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Jacqueline Omania: Introduction, June 11, 2024

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jacqueline Omania

Aboard NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson

June 17 – June 28, 2024

Mission: Hydrographic Survey of the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Geographic Area: Galveston, Texas

Date: June 8, 2024

Weather Data from the “Bridge” (My Deck): 

Latitude: 37.8715 º N”
Longitude: 122.2730 º W 
65º Fahrenheit
Wind: 11 kn, Wind direction: SW
Air pressure: 1011 hPa
Humidity: 70%, Sunny 
Rainfall: 0 mm

Introduction

Hello! My name is Jacqueline Omania and I am preparing to join a hydrographic project on NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson originating out of Galveston, Texas on June 17th.

I am a fifth grade teacher at Oxford Elementary School in Berkeley, California. This coming year will be my 20th year teaching. I have a masters degree in Environmental Education and teach with a strong emphasis on outdoor education in my curriculum. Prior to being in the classroom, I founded the first school Farm and Garden Program in our district. Now, every school in our district has a school garden program staffed by a garden teacher. I am known at school as the teacher who takes her students on the most field trips; we go sailing, cycling, hiking, climbing, camping and dragon boating. Since my students do not all have the same access to outdoor experiences, I believe it is essential to experience the natural world as part of school. My  goal is for students to fall in love with nature and, thus, be inspired to work together to protect it.

A group of 18-20 students sit, stand, and jump on a hillside by the ocean at sunset. The students are facing away from the camera. Most are mid-leap, with their hands in the air. They cast long shadows on the grass at this time of day.
Pacific Coast, NorCal / Photo credit: Jacqueline Omania

One special feature of my class is our success as a Zero Waste Classroom. For most of the last 9 years, we have made less than a quart of landfill waste for the entire school year. I weave a theme of sustainability into all the academic content areas all year. My students learn to be activists and to use their studies to make a difference. Recently (after 3 years of activism) my students have successfully persuaded our school district to switch from throwaway paper and plastic foodware to reusable foodware for school meals.

This photo features a miniature plastic garbage can, perhaps 5 or 6 inches tall, the color of mustard. It is full of trash and held closed with a rubber band. In front of the tiny garbage can is a pencil, for scale, and a piece of paper that acts as a label. The paper reads: 2023-24 Landfill Waste.
A young girl smiles for the camera. She wears a beige vest with plastic utensils and other trash attached to it. She's standing near a trifold posterboard set up at a table. The trifold is titled "Zero Waste Class" and contains lots of photos and newspaper articles.
Three students stand in front of a pile of plastic waste at a transfer station. The girl on the left is wearing a jean vest with all sorts of plastic trash attached to it. The boy in the middle is wearing a large red sign that says REUSE and holding something in his left hand in the air. Another girl with a trash-vest stands to the right.

Landfill Waste for the ‘23-’24 School Year  Photo credit: Jacqueline Omania;
student photos courtesy of Oxford Elementary

Outside of teaching in the classroom, I run a local chapter of a youth group called Heirs to Our Ocean through which I continue to mentor my former elementary students in their middle and high school years. Currently, I have two students on our city’s Climate Commission, occupying the first-ever youth seats.

In my free time, I am learning sailing (started in 2022)—both locally in the San Francisco Bay and in the Caribbean, where I have roots. I am also fascinated by Polynesian wayfinding and the journey of Hokulea (a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe which is circumnavigating the Earth to raise awareness of the importance of the ocean) and have been eagerly reading to learn more. I will definitely be working on knots and the star compass while at sea. Besides sailing, I love to be outdoors and enjoy long walks, gardening and trips to local beaches. I have two grown children—Mehrnush (PhD student in Geography at UCLA) and Farhad (working in a restaurant and reflecting on his next steps); I enjoy being a mother of grown children. 

Jacqueline takes a selfie on a sailboat in the Caribbean Sea. She's wearing a white t-shirt that reads: KEEP OUR SEA PLASTIC FREE. A pair of sunglasses hangs around her neck. Behind, the ocean is calm and overcast, a mix of grays and yellows.
Hokulea, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. In the lower right, we see that this photo is copyrighted to the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and photographer Aina Paikai.
a close up view of a young man and woman posing together for the photo

Caribbean Sea/ Photo credit: Jacqueline Omania;
Hokulea photo Polynesian Voyaging Society
Farhad and Mehrnush

Personal Log:  Why am I doing this?

