By Grace Davis, Faith Jayaram, Jeremy Davis, and Tony Yuan

To kick off our third day in the Salish Sea Sciences program, we learned about underwater acoustics and the effect man-made noises may have on marine life. Although it was upsetting to hear recordings of boats drowning out the calls of our Southern Resident Killer Whales, the information and skills we acquired were valuable. Being aware of this issue is imperative for the environment of the San Juan Islands and, possibly, the environment of every ocean. Two of the wonderful people we met were Jason Wood and Jessie Turner. Jessie has an ongoing project that revolves around the audio impact sea planes have on marine mammals. As budding marine biologists and ocean enthusiasts, it was a lovely experience to learn about his craft.

Tomorrow we will be embarking on our five-day longboat journey. We are all excited and a tad bit nervous. We will report back on our expedition when we return to our home in Friday Harbor.