Ocean Associates, Inc. – Camryn F, Mickey L, Sofia P

Day 4

Today was another work day for us. We all met individually with Mr. Newton to check in on our progress, and make sure we were on the right track. I had asked him a few questions on some more terms I found during my research, because I had a bit of trouble understanding some of the more complex articles. After he explained them, we spoke a bit more about where I was going with my research, and then I left the call to continue my searching. Overall, I spent today expanding my knowledge about the topic and searching for anything else that I would need for my research.

Sofia

Day 3

Today, we met with Mr. Newton to discuss where we were in our research, and if we had any questions for him about our projects. After everyone got their questions answered, Mr. Newton gave me some articles to look over. They were all research articles about the Mackerel, whether it was about their trophic interactions with other sea organisms, or a stomach analysis of Atlantic Mackerels. It was really helpful to get some direction with the right kind of articles to look at. He also gave me some tips on what to look for in these articles, which helped me know how to effectively read them. Overall, today was a good day for me to begin to learn how to look for/ look through research articles.

Sofia

Day 2

On the second day, we were introduced to our research projects. These were existing projects that were apart of the non-profit foundation at Ocean Associates, so we were tasked with finding out any additional information that could be useful to these projects. Mine in particular was specifically researching the diet of the Atlantic Mackerel, in the Northwest Atlantic. Mr. Newton explained that this research has a larger significance, which lies with the Right Whales. These are one of the most endangered whale species in the world right now, with fewer than 300 currently living. Since they share their food source with other forage species, researchers have found that this is causing their populations to decline, and also causing them to reduce in physical size. By researching the Atlantic Mackerel diet, we can find out if they could be contributing to the Right Whale’s endangerment. I started my research by getting a general idea of what exactly the Atlantic Mackerel is before I got into any specifics later in my WEP.

Sofia

Day 1

Today was the first day of my work experience with Ocean Associates, Inc, and we started the day with meeting our leader, Eric Newton. He explained that all three members of this (Camryn, Mickey, and myself) that we would each have an individual project we would be working on. Besides this, he also explained what Ocean Associates is and what they do exactly. For this first day, we spent most of the time getting to know each other and our personal goals for the work experience program. For myself, I wanted to explore a possible career option pertaining to Marine biology or any marine sciences. Everyone had different interests, so Mr. Newton wanted to ask everyone what they were looking for. We also met Juleen Savarese, the director of HR at Ocean Associates, who was the one that helped organize our work experience alongside Mr. Newton.

Sofia

Day 6 Mickey

Day 6,

Memorial Day festivities were a blast! (I did pretty much nothing – which made it SO good!) My family and I went strawberry picking however, since it was near the end of the season for strawberries, many were quite mushy. I drove which was quite an accomplishment for me as I am terrified of driving and reluctantly obtained my Level 1 learner’s permit recently. We watched “Behind the Attraction” together as a family. A poignant series of documentaries on how Disney Attractions were built, we watched two. One about the different history of the differing Disney castles for each park and one about Tower of Terror and the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind revamp in California. Additionally, I went to a friend’s house and played the perfect amount of Mario Kart and Minecraft for my liking. For work today, there was a different pattern for today’s work! We met with Dr. Tracy Collier. He has worked in the industry since he was 18 and has a 47-page long resume! I asked him two questions and eagerly wrote down his responses in a non grammatically correct form.

How do you choose what to focus on? Things that put you outside your comfort zone, sounds interesting and for a good cause, taking some risks going down different lanes.

What skills do you feel were the most important to develop early in your career or during college, that either you developed or wish you would’ve developed earlier? Sense is of humor critical, the ability to bond with people through showing this world isn’t as serious, most important skill: EQ, emotional quotient can you understand and empathize with people.

He was extremely helpful and humble and talking with him really helped put into perspective different opportunities within the field.

About the NOAA emblem and logo | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Mickey

Day 5 Mickey

Day 5,

Today I presented what I currently have to Mr. Newton. Although I was nervous, he assured us that it was low stress – just to check to make sure we were on the right track. Luckily for me, he said it was looking great! He encouraged me to continue exploring what I had been and to turn my focus towards mitigation strategies and economic and cultural impacts of offshore wind structures as well as the effects of them on lobsters. After our check-in, I spent the time searching for research papers I want to continue to explore regarding those topics and plan to do so in the upcoming days. Lobsters deformed and unable to swim 'because of wind farm cables' | seleksie

Mickey

Day 7, 6/1

I continued reading the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report today and found a lot of really interesting (but scary!) information about the impacts of sea levels rising. For example, it states that “the population potentially exposed to a 100-year coastal flood is projected to increase by about 20% if global mean sea level rises by 0.15 m relative to 2020 levels; this exposed population doubles at a 0.75 m rise in mean sea level and triples at 1.4 m without population change and additional adaptation.” The report also says that “sea level rise poses an existential threat for some Small Islands and some low-lying coasts.” I found these statistics to be really surprising and concerning.

During my research, I also found these important graphs which illustrate scientist’s confidence levels for different temperature change possibilities.

Camryn

Day 6, 5/31

Today, we were introduced to Dr. Tracy Collier who has had a really interesting career involving fishery and ocean research. He told us the story of how he got a job at NOAA right when he turned 18 (the youngest you can be to become a federal employee), with the help of his two state senators! He says he was the only one to take the entry exam, despite it being in a large auditorium meant for over a hundred people. He talked about the importance of advocating for yourself both before receiving a job, as well as after you are in the position. He also made sure to tell us the importance of humor and always being able to make people smile! I found Dr. Collier to be very inspirational and it was really interesting to hear about his career.

Camryn

Day 4 Mickey

Today was a good day of research, I continued exploring the North Atlantic Right Whale and found some sources I’m planning on continuing to explore this topic. Honestly, nothing totally new in terms of research today, just building upon old knowledge into more complex terms! Something to share about the protective measures for North Atlantic Right Whales is that there’s slow zones for boaters to protect the livelihood. I added a few of these similar graphics into my research because slowing down causes less disturbance in their communication with one another and their ability to find food.

Right Whale Slow Zone in Effect off Ocean City | Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Day 3 Mickey

Day 3

The continuation of research is upon us – as expected. I moved on towards looking at the North Atlantic Right Whale and some mitigation strategies for how the impacts of offshore wind construction can be lessened. This information on this specific species is important because, it is critically endangered so, mitigating impacts of anything harmful towards it is essential to its continued survival North Atlantic Right Whale | NOAA Fisheries Here is a North Atlantic Right Whale (I personally find them really cute and like they’re frowning indefinitely – which is sad, but still cute). Research will continue on this topic tomorrow, I’ll leave you with this quote: “We’ve never found a right whale that died of old age,” said Baumgartner. “We find they die from industrial accidents.”