Gyotaku and Ocean Acidification

Week 1:

I started my fellowship by attending the Piscatuqua River Fest, an annual event that celebrates the rivers and bays. I helped Marine Docent volunteers at an educational table that started out with a fish printing activity. Kids painted a rubber fish of their choosing (flounders and rays were most popular) in any way they wanted. Then, we helped them to stamp their fish onto a piece of paper, which left behind a painted imprint that they could keep. This is a Japanese art form known as Gyotaku. Japanese fishermen used to create a print of large fish they caught far from shore and were unable to bring back. The print served as evidence of their amazing catch and eventually became an art form. Today, it is a popular activity run by UNH Marine Docents that is remembered fondly by adults many years later (several adults told me they remembered doing a fish printing with a real dead fish and wanted to know why we now use rubber fish…).

The second activity was ocean acidification outreach. We had so many great conversations with people about acidity, pH, and watersheds. The pH scale is actually pretty confusing, since it is logarithmic. Little changes in pH can mean big changes in acidity. It’s also difficult to visualize changes in acidity and pH. The term ocean acidification leads people to think that the ocean (with a pH of ~8) will become acidic, but that’s not really what it means. It was awesome to see the docents tackle these misconceptions and leave people with positive actions they can take to address climate change. The Marine Docent outreach programs were awesome and I’m happy I got to be involved on my first day in the fellowship!