Pacific Islands highly depend on the delivery of goods transported by sea. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, PacIOOS continues to provide coastal and ocean data to keep marine transportation, port navigation, and other coastal activities safe and efficient to support island communities. "Hawaiʻi's state licensed port pilots are responsible for safely maneuvering large vessels such as container ships and oil tankers in and out of our commercial harbors. Real-time environmental data from PacIOOS such as wave height, current and wind speed readings provides us with the information needed to help ensure smooth delivery of essential consumer goods," says Captain Tom Heberle, President of the Hawaiʻi Pilots Association said.

Researchers from the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology are using a new generation of satellite tags to not only track the location of tiger sharks in Hawaiʻi, but also record environmental data such as temperature, depth and light levels. Sensors for oxygen and salinity are under development. Sharks serve as "mobile oceanographers" while they freely roam through the coastal and open ocean with a suite of miniature environmental sensors attached to their dorsal fin. The goals are to better understand shark behavior and their habitat; and to collect data that can feed into oceanographic and meteorological models to improve the understanding of the changing ocean environment. PacIOOS and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) support this effort and are in the process of making the oceanographic data available through the Animal Telemetry Network.

In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the PacIOOS wave buoy off Tanapag, Saipan, was swapped out for a buoy with a fresh set of batteries to ensure continued operations. Mahalo to Don Dunlop for his support!  Data management for the wave buoys is made possible through long-term partnerships with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP).  

Members of the PacIOOS Governing Council Executive Committee met remotely for their annual meeting via video conferencing due to the ongoing global pandemic. In an abbreviated format, members learned about PacIOOS programmatic updates and reviewed the annual performance evaluation. The main discussion focused on the upcoming 5-year proposal, including regional needs and topics of interest, as well as how to adjust how our engagement with stakeholders, users and partners throughout the Pacific Islands region during travel restrictions.

Born and raised on the island of Ta'u, Manu'a, American Samoa, Bert Fuiava is the Park Dive Officer and Marine Biological Science Technician for the National Park of American Samoa. In his role, he conducts safety trainings and executes dive operations while ensuring compliance with all dive standards and safety protocols. Bert also helps to further the park's mission of preserving and protecting the tropical rainforest, coral reefs, and archeological and cultural resources through the collection and processing of marine ecosystem data and writing of technical reports.

"Our dive program uses PacIOOS all the time, even when we are not on the clock. We use PacIOOS wave buoy data and forecasts every day before we do our field ops and occasionally check the salinity and water temperature forecasts." Bert appreciates that PacIOOS data are at hand and available to anyone. "It tells me when it's a good time, or not a good time, to go out boating and maybe fishing. Having this data available makes me feel safer because I will plan any water activity accordingly."