I love being at sea. I was fortunate to spend 100 days on Semester at Sea in my second year of college, sailing on the SS Universe from Seattle, Washington around the world to return to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This experience gave me a strong experience in shipboard life, a deep respect for the ocean and a glimpse at many diverse cultures around the world. I continue to love exploration and marine science and work to weave ocean literacy into my classroom curriculum to cultivate students who will be inspired to learn more and care to protect our ocean.

I am excited to be selected for the Teacher at Sea program and have the opportunity to assist with hydrographic research, as well as learn about marine science careers.  I can’t wait to share all that I learn with my students. They will be interested in how hydrographic surveys work, since we already study charts of the SF Bay. They will also be interested in jobs at sea since many absolutely love our class sail on the Pegasus and want to know more about ways to be at sea. Thank you to NOAA for giving me this opportunity to experience work in marine science in the Gulf of Mexico. This part of the world is new to me and I am very curious about what wildlife I will see.

 Science and Technology Log

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson is a 208 ft. long hydrographic survey ship that maps the ocean floor to help maritime commerce, to preserve the coastline and to better understand the marine environment. It uses side scan sonar to create images of the seafloor that help locate marine hazards as well as multibeam echo sounders to find accurate depths and create detailed images of the sea floor. The ship became part of the NOAA fleet in 2003 and was named after President Thomas Jefferson because he created the Survey of the Coast in 1807. NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson has also responded after hurricanes—as well as after other catastrophic events like the Deep Horizon oil spill—to determine when it is safe again for ships to travel.

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson, seen from the port side as it sails past the Statue of Liberty
NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson. Photo courtesy of NOAA.

Please write if you have comments and questions and I’ll respond to you!

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

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

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

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

Science Log

Comparing Set Netting to Trawling

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

Set Netting:

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

Pulling in the net and picking a Sockeye salmon

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

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

Trawling

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

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

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

How trawling can impact salmon fisheries like set netting:

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

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

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

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

Personal Log

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

Crew Member in the Spotlight

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

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

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

What does she enjoy aboard the ship?

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Germaine Thomas (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

August 7 – August 21, 2023

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

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

Personal Log

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Martin McClure: Looking Forward, July 19, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Martin McClure

NOAA Ship Oregon II

July 25– August 9, 2023

Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Bottom Longline Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean

Date: July 19, 2023

A portrait photo of Martin wearing his navy blue NOAA Teacher at Sea t-shirt and navy blue NOAA Teacher at Sea hat

TAS ’23 Martin McClure

My name is Martin McClure and I am thrilled to have been selected as a Teacher At Sea and to be headed to the NOAA Ship Oregon II! We will be embarking from Pascagoula, Mississippi on July 25th and disembarking at Port Canaveral, Florida on August 9.

I teach third grade at Nokomis Elementary, The Greatest School In The Universe, in Ukiah, California. Ukiah is a thriving metropolis of about 17,000 people located about 2 hours north of San Francisco. The economy of our beautiful community is primarily agricultural and tourism based. We are known for pears, wine, and redwoods. The coast of Mendocino county is about an hour away, through the redwoods, and features beautiful cliffs, beaches and even the Lost Coast.

I grew up I n South Florida fishing in the mangroves and flats of the Everglades, Florida Bay, the Keys and Biscayne Bay so this is a bit of a return home for me. This will, however, be a very different endeavor. I look forward to being part of a science team collecting data. I want to learn about the sharks and other fish that we catch. I look forward to meeting and working with a variety of people from different professional backgrounds and regions.

I recently completed my 25th year of teaching as a classroom teacher and it has been quite a journey. I have taught grades K-6th and have enjoyed different aspects of each of them. Before becoming a classroom teacher, I taught English in Taiwan and traveled in China, Tibet, and Japan as well as working in schools in Philadelphia. Because I see how my own enthusiasm helps my students to connect with whatever I am teaching, I integrate my own interest in science, nature and the outdoors. The best that I can bring to my students is what I know and love. Through the Teacher At Sea program, I look forward to expanding my experiences and knowledge about applied science and careers at sea so that I can better bring the world of science to my students.

New Terms: Forward is a nautical directional term referring to the bow at the front of the ship while aft refers to the stern at the back of the ship.

