more about marine science this summer, and I hope to bring back as much knowledge as possible for my students!

Science and Technology Log:

In a little over a week, I will be sailing aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson as part of the science team on a pollock survey. Just getting to NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson will be an adventure – I’ll be flying from Boston to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage, and then Anchorage to Dutch Harbor!

starboard view of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson (R 224) underway — NOAA Ship *Oscar Dyson* (Photo credit: NOAA)

I’ve already been in touch with two members of the science team: Abigail McCarthy and Robert Levine. Both were kind enough to send me some reading to learn about the ship’s mission – there’s a lot of new terms but I’m starting to get a better picture of what we’ll be doing!

We will be sailing on a Midwater Assessment and Conservation Engineering (MACE) survey, collecting data on primarily walleye (Alaska) pollock. Most of my job will be to help process the fish in the trawl catch, recording data like fish species, length, and age. The data we collect will help scientists learn more about the current pollock population in the Eastern Bering Sea, ultimately informing the quotas (limits) set for commercial fishing operations.

a scientific illustration of an Alaska pollock, showing the characteristic three dorsal fins — Alaska pollock, also known as walleye pollock. (Photo credit: NOAA)

This process is crucial to prevent overfishing – in 2022 commercial fishermen caught over 2.7 billion pounds of Alaska pollock (valued at $316 million) from the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/alaska-pollock). While these numbers may seem high, careful management has kept commercial pollock fishing operations sustainable. In fact, NOAA calls US wild-caught Alaska Pollock a “smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations” (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/alaska-pollock/seafood).

I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such important work for the future of our oceans and fisheries!

Personal Log:

I am originally from St. Louis, Missouri, far from the ocean. However, since I’ve been teaching environmental science in Boston, I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about our planet’s oceans and the importance of protecting them.

Last year, through the generous support of the Pat Cooke Foundation, I was able to travel to the Netherlands, where I spent two weeks working with a small-scale fishing company. There, I was able to catch wild oysters and sea bass, and participate in all steps of seafood production, from catching and processing fish to selling direct to consumers in restaurants and markets. I also learned how most fish we buy in supermarkets change hands many times, sometimes traveling across the world for days or even weeks before being purchased by the consumer. This experience has made me passionate about sustainable seafood – recently, I’ve been trying to buy only seafood local to Massachusetts and New England.

Nick stands on the back of a fishing vessel in the ocean; land is only barely visible at the horizon far in the distance. He's wearing a long sleeved shirt, gray fishing overalls, boots, black gloves, and a hat. In his left hand he grasps three fish by their gills. Behind him on the deck we see crates for holding fish. The sky is partially clouded in lovely shades of blue, pink, and purple. — Last summer, I worked with a small-scale fishing company in the Netherlands that caught and sold wild oysters and sea bass.

I’m excited to be back working with fish this summer, and I’m looking forward to learning more about sustainable fishing from the scientists and crew aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson.

Did You Know?

Many fish, birds, and mammals including Steller sea lions depend on Alaska pollock as a food source (https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/alaska-pollock/overview).