HONOLULU (KHON2) — Over the summer, a teacher from Hawaiʻi spent 14 days at sea with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Teacher at Sea program.
Laura Chang, who goes by Jojo, experienced the “life of a scientist” for two weeks.
“NOAA’s Teacher at Sea Program gives teachers the professional opportunity of a lifetime with a chance to participate in cutting-edge science, on the ocean, working side-by-side with world-renowned scientists,” said Jennifer Hammond, director of the program.
Chang’s journey began on July 2 traveling aboard the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada along the coast of California to survey an open water fish species.
“NOAA is targeting in their surveys certain specific types of fish. And the fish I was helping with the survey was Pacific whiting, or hake. This fish is used in pet food, fake crab, it’s also used, I think, in fish sticks,” Chang said. “But it degrades really quickly, so if they’re catching it to eat, they’re gonna catch it, process it and freeze it, as fast as possible.”
One of the most memorable moments she had onboard was learning more about market squid.
“I didn’t know very much about market squid and they’re kind of not very interesting in general when you see them on a plate to eat,” Chang said. “But if you see them right out of the ocean, they have these beautiful polka dots: brown and pink, and if you touch them, they’ll develop more polka dots and you don’t really see that because the polka dots and all that amazing coloring goes away once they die.”
Being on a NOAA boat provided a unique experience to observe a variety of ocean life, shared Chang.
“What’s fascinating is the bycatch… the amazing creatures that are out there that I’ve never seen before, this creature called the king salmon has these giant eyeballs and it’s this really skinny, long fish. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Chang said. “I kept sending pictures to my daughter of this fish and she’d be like ‘Mom, don’t send those, that’s so creepy!’”
Since 1990, NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program has given almost 850 teachers the opportunity to live and work side-by-side with scientists studying the marine environment.
In the future, she would like to arrange hands-on marine learning experiences for her students.
“We’re hoping to be on a NOAA boat at some point. We’re also hoping to maybe see a fish auction if possible,” Chang said.
Read more about Chang’s experience at sea on her blog.