NOAA Teacher at Sea
Stacey Morris
Aboard NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker
July 26-August 10, 2026
Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey
Geographic Area of Cruise: West Coast Pacific Ocean
Date: July 29, 2026
Weather Data from the Bridge
Latitude: 40° 00.3’N
Longitude: 124° 46.1’W
Wind Speed: 22 knots
Air Temperature: 16.0 ° C/ 60.8 °F
Science and Technology Log
Interview with Zach Skelton, wet lab lead, marine biologist
What is the purpose of the Survey?
Zach: The goal of the survey is to give a general assessment of the stocks of coastal pelagic species (CPS), which are anchovy, mackerel, and sardine.
And in order to do that, we estimate biomass off of acoustic signals. So we run a transect (a set course that our ship follows to gather constant observations and marine specimens), use sonar, and map out bait balls (where the fish gather) on those transects. And then from there, we can estimate biomass.
Then we use our nighttime trawling to help verify the species proportions and also the size distribution and age distributions within those species.
We run these east-west transects about every 10 miles up the coast from the Mexico border to the Canadian border. Historically, we have worked with both Mexico and Canada and have gone into Mexico and Canadian waters. But this year, we are just in U.S. waters.
We run those transects to the continental shelf, and so the distance of those transects is going to vary based on the coast. For instance, off Southern California, where we have the Channel Islands that are off far off the coast, those transects can run up to 110 miles, but in norther California, it’s a lot shorter because the continental shelf is a lot closer, more like 35 to 40 miles.
Generally the daytime acoustic trawl (using sonar) is paired with the following nighttime trawl to help estimate those species proportions and biomass for that specific 24-hour day period.
One of the hard things to do with CPS (the target fish species) is that they tend to be a lot deeper and in tighter balls during the day, and it’s harder to fish for them when they dive that deep. But during the nighttime, they come up to feed on what’s called the scattering layer. The scattering layer is basically this migration of invertebrates and small pelagic fishes that hang out in the twilight zone during the day to avoid visual predators, and then they make this (diel) vertical migration up from the depths to the surface at night to feed on all the phytoplankton and zooplankton that are up in the water column. So during the day they’re in tight schools avoiding visual predators, but at night they’ll scatter and they’ll spread out and feed on all those other smaller fishes and invertebrates. So we tend to only fish at night time while the CPS are up near the surface and spread out.
We also have a nearshore survey, as we are inhibited by our ability to go into shallow waters based on the size of our boat; we have transducers and a beam that extend far below the surface, and we can’t go into super shallow waters. We contract out other fishing vessels, like the Long Beach Carnage and the Lisa Marie, and they will pick up the inshore portions of our trawls. That way we can extend our survey into the areas in which young CPS like sardine and anchovy tend to aggregate.
Personal Log
Travel Day to the ship:
The flight to San Francisco went smoothly and I checked out the bird’s eye aerial view of our southern route that we were soon to repeat on our return trip north along the western coastline of California and Oregon. The hotel was in a lively part of downtown Oakland, and in the morning, I wandered the streets of Chinatown, where street vendors haggled over vegetables and fruits, and there were many small stores selling a variety of products that I wished I had time to peruse.
But I was eager to get to the ship, and caught an Uber to the Coast Guard base in Alameda. I arrived at the guard station and the Reuben Lasker‘s Executive Officer, LCDR John Katchenago, met me. He took me to the ship, which looked small next to the Coast Guard cutter docked alongside it. But the NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker is plenty big and I quickly became lost as John showed me around the ship. He was very kind to give me a quick overview of where everything was and introduced me to the Operations Officers, LCDR Michael Fuller and LT Ariane Huddleston. They told me a little about their background and history and about how they fit in with NOAA (I will introduce them more in detail later on in a future blog post!).
