Current Research Blogs
Dawson's Blog
Dawson Little, graduate student
1 August 2025
Hi y'all
This month has looked a little different from the last, with most of my time spent outside during the height of the field season. July is the busiest stretch of the year for our green crab work, and I have been out nearly every day either running traps across Neah Bay and Makah Bay or collecting a new season of river otter scat for my thesis. It has been physically demanding, but there is something grounding about being fully immersed in the landscape and daily rhythms of the work.
One of the more exciting efforts on the horizon is an upcoming trip to the Ozette Reservation, where I will be leading a small team to backpack in and trap for green crab along some of the more remote stretches of the Olympic National Park coastline for three days. The logistics have taken some time to sort out, but it is shaping up to be one of our most ambitious trapping efforts to date. This month I also deployed a series of wildlife trail cameras at several otter latrines within my study system. These sites are where we have consistently found green crab remains in scat, and the goal is to capture video of foraging behavior to better understand how otters are interacting with this invasive prey. If we are lucky, some of this footage may also support future outreach and education efforts.
On the lab side, I met with collaborator Erin D’Agnese to confirm DNA extraction protocols for the otter scat samples and to talk through plans as I continue building a working molecular lab for the Tribe here in Neah Bay. Once that space is fully set up, we will be able to process samples entirely on site, which will be a major step forward in supporting future molecular research on the reservation. With August right around the corner and another large-scale trapping blitz planned across Makah Bay, things are not slowing down, but I am grateful for the momentum and for the chance to do work that keeps me moving, learning, and connected to this place.
Best,
Dawson
Camryn's Blog
Camryn Sumrok, undergraduate student
1 August 2025
Hello everyone,
Happy summer! It has been a warm and sunny month (for the most part) and I have really been enjoying going on adventures in the great outdoors. I just returned from a 2 week trip to Seattle and Olympia! After recently completing a busy and somewhat chaotic junior year, it was really nice to finally be able to visit my family and childhood friends.
I am not taking any summer classes, so I have had time to organize data and plan data input for the Smolt project. Mallory and I have a large amount of printed datasheets to relay onto excel spreadsheets, which we plan to do together. Our project outline is still in the works, and we are very grateful for Alejandro giving us his guidance and feedback.
I plan to make my way down to the Log Pond site with my binoculars and camera by entering through the public entrance because I heard the seal pups and their moms can be seen hauled out under the docks! I have not done many observations thus far, so I plan to go out and hopefully photograph some pups in my free time.
Mallory and I recently joined the MMEL social media team! It has been great to collaborate with Chloe, Rachel, and Siena in making fun and educational posts about our lab and harbor seals. I am looking forward to continuing making posts throughout the summer and into the school year. It has been such a great way to present all of our amazing projects, seal facts, and research leads to others!
I love the summer, but I can’t wait for fall quarter to begin! I am excited for the lab to rejoin and for my cool marine science classes to start. Until then, I will be working my retail job and celebrating my 21st birthday, which is approaching quickly! I hope everyone has a wonderful and warm August!
Seals and Salmon,
Camryn
Anna's Blog
Anna Gilboard, undergraduate student
1 August 2025
Hi everyone!
I can’t believe it’s already August, this summer is flying by! It’s been a busy but exciting month in and out of the lab. Between working on my capstone proposal and reorganizing our photo ID and cropping, I’ve been learning a lot and feeling even more excited about the year ahead.
Most of my focus recently has been on the proposal for my independent research project, which looks at pinniped strandings in San Juan County. I’ve been exploring how environmental and human-related factors, like vessel traffic and seasonal patterns, might influence the number and distribution of strandings. It’s been really interesting to see how these different factors might overlap, and I’m hoping my project can help shed light on the kinds of interactions that are affecting harbor seals and sea lions in the Salish Sea.
Outside of research, I’ve been soaking up as much time outdoors as possible! I’ve been going on lots of hikes, spending evenings at the beach, and just enjoying the slower pace of summer before the school year ramps up again.
