This is the first blog from GAME 2026
Learning to listen
What does the ocean sound like? There is the wind moving across Akkeshi Bay, deer grazing in the woods next to the ocean, and the soft rhythm of the waves against the jetty. Moreover, there is a fox foraging along the shore (かわいい。- kawaii), the seagulls` sharp calls from the sky, and the distant hum of fishing boats. And beneath the water surface? There is an entirely different world of sound.
Underwater sound travels faster, farther and often in all directions. The underwater world is constantly active, even though it appears silent to us humans. Tiny larvae drift and swim through the water, searching for a place to settle to become adults. They are guided by chemical cues, light, and sound. What happens if that process is distracted by sounds like boat noise? Will the larvae still settle or will they look for other places?
Four weeks ago, I arrived in Japan, to begin the fieldwork for my Master´s thesis as part of GAME 2026 at the Akkeshi Marine Station (AMS in short).
Akkeshi has a small fishing economy, which is mainly known for oyster farming. The town is remote, windswept, and deeply connected to the sea — making it an ideal natural laboratory for marine research.
Akkeshi is located in eastern Hokkaido, in a remote and largely natural region with extensive wetlands that are rich in birdlife, while the town is surrounded by coastal cliffs and forests. An iconic red bridge leads from the town of Akkeshi to the marine station, which lies within a protected area.
The marine station, where I am based, is located directly at the coast and experiences strong tidal variation both seasonally and daily. From the very first day, it was clear that this project would not only be about data collection, but also about adapting to a new environment — scientifically, culturally, and personally.
My research explores how underwater soundscapes, such as noise from ship engines, interacts with hard-bottom communities. In particular, I will examine whether boat noise affects the formation and early development of these communities. To test this, I will deploy an underwater loudspeaker that plays back boat noise towards PVC settlement panels, which simulate a vertical surface for the settlement of invertebrate larvae. During and after the experiment, I will analyse the composition of the communities that establish on the settlement panels and will compare it to the composition of assemblages that developed in the absence of boat noise.
Over the past four weeks, I have been laying the groundwork for this field experiment by testing the equipment, observing the weather and wave conditions at the experimental site, and building the experimental setup that will later allow me to collect the data for my thesis. Come with me and get a glimpse on how I conduct the preliminary work.
Building the foundation: Preliminary work
GAME projects are usually carried out by two-person teams. However, in 2026 no Japanese student was found for Team Japan and therefore I am working more independently with some support by Jun Hirose, who is an employee at AMS. I also get a lot of help from other people working at the station, including the very kind technicians. To make sure we understand each other about setups and difficult constructions, I established to draw things out to make it easy for everyone to follow my ideas.
The first phase of my stay in Akkeshi has been dedicated almost entirely to tests and preparations. Before any meaningful data collection can begin, it is essential to test how the equipment performs under real-world conditions.
One of the key components of my project is an underwater sound system for recordings and playbacks. I began with testing the hydrophones and the sound playback devices under controlled conditions in the laboratory, e.g. in tanks, before gradually moving to open-water trials. During these tests, I verified signal clarity and noise levels, experimented with different cable configurations, and evaluated how sound propagates in coastal waters.
In addition to the technical setup, I also started with doing preliminary underwater recordings. They will serve as a baseline for assessing acoustic isolation, i.e. making sure that the treatment level that does not include sound playbacks does not receive sounds from the boat noise treatment level.
Designing and testing the experimental frame A milestone in these first weeks was the construction and testing of the experimental frame. This structure is designed to hold the settlement panels and the acoustic equipment in place at specific depths in the water column. It is built from PVC pipes, which are stabilized with ropes and buoys, and is anchored near the pier of the marine station. One of the first tasks was to attach panels to the frame, which will later be used as settlement substrata, but for now the goal was simply to test their stability and positioning.
Field deployment is rarely straightforward as wind, waves, and currents constantly interfere with even the simplest tasks. Lowering the frame into the water required careful coordination, and retrieving it was often even more challenging. During these activities, I spent a significant amount of time on the pier, working close to the water, adjusting ropes, checking connections, and observing whether the setup remains intact over time.
Communication beyond language One unexpected but important aspect of my work here has been communication across language barriers. The technician I work closely with does not speak English, and my Japanese is still very basic. To bridge this gap, I began drawing detailed sketches of the experimental setups.