The scientists were next on board and my berth is among theirs–speaking of which, we each get our own on this survey, no need to share rooms, which I guess is uncommon. They are very comfortable living quarters, with their own bathroom with shower, a comfortable bunkbed with linens, a locker for your clothes, a small refrigerator, a desk and a porthole. There’s even a TV! AND…wifi! I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep my Duolingo and Wordle streak going on this trip, but I’m in luck!
displayed on board the ship
Kevin Stierhoff, Chief Scientist/Acoustician, and Melissa Liotta, fish biologist/survey coordinator, two of the scientists on the survey, were going out for our final meal on land and I joined them in exploring Alameda. When we returned, we met the rest of the science crew that had arrived onboard, Chris F. –fish biologist surveyor, Zach Skelton–marine biologist/wet lab lead, and Brad Erisman, life history program lead/wet lab.
Day 1:
I stayed up late unpacking and getting settled in my berth, but still woke up refreshed and ready for the day ahead. Breakfast was at 07:00 and I can tell I’ll need to use the onboard gym with all the tasty goodies available. There are ice cream bars whenever you want, along with other grab and go snacks. Breakfast had empanadas, pancakes, bacon, sausage, all sorts of ripe, fresh fruit, eggs, and AN ESPRESSO MACHINE. I also got to see the rest of the crew, as everyone eats at the same time. At least for now… we’ll have a night crew and a day crew with opposite schedules. The kitchen will save your meals though, if you are working, so you never have to go without.
After breakfast, we did safety drills, and I found out where I need to go in case there is an emergency and how to deploy a life raft if needed. There are different horn signals that let you know what emergency is happening, such as the fire alarm (continuous bells on the general alarm for 10 seconds), man overboard (3 long bells), and abandon ship (“get the heck off the ship nooooww”– more than 6 short bells and one long bell). I also got to try out putting on my “Gumby” suit (immersion suit), which is a big, red, lobster-looking thing that will keep you warm if you think you might be going overboard. It was a little awkward squeezing into it, but more comfortable than a wetsuit, if not as stylish.
Lunch followed, and it’s definitely not cafeteria food. Tasty chicken and porkshops, a salad bar, garlic potato wedges or rice, sauteed green beans… I might never leave!
The gangway was then lifted by a crane, and I knew this was it… no turning back now, although why would I with those cooks onboard?? We started through the channel, cut through the sailboat forest in front of us, passed all the freighters and cargo cranes sitting idle on the weekend. The San Francisco skyline faced us and we eased into the bay. The bay bridge cut across our bow and we sailed under on our way to circle around Alcatraz. It was a beautiful vista, looking at it all from an angle that most people don’t get to see. Remnants of an old Spanish fort nestled under the Golden Gate, and we ducked under this famous span as the cars streamed overhead. Open waters loomed ahead of us as we said goodbye to land.
I’ve never been seasick but I took everyone’s advice and took Dramamine the last couple of days to get acclimated to it. The ship does have an interesting roll to it. It was built with a flat bottom in the stern and is very maneuverable. It also has an open center section where they can lower the acoustic equipment for surveying fish. However, it creates an odd circular rolling motion that I can see could lead to feeling nauseous. I feel okay so far, but I think I’ll continue with the dramamine.
Day 2
Today was mainly spent trying to adjust to a night schedule. I fitfully napped throughout out the day, but I was able to catch some z’s before we went down for our first trawl. Everyone was buzzing with excitement to see what we would find. We were pretty tired by the end of the night, but everyone was satisfied with our large catch and a successful night of capturing data. I’ll go into more detail about our survey data in my next blog!
Did you Know?
There is a traditional Japanese art form called Gyotaku (from gyo meaning “fish” and taku meaning “stone impression”). Developed in the mid-1800s, it involves applying ink or paint directly to a dead fish and pressing paper or fabric onto it to create an exact, life-size replica of the animal.
We tried it last night, but we quickly found out why it’s an art. You need the proper paper and a a lot of practice. But it was fun to try and very unique!
