Week 8: A Week of Firsts

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With few more windy afternoons out at the marina, I officially wrapped up data collection early the first week of August. 162 interviews. 452 anglers. 2,757 Dungeness crab caught and kept.

My plan was to spend most of the week working on data analysis and my upcoming presentation, but there’s always time for a little excursion. On Tuesday, I tagged along with Justin to retrieve one camera pot and deploy two more. The wind that was so strong the week before had died down significantly, and it was a beautiful day to be out on the ocean.

Wednesday afternoon, I learned how to drive a boat…which is something I definitely hadn’t anticipated getting the chance to learn anytime soon, much less this summer. Justin and I were collecting a few Dungeness in Alsea Bay, and he asked me if I wanted to take the wheel while the pots were soaking. And, just like that, I was doing something I’d been interested in learning ever since I spent weekends at lakes as a kid. By the time we were finished for the afternoon, there were whitecaps in the bay and the water was so choppy that the waves were washing onto the dock, but braving the wind (it’s never far away for long) was well worth it.

That was First #1. An enriching/educational experience. First #2 came on Friday at 8:04 AM when my knife slipped, going straight through the back of my avocado and into my hand. It wouldn’t have been an issue – there was minimal blood, and the cut was not large – but I managed to cut myself in between my fore and middle fingers, a location that would make the healing process a little more difficult. Even with my iron stomach (it’s a significant point of pride for me), I felt like I was going to black out looking at the wound and “into” my finger. I was fine after my roomies helped me to the couch and bandaged me up, but I still ended up having to get my first-ever stitches later that morning. Sorry for the details, but I haven’t had an injury to show off in a while. Plus, the way I left the avocado and knife looks a bit like the scene of a crime, only with less blood. Who’s hungry?

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The pit came right out after that, by the way. Mission accomplished.

[Side note: one of the nurses at the clinic said I seemed like the type of person who “knows no strangers,” or something like that. Then she went on to say that I seemed like I could talk to a wall if I wanted to. Not sure how I feel about that last part, but the evidence is clear: interviews about Dungeness crabs are definitely bringing out my inner social butterfly. No one has told me anything in the same galaxy as either of those statements before.]

The weekend was uneventful for the most part, but we did hang out at Port Dock 1 and watch these guys for a while.

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Sea lion life is a soap opera. It’s all cuddles until someone tries to get on your dock. Then plenty of barking and biting ensues. Soon the whole group joins in, as if they don’t actually know the latest drama but still can’t bear to be left out of the action.

More coffee on Saturday, and the wind was calm enough on the walk across the bridge for me to actually be able to stop and take a photo of the marina where I work every day.

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Thank for the great photo op, Cafe Mundo

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I’ve been talking to crabbers at the boat ramp of South Beach Marina

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The bar looking stunning at sunset

Week 9: Gray skies and whales

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This weekend was great! We went whale watching in Depoe Bay where a resident group of gray whales reside. Our tour guide, Carrie Newell is a retired researcher from OSU who has dedicated her life to researching gray whales. Another cool thing about our tour was her dog, who can smell whales and let us know when a whale was nearby by lifting up one ear.

He senses a whale!

He senses a whale!

I was dubious at first but I can say with conviction, that dog definitely has a unique talent for spotting whales. We saw three grays, one of which was sleeping! We cut the engine of our boat and floated nearby watching the sleeping whale bob up and down in the choppy waves.

The rest of the week was spent preparing for the Sea Grant Symposium presentation and poster session. It was a great opportunity to share my research with my fellow interns and other researchers at Hatfield. While preparing for the symposium I also found myself reflecting on how much I have learned this summer. After reading over 60 scientific papers related to ocean acidification I feel much more confident in my grasp of the subject. I also know that there are many gaps in the literature and the scientific community has a lot of work ahead of them if we are to fully understand how our changing oceans will affect marine life. I hope I am able to apply the knowledge I acquired this summer and contribute to this field in my future career, hopefully starting this fall when I will be doing my oceanography senior thesis.

