The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy! Joshua and I went to Tillamook, OR and Long Beach, WA last Tuesday-Friday for field work. We sampled mud shrimp and ghost shrimp in both Tillamook Bay and Willapa Bay. In Washington, we got the opportunity to go out in an air boat and work with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. At the beginning of the summer, I couldn’t pull up a single core but by the end of last week, I was pulling several in a row! We also had the chance to go to Cape Disappointment and, no, it did not disappoint. It was beautiful!
Because my internship has been more of a scientific research project, I haven’t been exposed to much science policy and outreach with the public. Therefore, my view of science policy has not really changed that much. I always knew it was a complicated balance of different group’s needs and wants, but never quite realized just how complicated that process can be. I presume other science policy organizations in Oregon, like me at OSU and USDA-ARS, must find that balance of ecology vs economy. The overarching question in our meetings is always “how can we keep these shrimp that are important to the ecosystem but also manage them for good oyster growing conditions?” That being said, I must be pretty inspired because I am going to start my Marine Resource Management master’s program in the fall where I will learn more about science policy and continue this line of work in my future endeavors.