That’s all for now! Wishing everyone a sunny and peaceful August. Can’t wait to share more updates next month as my project continues to grow.
Until next time,
Anna
Rachel's Blog
Rachel Strober, undergraduate student
1 August 2025
Hi everyone,
I am very sad to say this is the last blog post I will write for this lab. It has been truly amazing to be a part of this tight knit group over the past few years. I gained so much knowledge, skills, passion for research, and friends! I will be forever grateful for the kindness from my fellow labmates, graduate students, and Alejandro, and I am very excited to see what this lab accomplishes in the future. Although I’m sad to be leaving, I’m also excited to take off to Ireland in less than a month! In the meantime, I have been spending the summer with friends and family, taking some time to slow down and enjoy Bellingham and my hometown in Oregon.
Camryn and Mallery have officially joined the Instagram team for the lab! They have already curated some fantastic posts so make sure you check them out! As far as my project goes, we did see some promising qPCR results that showed preliminary success for the assay we designed, with smaller and smaller changes needing to be made. I unfortunately cannot continue with the project while I’m away, but will help Erin with the write up for it and will potentially be able to work on it more once I’m back in Bellingham. Although I didn’t quite get to the point I hoped to with the project, it was an amazing learning experience for me and I truly believe it can be helpful in the future once developed further.
Thank you all for reading!
Seals and salmon,
Rachel
Mallory's Blog
Mallory Stonier, undergraduate student
1 August 2025
Hi all,
I hope everyone is enjoying summer and all it has to offer! July was a very busy month for me and I’m very excited about the work I’ve been doing. This summer, I joined the Log Pond crew to help out with summer observations and have become a lead for Whatcom Creek. There have been a few sets of mother and baby harbor seals at Whatcom Waterway during observations at the Log Pond site which I had never seen before and has become the highlight of my week. So much so that I’ve been taking out my paddleboard to visit haul-out sites and the waterway (50 yards away of course). Seals with their curious nature tend to pop up behind kayaks, boats, paddleboards, etc. It was exciting to see the site from a different perspective.
Another highlight of my week has been volunteering for the Whatcom Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. My long-term goal is to become a wildlife veterinarian, so gaining hands-on experience is important to both my working knowledge and deciding what path might be right for me. The center is run by incredibly passionate and hard-working staff, interns, and volunteers. I began volunteering during my freshman year (2023) and I'm excited to continue being a part of the amazing work they do.
Looking forward, Camryn and I have been working together on our data and how we want to present it. Data input is a long and slow process, but we are excited to see what is different and what is similar to previous years. We had significantly less seal activity at Whatcom Creek this year, which while our observers might have been slightly disappointed, may have positive implications for our harbor seals and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. While it is too early to make conclusions yet, we are excited to share with you what we are learning in the process.
Until next tide,
Mallory
Siena's Blog
Siena Gorohoff, undergraduate student
1 August 2025
Hi! I can’t believe July is already over, this summer has been flying by. It’s been a busy month for sure, I’ve been working with Chloe on our research project, still in early steps but we’ve been reading lots of papers and getting a good background of knowledge. I spent the first two weekends of July getting my Scuba certification which was a ton of fun, we got to do our dives off of Alki beach in West Seattle and I saw more nudibranchs than I’ve ever seen on just one of the dives! I’m excited to get to dive more in the near future.
I’ve been down in Seattle the majority of this summer, but I did get to go up to Bellingham a few weeks ago to help out with training a new lab member and it was a lot of fun to get to be back at the lab and Whatcom Creek for a practice observation. All the volunteers have been putting in so much great work, it’s awesome to see how excited everyone is about the projects.
That’s all the updates I've got for now, I hope everyone has been having a great summer. See you next month!
