Shannon's Boat Blog

FMSA’s Beach Watch Coordinator, Shannon Lyday, is off to sea. Participating as a researcher in NOAA’s CSCAPE 2005, Shannon leaves port on Friday, November 18th for a three week work cruise aboard the David Starr Jordan.

CSCAPE is an effort by NOAA to understand the abundance and distribution of marine mammals off our coast. As the BeachWatch Coordinator for FMSA, Shannon has had years of training identifying seabirds and marine mammals. She is looking forward to her time ahead spotting and identifying living creatures out in the pelagic wilderness.

Excitedly, Shannon explained to us before heading out that she’ll have two roles aboard the boat. Foremost she works as an “Independent Observer.” This is a important role used technically to determine “margin of error,“ always critical in survey work. In laymen’s terms, she’ll be counting all the animals that everyone else misses! The researchers will be relying on her sharp eye and experience with the critters of the Gulf of the Farallones.

Additionally, when they near large pods, she’ll be scurrying into a small Zodiac boat to get close up on the action, take photos to help ID specific individuals from past studies, and collect blubber samples. Definitely not her typical day in the office!

November 21st: "...absolutely gorgeous, sunny, and hot..."

Thanksgiving: "...suddenly, it turned into “Animal Kingdom”..."

November 27th: "...anything that was not lashed down crashed to the floor..."

December 2nd: ""Listening to the dolphins through the headphones is awesome..."

December 6th: "...the water was literally boiling with them..."

Shannon on deck with the Farallones in the background.

The David Starr Jordan

Click here to learn more about the boat Shannon calls home for the next three weeks.