Every adjustment of the setup, no matter whether it was the placement of a hydrophone, the angle of a panel, or the water depth in which a frame is deployed, was first translated into a visual diagram. Over time, this method proved incredibly effective. It not only improved communication, but also forced me to think more clearly about the design of my experiment.
The experimental site: Knowing nature
A crucial part of my project so far has been documenting the conditions at the experimental site. To make sure that the experimental setup will not be damaged, it was important to get to know the tides, the currents and the weather conditions. At times, harsh weather conditions forced us to take a break from field work. In those moments, I enjoyed the cinematic scenery of sunsets, and I turned to other tasks, such as sanding the settlement panels in order to make their surface more suitable for colonizers.
Life at the marine station
Life at the marine station is a balance between fieldwork and lab work. After long hours outside, I often return to the lab to clean equipment, process preliminary data, or prepare for the next deployment.
I have also spent time helping others with their work, which has been an important part of integrating into the team. Whether assisting with equipment, handling or sharing observations, these interactions have made the experience of working at AMS more collaborative and less isolating. The station itself is modest but well-equipped. It provides everything that is necessary for field-based marine research, and its proximity to the water makes transitions between lab and field seamless.
Surprisingly, Jun Hirose and I got a welcome party from the whole office. It was a great opportunity to talk (or gesture) with other members of the station. And of course, there was great food, cooked by some of the researchers.
Nature and wildlife encounters
While the focus of my project is on underwater acoustics, the environment near the marine station constantly reminds me that this is a living ecosystem. Deer frequently wander near the station, sometimes appearing unexpectedly along the road. On a few occasions, I have even spotted a fox passing by quietly or lying next to the dining area at the guesthouse.
During a weekend break, I took the opportunity to explore Hokkaidō’s nature further to watch birds and seals. Watching seals swimming in the water, while seabirds circled overhead added another dimension to my understanding of the site. These animals are not just part of the scenery, they are also part of the acoustic environment I am studying.
What comes next
In the next phase of the project, I will shift from preparations to the systematic collection of data. With the setup tested and refined, I will run a controlled experiment to analyze whether sound interferes with the settlement of larvae.
What comes next
In the next phase of the project, I will shift from preparations to the systematic collection of data. With the setup tested and refined, I will run a controlled experiment to analyze whether sound interferes with the settlement of larvae.
I already started collecting data when I did recordings for assessing whether the frame that holds the settlement panels, which will not be exposed to boat noise, is acoustically isolated from the frame that holds the speaker.
Fieldwork is rarely smooth. Equipment fails, weather changes quickly, and even simple tasks can take much longer than expected. There have been days when strong winds made it impossible to deploy the setup, and others when technical issues forced me to repeat tests. However, each challenge has also led to small improvements such as better cable management, clearer protocols, and more efficient workflows.
Beyond the data, this experience has been shaped by the place and the people who made it possible. Working here in Akkeshi is a reminder that research is not just about results. It is about a process, adaptation, and observation. It is about learning to listen, not only to underwater soundscapes, but also to the environment and the people around you. I feel very lucky to be able to be here and I appreciate the moments I have been collecting so far and I am looking forward to the next four months. Because sometimes, the most interesting discoveries are not the ones you set out to find, but the ones you encounter along the way.
厚岸、ありがとうございました。
お疲れ様です。
Maximiliane
Wind, waves, and boat noise: The first four weeks of underwater sound research in Akkeshi, Japan.
From Desert to Seafloor
Fig. 1) team Strata That Matta: Victoria C., Maeghan D., Maddie B., Vale B. (from left to right)
The months leading up to OCEAN CORE Academy were filled with another type of adventure for me, surveying the badlands of New Mexico in search of dinosaur bones. Yet, my work in the Gulf Coast Repository consisted of examining ocean cores using a microscope. Although these experiences couldn’t be any more different, the two were similar in that each attempted to answer the same question: what did Earth look like in the past?
I focus much of my research on vertebrate paleontological and geological fieldwork, such as prospecting for fossils, measuring strata, or describing ancient paleoenvironments and faunal assemblages. While I knew about microfossils, I had not fully grasped how much geological history is present in them.
Fig. 2) fieldwork, NM (May 2026)
History Through a Microscope
This leads me to one of the most memorable parts of OCEAN CORE Academy, learning to prepare smear slides and identify what existed within the ocean cores. Ocean sediments are fairly recent in that they have not yet been lithified, each layer represents tens to hundreds of years of depositions onto the seafloor. What I looked at was much deeper!
