Preparing a diverse group of first-year college students for the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship is the Hollings Preparation Program (HPP) Internship, which includes a six-week paid research experience with one of NOAA’s many divisions. For Dash Dicksion, a SAFS undergrad now in his sophomore year, he got to return to his home island of Oahu during his HPP internship in the summer of 2024, working with the Ecosystem Sciences Division of NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. “I was born and raised on Oahu, where I grew up fishing and diving. I left Hawaiʻi for UW to pursue a top-notch education in a field I’ve been passionate about since childhood, but I still have deep ties to the place I call home,” Dash said. “I was excited to take this opportunity to return to my roots over summer and apply some of what I’ve learned on the mainland to real-word research!”
Learning about the HPP internship through an information session held at SAFS and referrals from previous academic mentors, Dash jumped at the chance to apply: “I saw this as an awesome opportunity to get an early jump into my desired career path and spend a summer learning from the best!” Based in Honolulu, Hawai’i, the State’s capital city, Dash’s internship focused on the biocultural and ecological aspects of fish larvae across Hawai’i Pae ‘Aina (the Hawaiian archipelago). “I worked under the guidance of an awesome team of mentors, and spent a lot of my time looking for, counting, and measuring fish larvae of interest under a microscope from preserved plankton sampled during previous research cruises,” Dash said.
During the lab portion of his internship, Dash also worked with data analysis and species distribution modeling in R, examining possible variable associations. “Interwoven with Western science work was input from native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and research into the traditional significance of fish species I was working with, their names, and the places where they come from”, Dash said. “I got to use that research to assist in developing nomenclature for larval fish in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (the Hawaiian language). It was really awesome to see Hawaiian culture being appreciated and incorporated into modern research and discovery!”
Not only did Dash get to experience what day-to-day lab research consists of, he also spent 30 days at sea on board the Oscar Elton Sette, a 224ft research vessel named after the first director of the Honolulu Laboratory at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (now the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center). “I was afforded the very rare opportunity to join my mentor as part of a two-person science team sampling the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument,” Dash shared. This World Heritage site encompasses 583,000 square miles of ocean and is the largest marine conservation area in the world. “My mentor and I “piggybacked” with the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) divers to sample for larvae using Isaac-Kidd midwater trawls on the night shift. We aimed for five hour-long tows per night, working from offshore to as close as we could to each island within the monument,” Dash said.
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- Morning preparation of dive boats from the top deck of Sette. (Credit: Ray Boland)
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- A view of the sunrise from the Sette. (Credit: Ray Boland)
In between the different stations visited for research, Dash and his mentor would do a quick sort of organisms that were visible to the naked eye, preserving the rest in jars of ethanol for sorting later on under the microscope. “Before and after every night of work, we would perform an oli, or chant to ask permission for sampling. Papahanaumokuākea is an especially sacred location in Hawaiian culture, and so it was crucial that we honored tradition when conducting our research.”
Click the photos to enlarge
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- Taking tissue sample from marlin under scope for genetic identification.
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- Top view of marlin larvae under scope (skull “horns” in early stages.
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- Preflexion and post-flexion tuna larvae.
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- Lab work sorting tuna larvae.
During transit days, activities including looking through photos, presenting research, watching preseason college football and fishing when 50 miles offshore of the monument. “I even got to dive at one point during the cruise, and it was amazing to see the range of life in the monument compared with what I was used to seeing in the main islands,” Dash said. As his first research cruise, Dash’s 30-day experience in the middle of the ocean was a unique one. “The constant movement takes a little for your body to get used to, but I was lucky I didn’t get seasick during the cruise,” Dash said. “The food was super good, the ship chefs are super talented and keep everyone well-fed for daily ops.” Compliments to the chef!
Aspiring to be a Fisheries Biologist or Management Specialist in the future, Dash described the internship as one which reaffirmed his desire to work in the world of fisheries sciences and management. “I would hope to eventually continue research on migratory pelagic predators like tuna and billfish, which especially piqued my curiosity during this project,” Dash said. Building on the foundational courses learned at SAFS was also a useful part of the HPP internship experience. “I’m glad for the exposure to a range of disciplines in the field of fisheries and marine science while studying at SAFS, and I intend to apply for more internship programs with NOAA as I continue my education,” he added.
“I would like to extend a huge mahalo to my mentors Justin Suca, Kanoe Morishige, Andrea Schmidt, Don Kobayashi, and Hauʻoli Lorenzo Elarco for their guidance and patience, as well as to everyone onboard the Sette during my first research cruise for making it a truly amazing experience!”
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- View of the Oscar Elton Sette from dock.
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- Adding lei to ship mast.
