NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette Departs for Papahānaumokuākea to Bring Home NOAA’s Remote Field Scientists

September 03, 2021

NOAA biologists head home after a short but productive field season in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Pacific Islands

A photo taken from a beach on Laysan Island field camp supplies staged before the pick-up by NOAA ship (seen on the horizon).

Field camp supplies including buckets, liquid nitrogen dewars, and empty water jugs are staged on the beach at Laysan Island before being loaded onto the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette via small boat. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Alexa Gonzalez.

The NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette will leave Honolulu on September 3, 2021, to recover remote field camps established in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. For the first time since 2019, these biologists spent the spring and summer studying Hawaiian green sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals at five field sites within the Monument: Lalo (French Frigate Shoals), Kamole (Laysan Island), Kapou (Lisianski Island), Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Reef), and Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll). The Sette will also stop and conduct seal and turtle surveys at Nihoa, Mokumanamana, and Midway. Initial reports from the field sound promising for both seal and turtle populations.

Four field researchers walk along the shoreline of Lisianski Island holding survey gear. — Field researchers conduct a survey for Hawaiian monk seals at Lisianski Island, part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Sarah Glover.

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Meet the Blogger

Hope Ronco

Hope served as the Chief Scientist for both 2021 research cruise deploying and recovering field camps in Papahānaumokuākea. Hope works as a Marine Biologist for NOAA’s Protected Species Services and Support Program. When not at sea, Hope serves as the Vessel Operations Coordinator for the Protected Species Division and supports field efforts and data collection on Hawaiian monk seals, marine turtles, and cetaceans.

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