It was a momentous occasion when I first saw a radiolarian beneath the microscope! These tiny fossilized organisms provide surprisingly detailed insights into ancient environments. The conditions in which different groups of microfossils thrive vary, but by tracking how they fluctuate between layers, we can reconstruct climatic shifts over geologic time.
Team Strata That Matta correlated a transition from calcareous to siliceous ooze layers with a cooling climate!
Fig. 3) my first time seeing microfossils
Fig. 4) radiolarian Fig. 5) coccolithophores Fig. 6) sponge spiccules
Bringing OCA Back to AZ
Upon my return to Arizona, I will carry this new perspective with me. As I move forward with future projects and field seasons in New Mexico, volunteer at the Arizona Museum of Natural History, and pursue my degree, the skills I developed here will prove to be invaluable for strengthening my own research.
Prior to attending OCEAN CORE Academy I viewed microfossils as existing, yet somewhat separate from my projects. This place has challenged that perspective. I came to understand that many of the most detailed records of Earth’s past are the microfossils hidden within a single grain of sediment!
Fig. 7) class of OCA 2026
Written by OCA 2026 student, Maddie Baare
From Desert to Seafloor
Fig. 1) team Strata That Matta: Victoria C., Maeghan D., Maddie B., Vale B. (from left to right)
The months leading up to OCEAN CORE Academy were filled with another type of adventure for me, surveying the badlands of New Mexico in search of dinosaur bones. Yet, my work in the Gulf Coast Repository consisted of examining ocean cores using a microscope. Although these experiences couldn’t be any more different, the two were similar in that each attempted to answer the same question: what did Earth look like in the past?
I focus much of my research on vertebrate paleontological and geological fieldwork, such as prospecting for fossils, measuring strata, or describing ancient paleoenvironments and faunal assemblages. While I knew about microfossils, I had not fully grasped how much geological history is present in them.
Fig. 2) fieldwork, NM (May 2026)
History Through a Microscope
This leads me to one of the most memorable parts of OCEAN CORE Academy, learning to prepare smear slides and identify what existed within the ocean cores. It was a momentous occasion when I first saw a radiolarian beneath the microscope!
Before, I had been hunting for fossils measured in centimeters/meters, but now I am studying those measured in micrometers. These tiny fossilized organisms provide surprisingly detailed insights into ancient environments. The conditions in which different groups of microfossils thrive vary, but by tracking how they fluctuate between layers, we can reconstruct climatic shifts over geologic time.
Using these changing microfossil assemblages, my team correlated a transition from calcareous to siliceous ooze layers with a cooling climate!
Fig. 3) my first time seeing microfossils
Fig. 4) radiolarian Fig. 5) coccolithophores Fig. 6) sponge spiccules
Bringing OCA Back to AZ
Upon my return to Arizona, I will carry this new perspective with me. As I move forward with future projects and field seasons in New Mexico, volunteer at the Arizona Museum of Natural History, and pursue my degree, the skills I developed here will prove to be invaluable for strengthening my own research.
Prior to attending OCEAN CORE Academy I viewed microfossils as existing, yet somewhat separate from my projects. This place has challenged that perspective. I came to understand that many of the most detailed records of Earth’s past are the microfossils hidden within a single grain of sediment!
Fig. 7) class of OCA 2026
Written by OCA 2026 student, Maddie Baare
I have been studying plastic pollution for more than a decade. I’ve analyzed hundreds of samples in labs, pored over data and spent years thinking hard about where plastics go once they leave our hands and enter the environment. I love doing work on the water—this was a big part of my previous professional roles in Alaska and in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands.
And here’s where it took me! I was thrilled to have the opportunity to join the first leg of eXXpedition’s voyage in the South Pacific this past spring, trading my lab coat for a lifejacket to study microplastics at sea. Sailing from Auckland, New Zealand, to the Bay of Islands aboard the 70-foot research vessel Wind Shift over 10 days, our crew of 12 women conducted ocean water-surface sampling via manta tow nets (a long cone-shaped mesh net), cleaned up debris on remote beaches and examined city streets with measuring tapes and field equipment. Our purpose? To collect key data to help us better understand the flow of plastics from land to sea.