 

Final Thoughts

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This morning researchers up and down Oregon’s coast set out before the sunrise in search of green crabs. As part of a simultaneous sampling effort, I have trapped at my most productive field sites over the past three days. This morning alone 32 green crabs were collected at one site. This is an exciting number as I only captured 52 at the site over the whole summer. I can’t think of a better way to mark the end of my incredible 10 week internship.

I have absolutely loved my time here in Oregon. The research I participated in kept me excited and provoked in me ideas for future research. My position allowed me to receive valuable career advice from several very successful figures in the science community. By participating in several different projects, I was able to further refine a field a study to target for my graduate studies. I lived and worked with some truly incredible people. I am sad to say goodbye, but I look forward to hearing of everyone’s future journeys. If all of this wasn’t enough, I was surrounded by some of the most beautiful natural scenery that I have seen. From crystal clear rivers, to vast sand dunes, and thriving marshes, Oregon’s coast has it all. I fell in love with this place and I plan to be back in the future.

Week 8: Mud and Sun

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This week started off early, 4 am to be exact. After noticing we were starting to lose our minds in the office, my mentors let my officemate and I off of desk duty for the day to get some field work experience. We assisted with recovering and replacing nutrient samples in a kelp bed in a section of the Yaquina Bay mud flats. We were up before the sun to take advantage of the low tide.

Fun in the mud!

Fun in the mud!

It was a great time, squelching across the mudflat, trying to watch the sunrise while at the same time making sure not standing in one place too long and risk getting stuck in the knee-deep mud. 

Later in the week I went to help out with another sea star wasting survey. This time we were at the Otter Rock Marine Reserve. The tide pools that morning held all sorts of cool critters. There were the usual purple urchins and green anemones along with some more rare finds including a blood star, a couple of different types of nudibranchs and some lined chitons. We measured and noted the condition of over 100 sea stars. Most of the stars we found were a small, six-legged species however we also found a good number of large ochre stars. 

I did still spend a lot of my time in the office this week working on my research despite the field opportunities. I have been working on getting my presentation and poster ready for the Sea Grant Symposium. As far as my research goes, we plan to meet with the rest of the CBRAT team and come up with risk thresholds on Monday so I have values to present for decapods.

Sunrise at the Otter Rock Marine Reserve

Talk to Strangers

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Communication is easy these days… but it also is not.

With the plethora of electronic devices and media sharing platforms right at our fingertips, we are bombarded with information about so many different things that it can be tough to retain the full message.

Something that struck me about my research this summer was that of the 600+ individuals who responded to my ocean awareness survey, a good majority of them indicated the Internet or social media was their preferred method of receiving information about ocean issues. This got me thinking…

Social media can be an enjoyable way to get a quick glimpse into an issue or topic relating to science and I’ll admit I’ve learned a thing or two scrolling through Facebook. But I’m not convinced something like Facebook is the best platform for the kind of communication the public needs. It’s a quick click and that’s it, since many of us don’t take the time to fully read through an article. But you can’t blame social media, because that’s what it’s there for: a convenient offering of information that we would not take the time to look up otherwise.

As sort of a theme of this summer, science communication is a crucial step toward any effort in conservation. When it boils down to it, really the objective of my summer was talking to strangers to gather useful information relating to science communication. And I found that you learn a lot just by talking to people. One thing I learned is that people generally seemed to care and be interested in the subject of ocean threats, and that was encouraging. But when they were asked on my survey whether it is easy to obtain information about the topic of ocean issues, I frequently heard individuals say something like, “I’m sure it is, but I haven’t taken the time to look!

In a way, I think I kind of stood in as the social media here. While my role wasn’t to directly educate the public, I was offering a glimpse into several ocean issues that some people had not heard about before. More often than not, those who filled out my survey told me they were going to go home and do some research on these issues because they are eager to learn more. And that was really cool to see the impact of my work.

So my simple solution is this: talk to strangers. There is such an abundance of information presented in many different ways out there on the Internet, but if we get some real conversation flowing, I think progress can be made. At the end of the day, you’re going to remember the interactions you had with people much more than those with your computer. So why not pose a question to a stranger about an environmental issue? The responses are not always going to be positive, but I am hopeful that it’s a start to getting people thinking in ways they hadn’t before.

