In November 2025, I flew across the largest and deepest ocean on Earth and landed in Japan for a week of discovery and collaboration (and amazing food!) at the North Pacific Marine Sciences Organization (PICES) annual meeting. PICES promotes and coordinates marine research in the North Pacific. The conference brought together over 600 ocean professionals from across the North Pacific to explore Innovative Approaches and Applications to Foster Resilience in North Pacific Ecosystems.

The Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) is a UN Decade program building a global biodiversity monitoring system using environmental DNA (eDNA). As co-lead of West Coast OBON, I traveled to the annual OBON Projects Meeting in Hobart to share our 2025 progress, including two workshops, a new reference sequence guide, and protocol development with BeBOP. I learned about innovative Western Pacific efforts such as PacMAN, the Australian Microbiome Initiative, and Make eDNA FAIR. I also helped lead discussions on improving global reference libraries and planning a microgrant proposal. The meeting highlighted the importance of coordinated, FAIR eDNA data to advance marine biodiversity science.

We are thrilled to share the news that Mark Gold has been named new director of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, the renowned oceanographic and marine ecosystem monitoring and…

We are excited to welcome Ben Gire to the SIO CalCOFI oceanographic team!Ben holds a B.S. in Oceanography from Cal Poly Humboldt and previously worked at the Oceanographic Data Facility…

We are excited to welcome Annie Effinger to the SIO CalCOFI oceanographic team! Annie graduated from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where she earned her bachelor's and master’s degrees in marine…