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Elli Simonen: Welcome to Alaska, July 12, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Elli Simonen (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Fairweather

July 10, 2023 – July 28, 2023

Mission:  Hydrographic Survey of the Pribilof Islands 

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Location (In Port): 57⁰43.8384’N, 152⁰30.8319’W

Date: July 12, 2023

Hi Everyone, my name is Elli and this week, I arrived in Kodiak, Alaska and right now I am aboard NOAA Ship Fairweather.  This is my first time in Alaska as well as my first time being on a scientific research ship.  I teach high school Mathematics, specifically Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and AP Calculus at Special Music School, a public school located in New York City.  I also instruct two classes at the College and Graduate level as an adjunct lecturer at City College and Hunter College. My high school students are musically gifted and many go onto Music Conservatory Education.  I am constantly in awe of their talent, grit and perseverance in pursuit of becoming better musicians.  My students at the college and graduate levels are all learning how to be educators in the New York City school system.  Their sense of purpose, commitment and openness to new ideas is inspiring.

a view of Elli, from the shoulders up, on the deck of NOAA Ship Fairweather. In the background, we see another ship, water, and steep green hills rising beyond the far side of the port. Elli is wearing her NOAA Teacher at Sea hat, which gives away that this image has been reversed - the logo and the writing are backward.

Elli aboard NOAA Ship Fairweather

I am a Math for America (MfA) Master Teacher and first heard of the NOAA Teacher at Sea Program (TAS) in 2019 through MfA – I researched the TAS program, and thought this is something I definitely want to do, and applied.  I was accepted in the 2020 cohort, but because of COVID was rolled over to 2023 so here I am, three and a half years later embarking on a hydrographic survey of the Pribilof Islands.  


I have been teaching math for 20 years and at various points have had experiences learning about the oceans and marine life.  I started my career as a Peace Corps Volunteer and lived in Zanzibar, Tanzania for 2 years.  In addition to teaching math, I was able to take students to study the coral reefs that surround the island through the Chumbe Environmental Education Program.  They snorkeled, learned about coral and how to preserve and protect this environment.  I also like to scuba dive and have completed over 90 dives at various places around the world– learning not only about shoreline habitat at each diving spot I visited, but how different facets of the ocean interact.  In 2019, I was awarded a Fund for Teachers Grant where I traveled to Australia, scuba dived and learned first hand about the Great Barrier Reef.  And now, I’m still on a journey to learn more about the world’s oceans and marine environments, this time with NOAA in the waters around Alaska.

view of a diver (Elli) underwater in front of a coral head. sand and coral all appear with a blue-green tint. In the foreground, swimming closer to the photographer than Elli is, is a fish, perhaps a kind of grouper. It is the focus of the photo.

​Elli scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia​

So, what is a hydrographic survey you might ask?  And where are the Pribilof Islands?  The Pribilof Islands are four volcanic islands about 300 miles west of mainland Alaska in the south Bering Sea and about 250 miles north of the Aleutian Islands; the two largest islands are Saint Paul and Saint George.  A Hydrographic survey uses sonar data to interpret the ocean floor and coastlines which then is used to produce Nautical charts. The Pribilof Islands Hydrographic Survey will map the ocean floor and surrounding coastline to provide updated accurate charts of this area. The Pribilof Islands have not been mapped since the 1950’s.  


I will be onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather.  The ship embarks in Kodiak, Alaska and disembarks in Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Alaska.  I am very much looking forward to spending time with the Science team on NOAA Ship Fairweather and learning about what everyone does on a NOAA ship.  I plan on taking this information back with me to New York City and bringing this real-world research experience into my classroom.

NOAA Ship Fairweather at a dock; the dock, a building, and a line of trees are visible beyond. This photo was taken at some distance across the water, capturing the full length of the ship. We can see one survey launch vessel in the water adjacent to the ship. Another remains mounted on board.

NOAA Ship Fairweather

Did you know?

  • NOAA has three different types of Scientific research ships: Hydrographic surveys, Fisheries survey and Oceanographic research
  • Since 1990, the TAS program has sailed more than 850 teachers aboard their ships.  Teachers have come from every state and 4 territories.  (For any fellow teachers reading this, TAS has cohorts every year and applications are due in the Fall.)
  • Each summer more than a million northern fur seals arrive at the Pribilof Islands to breed and raise their young, representing the largest gathering of sea mammals in the world. (https://www.travelalaska.com/Destinations/Cities-Towns/Pribilof-Islands)
  • About 230 fishing vessels take shelter on the southwest shore of St. George during Crabbing Season.