 

Final Survey Count: 629 completed

Whale Count: 29 sightings

The Old Man and The Sea

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Lately, I have found myself especially intrigued by nautical tales. Specifically, those that share a fisherman’s humbling experience with the powerful ocean. While exploring the vast world that is Powell’s books in Portland, I picked up a copy of Earnest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”. I usually take my time reading books, but I couldn’t put this one down. The book stimulated my thoughts on learning through failure, a skill I find particularly applicable to the field of science.

Oddly enough, soon after finishing my new book, I encountered an old man with quite a few stories about life on the sea. After a long day of work with no lunch, I found myself sitting at the bar of our local pub. Next to me sat a man in his 60’s with a thick grey beard, missing more teeth than he had. It didn’t take long for conversation to start. It was obvious that I was not from the area. I came to learn this man had worked on commercial vessels for longer than I had been a live, a strange life to contemplate for a boy raised in the suburbs on Nashville, TN. Our conversation delved deeper as my curiosity grew. He shared with me stories of 30 foot waves and a captain too greedy to return to port. Upon their boat capsizing, a nearby vessel flipped as well in an attempt to save the crew. My new friend had to be rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter while wearing nothing but jeans and a sweat shirt. His only advice to me was “Wear your dry suit!”

I’m sure aspects of his story were exaggerated, but the tale struck a chord with me. It allowed me to reflect further on the acceptance of uncontrollable variables. Throughout life, unexpected circumstances are inevitable, especially when at sea. Accepting change and reacting accordingly is a trait I personally find crucial in achieving success across all aspect of life. Throughout my future travels, I look forward to the fishing tales that will find their way into my ears. I leave you with a quote from “The Old Man and the Sea”.

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”

-Earnest Hemingway

Last Things Last

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I’ll admit, I’m a pretty nostalgic person. So as we approach the end of this summer, I’m definitely feeling blue about all the lasts that are coming up. This past Friday, we had our last official Sea Grant get-together to present our research. I was really excited to discuss my work and even more excited to see what everyone else did over the summer. As Haley introduced us, she mentioned one of the personal or professional goals we made at the beginning of the summer. While I accomplished my goal of learning how to cook seafood three different ways, I’m still trying to explore new ways every chance I get.

In the Shop at the Dock participant surveys, one respondent asked us to provide more recipes. My mentor suggested I email some people from different seafood commissions. I was referred to an amazing resource at www.seafoodoregon.org. Seafood Oregon does marketing, promotion, and education for four of Oregon’s industry-funded seafood commodity commissions- the Albacore Commission, the Dungeness Crab Commission, the Salmon Commission and the Trawl Commission. The website has great information on all these commissions and about 150 recipes. I’ll be looking at these for inspiration as I finish the last of my tuna and rockfish.

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Check out seafoodoregon.org!

This past weekend was also our last official weekend and it was filled with everything wonderful about summer. From volleyball to a bonfire on a luminescent beach to the Great Albacore Tuna BBQ Challenge, it was an idyllic weekend.  

And while I reflect on some of the last things of the summer, I’ve also been thinking of all the things I tried for the first time. This summer was the first time I studied the environment and sustainability through an economic perspective. It was the first time I went camping in Oregon. It was the first time I bought seafood from the fishermen who caught it. The list could go on and on, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity that allowed me to try so many new things.

Week 9 – Wrapping up

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It’s been nine weeks since the start of the program, but even this far into things, there’s always something new to do at work. My other SMART goal this summer was to learn how to scuba dive and/or snorkel. While I haven’t been able to accomplish the former because of a lack of certification programs in the area, I have had the chance to take the plunge into snorkeling in the aquarium and also out on the jetties. For those of you who have snorkeled before, it probably seems like somewhat of a low bar for a goal, but I set it with the intention of taking part in SMURFing fieldwork. Up until now, my duties have always been on the back deck shaking out the SMURF, collecting the juvenile fish, and recording data. This time though, I wanted to be a part of the actual retrieval.

The experience went swimmingly (pun totally intended). The procedure is fairly simple. After donning the gear, two people get in the water – one with a replacement SMURF, and the other with a net to enclose the moored SMURF. After the moored SMURF is netted, its clips are removed from the mooring, and the replacement is attached in its place. Both snorkelers then return to the boat with the netted SMURF in tow, and the process is repeated a total of ten times for the rest of the SMURFs.

