What am I doing for 3 weeks??

If you didn't know, I am one of close to 30 teachers from across the United States selected to participate in the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)'s Teacher at Sea program!




I will be traveling aboard the NOAA ship Oscar Dyson from June 29 - July 17, 2012 leaving from and returning to Dutch Harbor, Alaska as part of an acoustic pollock survey! If you're interested in learning about this amazing ship, you can check out the Oscar Dyson here.
Throughout the trip, we have to update a blog on WordPress, but due to plenty of people that have to approve each blog, I will only be able to post at most 4 times each week. With THIS blog that you're reading now, Here Pollock Fishy, I plan to post more photos and stories, but encourage you to read BOTH blogs during my trip as they will be different for sure! Of course, this is all assuming the internet is working out in the middle of the ocean. I know I won't have cell phone access or skype or the sort, but I am supposed to have e-mail and internet access.

Here's my Teacher at Sea page where you should be able to find my blogs as well. So, now, what am I doing for 3 weeks on this ship? I have no clue! Well, that's not totally true. Teachers go on this ship every year, and I've been stalking their blogs to see what they do, but it's different for everyone. I have gathered that I will be working a 12 hour shift, either 4pm-4am or 4am-4pm. Not sure which one I prefer, but since I don't have a choice, I'll be happy with whatever they assign me! I will be working with the Scientists on board to collect fisheries data, and will be doing whatever else they tell me to do :)

The Oscar Dyson does all of its research in Bering Sea and waters surrounding Alaska. While I'm at sea, you can also check the location of the ship using the NOAA Ship Tracker. As you can see from the past year, the Oscar Dyson has spent its time in the Northwest.

I can't tell you how excited I am for this experience. Plenty of people have asked "How did you find out about this?" The answer? I googled "Teacher at Sea" because I was curious if there was any sort of "Semester at Sea" type program for teachers and guess what? - there is! I am extremely blessed and looking forward to another adventure. More to come before I leave as I do some online training and read a little bit more about pollock and such. Here's a photo of a sample of pollock caught by the Oscar Dyson last summer (courtesy of one of Kathleen Harrison's WordPress blog posts). Fish sticks and imitation crab meat, anyone?