Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Meet the Crew: Senior Survey Technician Andrea Stoneman

A female senior survey technician on aboard a ship with a water sampling instrument

For this "meet the crew" profile, we asked Andrea Stoneman, who serves as Senior Survey Technician aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, to tell us about her role aboard the ship and what her path to NOAA was.

If you had asked me when I was a kid where I would be today, I certainly would not have imagined myself exploring the high seas in Alaska.

I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, a lovely Midwestern town situated on the most westerly point of Lake Superior. My affinity for water resources really started there, waking every morning being greeted by the largest freshwater “ocean” as we locals liked to call it. I knew growing up that freshwater resources would be a large part of my life.

The oceans were still a foreign concept to me however. I obtained my bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in Environmental Sciences with a focus in hydrology. I went on to work with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at the Lake Erie Biological Station as a fisheries technician, elated to be working on the Great Lakes. My experience with NOAA started in graduate school. I was accepted into NOAA’s Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center (LMRCSC) program at Delaware State University.

LMRCSC’s focus is to train and graduate students with a master’s or PhD. degree who are in underrepresented communities in the marine sciences. My very first experience as a graduate student was volunteering aboard NOAA Ship Delaware II for an 11 day research excursion along the East Coast. We conducted bottom trawl surveys in effort to study crab abundance. The ocean dwelling creatures were absolutely fascinating! Quite a change from freshwater environments that I had grown accustomed to. Seeing what came up from the ocean depths was a real treat. Spider crabs the size of me, enormous lobsters, prehistoric looking armored searobins, and terrifyingly ugly monkfish, just to name a few.

I earned my master’s degree in Natural Resources with a focus in fisheries. My thesis examined the effects of ocean acidification on fish otolith (fish ear bones) growth. I found that ocean acidification is indeed an issue we need to be concerned about. The lowering of pH (more acidic) in our oceans due to increases of atmospheric CO2 is having an impact on many varieties of marine life. Corals, mollusks, plankton, fish, even entire ecosystems are at risk. I couldn’t just sit back and relax knowing this information. My drive to help protect our marine resources had been solidified. But first, I needed an adventure after my arduous graduate studies.

Staying focused on marine fisheries though, I took a job in the NOAA Fisheries Observer Program in Alaska. Fisheries observers are at-sea monitors aboard commercial fishing vessels who collect biological data from catch to help fishery managers assess fish populations, set quotas, and maintain sustainable management practices. This is where I truly earned my sea legs and begun living a life at sea. Little did I know what that really entailed. Long stints away from family and friends, limited communications, intense weather and seas, salty sailors, and constantly on the move.

Living a life at sea is not for the faint of heart. However, the rewards for your hard work and perseverance is well worth it. I was sent to small remote fishing communities all across the Alaskan coastline, seeing sights that few will have the privilege of experiencing in their lifetime. I was able to get up close to things I had only seen in National Geographic magazine. Giant Pacific octopuses stole my imagination and heart. The Alaskan volcanoes a close second. I was introduced to NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson while I was observing in Kodiak, Alaska. A fellow observer working aboard the vessel as a contract scientist gave me a tour of the ship and introduced me to the Senior Survey Technician and I was immediately intrigued by the job, and the better living accommodations versus those I was dealing with as an observer. I applied and was accepted as a Survey Technician and eventually worked my way up to Senior Survey Technician (SST).

Working aboard the Oscar Dyson has allowed me to remain involved in critical aspects of maintaining a sustainable fishery in Alaska. Oscar Dyson’s main objective each year is completing the stock assessment surveys for Midwater Assessment and Conservation Engineering (MACE) Program, which conducts acoustic-trawl stock assessment surveys of walleye pollock in the Gulf of Alaska and in the Bering Sea. I use the experience I gained as an observer to help the MACE team sort, count, and take biological measurements of fish we sample from the trawls. Other projects include Ecosystems and Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (EcoFOCI) missions to service scientific moorings.

One important mission the Dyson had been tasked with is the launch and recovery of Ocean Weather Station Papa (OWSA). OWSA has the oldest uninterrupted oceanic climate data sets dating back to 1949. Dyson’s survey team assisted the mooring technicians with assembling the mooring and line handling. A special project we had the opportunity to work on is the Pacific Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (PacMAPPS) whale distribution study. On our recent mission with PacMAPPS, we had the honor of encountering two North Pacific right whales which are critically endangered. A sight I had spent 8 years on the sea looking out for, and one I will never forget!

As a SST, I serve our ship as the scientific liaison, ensuring that our visiting science teams are provided with continual and accurate data from our shipboard sensors, which include oceanographic and meteorological sensors, as well as acoustic equipment. One of my favorite systems I operate on board is the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) ocean acidification monitoring system which measures the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the sea surface. I used PMEL’s data extensively for my master’s thesis and now I am able to assist that lab with providing more valuable CO2 data.

My job as a SST is multifaceted and is an integral part of supporting a large variety of scientific missions with goals to protect and serve our marine environments, which I am grateful to be a part of.