Checking the net for fish after bringing the SMURF onboard. Photo courtesy of oregonmarinereserves.com.

I’ll admit I was a bit nervous to get in the water, although in the end I had no reason to be. The aquarium and jetties were stress-free environments where all that was required of me was to swim around and become comfortable. Adding in the SMURFing component laid down a layer of difficulty, as you have to concentrate fully on the task without worrying about the snorkeling aspect of the operation (e.g. breathing, clearing the snorkel, etc.). But by the end of the second SMURF, I felt good about the whole procedure, and the rest of the fieldwork was a blast. My only regret was not getting in the water sooner!

Aside from this, the end of the week also marked our final symposium, where we gave five minute presentations and also showcased our posters for all of Hatfield to see. Everyone did an amazing job, and it was great to be able to see the diversity of work that the Oregon Sea Grant supported. It’s safe to say that I’ve never been a part of a program like this where I’ve been able to both participate in research efforts and also gain so much work experience and professional skills. The program site lists its purpose as being “to prepare undergraduate students for graduate school and careers in marine science, policy, management, and outreach,” and I would definitely say that my time here has reflected that statement.

Shot of my poster for the symposium.

It’s too early to say goodbye yet as we still have one more week to go, but for the most part I’m wrapping things up at the office and getting ready to move on. I’ll see everybody one last time in next week’s blog post!

Week 10

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I thought to myself if I put off writing this last blog post I could keep the summer going a little longer, unfortunately I don’t think that is how this works. So I would like to dedicate my last post to the people who made this summer so amazing.

Oregon Sea Grant:

Thank you so much for the opportunity to be a part of this program. The experience I gained working with a federal agency has opened my eyes to many new career possibilities and has given me a more well-rounded perspective on research.

In particular, thank you to Mary, Sarah, Haley, and everyone else at OSG who made this possible. Thank you for being so open and supportive throughout this summer. I hope we will stay in contact in the future, you really are some wonderful people and I appreciate all of the work you put into the program to make it as engaging and valuable as possible. Haley, thank you for putting in the extra effort to get to know us. Having you there to ask questions to was also very helpful.

EPA:

Ted DeWitt: Thank you first and foremost for putting in the request to have an intern. I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve been able to spend at the EPA and I’ve learned so much. You have been a great mentor and I’ve appreciated all of your advice and support.

Jody Stecher: This summer you were my go-to-guy about this project. You took the time to make sure I fully understood all of the concepts we needed to know, genuinely wanted me to excel in the work we were doing, and truly cared about Katie and I. Thank you so much for being a great mentor and an amazing person.

Darryl Marois: Thank you for taking the time to help me through some of the data analyses and spending a lot of time to make sure things were straight forward for Katie and I. I knew I could always go to you with any questions and you would do your best to help me figure them out. Thank you for everything.

Nate, Lauri and Cheryl: I would really like to thank all of you for your help and mentorship this summer. You weren’t working on the same project I was but you still took time out of your day to give me valuable advice and mentorship. Nate, I really enjoyed working on the cockle experiment with you, I hope the paper turns out well. Lauri, thank you for holding the professional development workshops and looking over my resume. I really value your opinion and you went above and beyond to try to help us interns. Cheryl, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to give me career advice, I really appreciate it.

Summer Scholar Interns:

You are all amazing people. Thank you for the unforgettable summer and I can’t wait to see what awesome things you all accomplish.

One final thank you. This summer has been unbelievable.

The Unexpected: Choosing a Career and the Great Grad School Debate

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We just wrapped up our second-to-last week as Summer Sea Scholars, culminating in the final science symposium. We’ve been preparing for both our final presentations and our posters for most of the summer, but I felt like I had been preparing for most of my life. Let me explain.
Most of my summer I’ve debating the question, “To go to grad school now or to not go to grad school now?” But more importantly, “What do I want to do with my life? What do I see myself becoming?” I thought that I should figure that out before applying to (most likely very expensive) graduate school. After all, isn’t grad school supposed to prepare you for what you want to be? How could I enroll in something that prepares me for an unknown end goal?
I’ve talked to quite a few people over the years about the pros and cons of taking a “gap year” between undergrad and graduate. A few moments of advice stand out:

