Without the amazing sponsorships, the OWUSS Rolex Scholarship year would not be possible and these past weeks I was lucky to visit some of these sponsors. My first stop was Santa Ana, where I visited Ocean Technology Systems and got the grand tour from Renee Pelissier. I got to learn about all their different full-face […]

For the last couple of weeks I have been working in Santa Barbara with Dr. Doug McCauley from UC Santa Barbara on a Giant Sea Bass Count project. This project, done in collaboration with Dr. Milton Love (UCSB) and researchers at CSU Northridge, encouraged any and all recreational divers in California to get in the […]

There are over 556 National Wildlife Refuges in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s National Wildlife Refuge system, and for the past two weeks I volunteered as acting Refuge Manager for Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.  Due to some unexpected circumstances, Palmyra’s Refuge Manager could not remain on the island. Given my past experience as a […]

Manta rays are beautiful creatures that are found in most tropical and subtropical waters. During my stay at Palmyra, I am helping with a manta ray project led by Dr. Barbara Block from Stanford University, who is a recipient of the Rolex Award for Enterprise! For the past weeks Robbie Schallert, large pelagic fish tagger […]

Hey everyone! For those interested, here is some of Palmyra Atoll’s history.. Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (PANWR), located in the equatorial Northern Pacific, has one of the few remaining near-pristine reefs on our planet. The atoll was first sighted in the late 1700s by Captain Fanning, and officially discovered in 1802 when the ship […]