NOAA is seeking public input on where to focus while searching places to begin the process of identifying Aquaculture Opportunity Areas. Please submit relevant information on specific issues and areas we should consider for the future through public comment by September 14 or at one of three public listening sessions (tonight, August 6; Thursday, August 13; or Monday, August 31.) 

This month, Teacher at Sea Jo Slavitz joins scientists aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson to survey Alaska pollock in the Eastern Bering Sea. In this blog post, Jo profiles some of the species other than pollock observed in the course of conducting the trawl survey. She explains how scientists measure and sample these bycatch species to better understand the ecosystem.

The Ecosystem Monitoring Survey is one of the most comprehensive, ongoing programs tracking the oceanographic conditions and marine resources in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Check out this collection of photos from their spring survey, which included a NOAA Teacher at Sea, a volunteer from Roger Williams University, and two partners from the University of Rhode Island.  

This summer, interns at NOAA Fisheries’ Pacific Islands Regional Office partnered with local communities, businesses, and researchers to address critical marine fisheries questions. Their work spanned nearshore gamefish monitoring, loko i'a (Hawaiian fishpond) research, Hawaiian monk seal conservation, and aquaculture permitting. Read more about our interns’ summer experiences and where they are headed next.

This month, Teacher at Sea Cheyanne Vanderdonckt joins scientists aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II to survey sharks and snapper species off the eastern coast of Florida. In this blog post, she explains what a longline is and how scientists set it and retrieve it for the survey. Captured sharks are measured, tagged, and returned.

Whale watch operators in Monterey Bay provided critical photographs and sightings that led an authorized entanglement response team to free a humpback whale in July. It had been entangled in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear for more than a month. Poor weather ruled out a safe response at the time of the initial sighting in May, but whale watchers spotted the humpback again in late June and passed along key intel to our response partners. 

An Oregon team joined by experts from Washington and a local fishing vessel freed a severely entangled humpback whale about 20 miles off the Oregon Coast on July 26. Unfortunately, although the team removed all of the gear from the whale, the entanglement left the young whale’s jaw permanently open, leaving it unable to feed and unlikely to survive. We hope that the information and insights gained in the process can help prevent future entanglements.

This month, Teacher at Sea Stacey Morris joins scientists aboard NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker to survey pelagic fish species off the West Coast. In this blog post, she features two NOAA scientists to explain acoustic surveying and how it is informed by the physical ocean information collected by the moving vessel profiler.