June 26, 2018 — PORT ANGELES, Wash. — A team of scientists set sail on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel last week to study juvenile salmon and other fish in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Standing in the wheelhouse was Capt. Jesse Stark, a Port Angeles native who was making a homecoming as the newly-assigned commanding officer of the Bell M. Shimada.

“It’s always good to come back home,” Stark said last Tuesday as the ship was docked at Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 1.

The NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps crew and scientists were gearing up for a three-day trawling cruise in the sanctuary, which extends 25 to 40 miles off the coast of the Olympic Peninsula.

“This is going to be a really interesting look at salmon,” said Jenny Waddell, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary research coordinator, in a Tuesday interview on the Shimada.

Read the full story at the Peninsula Daily News