Siena
Victoria's Blog
Victoria Vinecke, graduate student
1 August 2025
Hello everyone,
Happy August! I can’t believe another month has come and gone. July has been a busy but rewarding month. I have been working toward compiling all my qPCR data into one place so I can easily make result tables for my thesis. It is really rewarding getting to look through all the past qPCR’s I performed and seeing just how much work has gone into the past three years. More recently, I have been going back through the photos of eDNA sampled harbor seals I was not able to identify (ID), in hopes to send to a lab member who is working on an AI based harbor seal identification tool using the harbor seal photo-ID catalog past MMEL members created. I am eager to see if the AI tool will be able to give some insight on the individuals, which I was not able to confidently ID. Lastly, I am about to jump into comparing foraging instances to the individuals I was able to link sex to photo-ID to see if there are certain males that we sampled which may consume more salmon compared to others. While tackling those tasks I have also been working on thesis edits, updating methodology as it continues to develop, and finishing up the final touches to my background and introduction!
As for my work with Wild EcoHealth, we have been training a UW graduate student/WDFW employee on how to perform scat extractions in Dietmar’s lab. Training others in molecular techniques is one of my favorite parts of the job and it has been extremely fulfilling to teach this individual because in the past, during harbor seal captures they taught me so much in the field. Currently, I am attending the Wildlife Disease Association conference in Victoria, BC, funded via Wild EcoHealth. I am learning a ton about wildlife disease from individuals from all over the world and getting to hear new perspectives. I am so thankful to get opportunities like this to meet new people and make connections.
Until nex time,
Victoria
Chloe's blog
Chloe Bentley, undergraduate student
1 August 2025
Hello everyone!
This month has gone by so fast! It has been a great time training folks for log pond, we have been seeing so many seal pups. They are usually on their mothers backs which is very sweet to see. Besides doing Log Pond and Whatcom Creek observations, I have been very busy with summer school! WWU was offering their last Cell and Molecular class this summer, before splitting it into two separate classes, and I decided to take it. Today was the last day in the course and I am able to officially start my summer.
Instagram has been doing great and it's been fun to work with Camryn, Mallory, and Siena. It has been awesome seeing all of their ideas come to life. We are excited to expand in the upcoming school year!
That's about it for my update!Lots of observations and school, but wouldn’t have it any other way.
Seals and Salmon
Zoe's Blog
Zoe Hosford, graduate student
1 August 2025
Hi all-
Happy end of July! This summer seems to be absolutely flying by. I’m not sure how it is already been a month since we last chatted. This month I have really been focused on letting myself enjoy a Pacific NorthWest summer, and not get burnt out with school work, while also still trying to be productive to get things done.
I have been slowly plugging along on data retrieval and organization, while starting the process of creating heat maps in R to visualize my data. Things have been going well so far but am really hoping to generate some headway in the coming months! I have also started editing and continuing writing for my thesis paper. This feels really ahead of the game, but I am trying my best to not completely cram all of my writing until the end, even if it may be almost a year from now!
Besides school work, I have been allowing myself to have a little bit of fun… going on many hiking trips, days at the lake with my dog and friends, and overall taking some much needed time to relax and coop. Maybe next month, I’ll even have a heat map to share with you all :) but until next time…
Orcas and seals,
Zoe
Alexandrea's Blog
Alexandrea Otto, graduate student
1 August 2025
Hello,
“Species Identifying Session” or tip for this month: fur seals in Washington-Guadalupe verse Northern fur seals
The easiest ways I believe in first telling the difference between a Guadalupe fur seal (Arctocephalus townsendi) and Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) when learning are their hind flippers and snout shape:
One of the most fun or interesting differences I think are “short sleeves verse long”:
Guadalupe fur seals are the rarest of all fur seal species and are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. While working as the WDFW stranding intern, I was fortunate enough to aid on a response call for a young, stranded Guadalupe fur seal on the outer coast. The appreciation and humbleness I felt, being able to not only see but help one in the wild was surreal. Guadalupe fur seal necks are a bit lengthier and more flexible in mobility to like an Otariid (or sea lion) species rather than more limited movement like a harbor seal neck/head, which was very neat to learn in a literal “hands-on” situation!
Till next time,
Alex