Our all-female guest crew—hence the XX in “eXXpedition”—brought aboard expertise from the fields of structural engineering, circular economy strategy, sustainable fashion, plastics research, robotics and more. Together, we represented a remarkable cross-section of disciplines united around a shared concern for the health of our ocean.
Seeing it with my own eyes
We found plastics of all shapes and sizes everywhere we went—in the city streets of Auckland, while crossing the Hauraki Gulf and even at Aotea Great Barrier Island (one of the most remote and protected stretches of New Zealand’s coastline). Our ocean is vast and some of these places felt far removed from the centers of human activity, but this eXXpedition was a good reminder that plastic doesn’t respect remoteness. It moves, accumulates and shows up where we least expect.
Working alongside local NGO Sustainable Coastlines, we arrived on a remote stretch of beach on Aotea Great Barrier Island to audit and clean up any plastics we came across. What we found there told the same story our Auckland street surveys did: We found bottle caps, food packaging, fragments, plastic pellets and fishing debris. The everyday materials of modern life—but weathered, broken and scattered.
Science at sea
One of my favorite parts of the voyage (which was also one of the most challenging, if I’m being honest!) was the sea-surface manta trawl analyses we did onboard. I found out quickly that sorting microplastics from krill-laden seawater samples under a microscope while sailing is not for the faint of stomach.
The most common plastic culprit we found in those samples? Microplastic fibers. This type of microplastic is no wider than a human hair and is the most common type of microplastic found in the environment. Microplastic fibers can come from a variety of sources like cigarette butts, weathered ropes or wet wipes, but actually, most microplastic fibers shed from synthetic clothing and textiles. Laundering is a major source— shockingly, a single load of laundry can generate up to 18 million microfibers.
And yet, we found these tiny plastic fibers floating in the ocean many miles away from the nearest washing machine.
In my lab research, I have found microplastic fibers time and time again, but there’s something even more sobering about hand-picking them out of a seawater sample collected from pristine-looking waters. It was a good reminder of why understanding where plastic comes from, how it moves and where it ends up is so critical to addressing the problem at its roots.
Filter Out NSFW Microplastics
What I’m bringing back
Studying plastic pollution from the deck of a boat in some of the most remote waters in the Southern Hemisphere made me appreciate the work I do even more. It also made me appreciate how important people are in this giant puzzle of plastic pollution solutions. The plastic pollution crisis is a human problem, and solving it requires all of us. The courage and dedication of the women I shared those 10 days with is something I won’t forget. Going to sea, doing the science and pushing through discomfort to collect data that matters was not easy. We were seasick some days and exhilarated others. Despite that fact, we showed up for it fully, every day.
The plastic is out there, even in far-flung corners of the ocean. And the answer is not to be paralyzed by that fact, but to use it as fuel. Every sample we collected is now a data point in a larger story about where plastic comes from and where it goes. Every cleanup, every surface trawl, every street block walked and every hour spent at a microscope are parts of building the evidence base that informs policies, regulations and systems-level changes that can actually turn this crisis around.
Cleaning up beaches and coastlines is valuable and necessary work. But we also must stop plastic from entering the ocean in the first place—through stronger policy, better product design and real investment in waste management infrastructure everywhere. Luckily, when it comes to the most common microplastics in the ocean— microplastic fibers—there is already an effective, affordable solution to immediately reduce microplastics coming from our laundry by roughly 90%: washing machine filters. These filters act just like laundry lint filters in our dryers, capturing fibers in tightly-woven mesh and effectively preventing them from leaving our homes and leaking into the environment.
What can you do?
There’s no better time to tackle plastic pollution than right now, during Plastic Free July
! Take two minutes to add your name and call on your elected leaders to combat those pesky, dangerous microfibers that are pouring into our ocean daily—like the ones I found from my samples at sea. Together, we can stop plastic pollution at the source and protect our ocean forever and for everyone.
My biggest takeaways from this experience? People are remarkable. Our ocean is remarkable. And our ocean is worth fighting for, including from 70 feet of sailing vessel in the South Pacific, staring down a microscope with a pair of tweezers and a queasy stomach.
The eXXpedition South Pacific I voyage ran from April 27 to May 6, 2026, sailing from Auckland to the Bay of Islands. Learn more about the research team and our itinerary at https://exxpedition.com/voyage/auckland-to-bay-of-islands/.
The post Microplastic Pollution Research at Sea appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
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