ODFW Adventures: IX

I can barely believe that ten weeks has already passed by, and I will spend the next 4 days wrapping everything up at ODFW. Last week was a short week for me, as I had Friday off to travel to Vancouver, WA to be in my Cousin’s wedding for the weekend. But I spent the time I had working hard on the presentation I gave on Thursday and reading and writing more for the annotated bibliography. My presentation turned out very well, thanks to the practice run I had in Ali’s office with the Nearshore Team as my audience. At the symposium I had some technical difficulties to begin with, as my presentation saved in a very wonky fashion, but after downloading it one more time, the pictures and titles were all perfectly in place. And after my presentation, my team congratulated me on my presentation and the professional answers I gave to questions asked after my presentation. All the previous and following presentations were just as good, and it was fantastic to hear in-depth descriptions of all the other Sea Grant interns’ internships. It was a great ending to the Summer Scholars program, and I hope that all the years to come with new scholars turn out as good as this one!

I was only able to add a few articles to the annotated bibliography due to my limited schedule, but that seems to be the story with this document–slow and steady gets the job done. I hope to pick up the pace and read all of the last articles and add them to the bibliography this week, but with my other work items taking priority, I will simply do my best to finish the bibliography in the next 4 days.

I wasn’t able to write this blog yesterday because I spent the day FISHING on a boat in Port Orford! Although I have a lot of work to finish up this week, it was nice to take a break and get some fun cross training. Besides, I need to practice my fishing skills if I really want a career in this field! I ended up catching 5 black rockfish for the Marine Reserves Program to measure and weigh. They were looking at the different fish species that live at Redfish Rocks, where a Marine Reserve will soon be put into place. All in all, it was a windless day with many flies and just a few fish pulled onto the boat. But beyond that, we saw some amazing wildlife–several species of fish, tufted puffins, jellyfish, whales (even a tail out of the water!), and porpoises right next to the boat! It was a great way to start my last week and I will remember that trip for the rest of my life.

This week I will also be writing up the protocols for the Herring project for determining the spawning biomass and quota, making the maps, and likely revising the egg counting protocol after our Herring meeting this Thursday that we are having with people that are/have been involved with the project. Even though this meeting is on my second-to-last day of work, it will likely be one of the most significant meetings of my internship, as (hopefully) changes will result from the hour of vigorous discussion.

Last, but not least, I will be spending some time putting together my final report for Sea Grant. Evaluating and reflecting on this internship will not be difficult, as I have learned so many things about myself and my interests that I could likely write a chapter in a book, but it will take more time to get my thoughts organized and write a flowing essay on the topic. But I have confidence that this, and my other two tasks, will be accomplished before 5 pm on Friday.  

I had such an amazing and memorable summer, and it wouldn’t have been the same without my mentors of the Nearshore team, Greg, Ali, and Delia, or the other Summer Scholars, Sea Grant staff, and the rest of the staff at ODFW. Thank you everyone so much for such an amazing experience!