Blog week 1

The first week of an internship is always interesting. Meeting (and forgetting the names of) countless people, events loaded with free food and really getting to know the ropes of the work you’ll be doing for the rest of the summer. For the next 10 weeks I will be working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in their marine reserves department. My job will be to assist in the communications and outreach programs. This includes going into the field to record what the science team is doing and communicating it in a way that the public will understand what they are doing and why it is so important to be doing this monitoring work. We will also be following the human dimensions team as they implement their surveys to learn more about the publics’ opinions on the reserves so that we can better serve the public. Our main message channels include all types of social media, town hall events and community engagement events. One of which we will be going to this weekend in Port Orford! It is a BBQ (with a side of science) where anyone can come and ask us anything about the science, marine environment, reserves, etc. Port Orford is located right next to the Redfish Rocks marine reserve, the first marine reserve established in Oregon. The community is very interesting as they were the ones who suggested that a marine reserve be established. Other communities have fought the marine reserves when proposed by the state. The Oregon coastal communities have been hit extra hard by the economy and with many relying on commercial fishing as the source of income, a marine reserve does not sound like the ideal situation. Port Orford was in the same boat, a heavily fishing town that whose economy was hurting. However, instead of fighting the idea of a marine reserve, they welcomed it seeing the possible long-term benefits of protected waters for fisheries as well as possibilities for increased tourism.

This weekend’s event is aimed at answering questions that fishermen and locals still have about the reserve. It will also give them a chance to find out about how they can get involved in the research and feel like they are part of the reserve. For fishermen we have hook and line surveys they can participate in as well as SCUBA surveys if they are qualified scientific divers. We will be having a BBQ lunch in the afternoon where they can ask us any questions, pick up fliers and sweet marine reserve swag. In the afternoon we will have a pub science bingo game to spread more knowledge about the reserve. The bingo sheets are loaded with fish species, benthic species, research techniques, different habitats and facts about the reserves. All of these are related to the marine reserve that the public is connected to. Our marine science monitors are going to be presenting the bingo in an informational way. Science, bingo and a pub? There’s nothing better!

All of this is in partnership with the Port Orford Marine Reserve Community team. Their involvement has been huge for the implementation and communication about the reserves.