 

I was sitting in one of my professors’ office my freshmen year, trying to debate if I should continue on with Political Science, or have more of a Biology focus, when he asked me a simple question, “What makes you the happiest?” I didn’t hesitate, “I really love when there is something that I love, or think is fascinating, and then I tell someone else about it, and then they think that it’s really fascinating too.” “You know there’s a name for that?” “Really, what?” He paused, and then said, “Teaching”. In that one simple statement, my world was shaken. I knew what I wanted to do without ever realizing it. But teaching could come in a variety of careers, even if that isn’t the specific focus. And what would I teach? And that still didn’t tell me if I should go to graduate school, in what field, or when…
When I told my advisor that I wanted to be a professor, he responded, “Well, you certainly have the brains for it.” This amazed me; he had only witnessed a semester’s worth of my research capabilities, and he whole-heartedly believed that I could have a career in research and teaching others to do the same. Later he cautioned me when looking at my 4-year undergrad plan, worried that I may experience “burn-out” if I went straight to grad school. He had seen quite a few people that simply got bogged down with the research after being in school for so long, and they never finished. He doesn’t want the same for me.

 

And so that brought me to this summer, where I tried to picture myself in the future. While there were quite a few positions where I think I would be happy, I truly believe that I’ll be the happiest as a professor. But it was still hard to truly know that I would love that position without actually being immersed in the workload. Spending my time looking through GRE vocab cards and taking practice exams, I want to make sure that my time is well spent, especially since I’m making the decision to steer my life in this direction – not just studying for the GRE, but applying to graduate school and scholarships, attending 5-7+ more years of school … a huge time commitment that could be spent doing so many different things. I needed a sign to make sure that this was really what I wanted to spend my life doing.
Fast forward to this past week, where I spent most of my time preparing my speech – writing, practicing, cutting, and repeating, until I got to one final polished piece that I was immensely proud of – it was clear, concise, and discussed all of the most important information of my summer research. Nonetheless, I was really still nervous before I presented. When Haley was introducing me, I checked my pulse – incredibly fast and completely erratic. A few more advice-givers came to mind, “Think of it as a conversation,” one of my best friends told me once, “You are just telling the audience a story, so act like you’re just telling me something that you find fascinating;” This, along with Collin’s advice to play a cool catchy song before presenting, helped me to stroll to the front of the room with “Sunglasses at Night” strumming in my head. Timing out my presentation also helped, as I was able to check my watch, to watch my pace. I also reminded myself to breathe – this helped with pauses.
So that’s what I did, I talked like I was having a conversation with a group of people. It honestly surprised me how engaged they were – the questions that were asked were spot-on bits of information that I pulled from my presentation for time-sake – it was like I planted them in the audience! But it demonstrated just how much they were listening, like in a (good) conversation. The poster fair was no different, with more people introducing themselves and asking me more of what I wished I had been able to cover in my presentation, and I was immensely grateful to be able to continue the discussion.
I was surprised on multiple fronts – I was surprised at how interested everyone in the audience was in my topic. I was surprised at how I was able to convey the information that I wanted, and engage them in a way that they could follow (I typically speak at a million miles an hour, jump around, and lose everyone). I was surprised by how much I thoroughly enjoyed answering questions that I knew about from my research, and I was the most surprised/fulfilled when someone asked me questions about my research that I hadn’t considered. Their fresh perspectives helped me to be more curious about new and different aspects of my projects. Wow.

But, above all, I got my sign. This short afternoon experience offered me the insight that I was hoping for. If the life of a professor is spent researching, [also in meetings and more meetings], engaging others, and constantly being inspired to new research, then I am incredibly excited for my life to come (and for moments like these that I’m sure I will continue to experience throughout my life – the great thing about learning is that it happens everywhere).
Current plan? Apply to grad school, with my experience in hand, my end-goal in sight, and the passion in my heart, leading me and fulfilling me as I engage with my colleagues and fellow students everyday. Thanks so much to all of those in Oregon Sea Grant who selected me to take part in this amazing opportunity, allowing me insight into my career, and setting me on this path towards my exciting future.