Breadcrumb
Director's Welcome
Welcome and thanks for your interest in the Telonicher Marine Lab, the R/V North Wind, and other facilities that collectively support education and research in the marine sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt!
These remarkable resources provide engaging hands-on classroom and in-the-field experiences to students in Oceanography, Fisheries Biology, Wildlife, Marine Biology, and Environmental Sciences, support important research and monitoring programs (and student engagement in these efforts), and help to connect people visiting from near and far to the marine environments off California’s North Coast.
The Telonicher Marine Lab is situated on a coastal bluff in the seaside town of Trinidad and approximately 14 miles north of the Cal Poly Humboldt main campus. The Marine Lab houses well-equipped teaching and research spaces, including an extensive wet lab with a recirculating seawater system, a plankton culture facility, and several instrument labs, and sustains infrastructure to support mariculture, small boat, and scientific diving (SCUBA) operations. Being situated near a broad range of coastal habitats, ranging from kelp forests and rocky reefs to rocky shores and sandy beaches to estuaries and coastal rivers, the Marine Lab serves as a small but mighty field station for faculty and graduate student research and provides ready access to natural ecosystems for undergraduate field courses. Visitors to public areas of the Marine Lab can meet denizens of local waters in our public display aquaria (or by arranging a naturalist-led tidepooling tour!) and learn about the research being conducted by Cal Poly Humboldt students and faculty.
The R/V North Wind continues the legacy of her predecessors, most recently the R/V Coral Sea, by extending the reach of educational and research opportunities throughout Humboldt Bay and into the open coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean. The North Wind carries a broad suite of scientific instruments and is fitted out to support a broad range of operations. The R/V North Wind enables students and scientists to study habitats and ecosystems over the continental shelf, marine canyons, and the deeper waters offshore. A fleet of smaller boats supports projects focused on Humboldt Bay and nearshore coastal habitats, including kelp forests that hug our rocky coastlines.
The Marine Lab and R/V North Wind also play key roles in sustaining scientific observations that inform and empower communities along California’s North Coast. For example, the Marine Lab is home base for North Coast elements of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS), and the R/V North Wind supports operations and infrastructure for several ocean monitoring programs, including those focused on monitoring coastal ecosystems, measuring ocean waves in real time, and tracking tectonic processes along the Cascadia subduction zone. Through these collaborations and contracts with outside partners, both the Marine Lab and the R/V North Wind contribute to the safety of those who live and work on the coast and to the sustainability of the ecosystems that are vital to our coastal economies and cultures.
Again, thank you for your interest in the Telonicher Marine Lab, the R/V North Wind, and all the other elements of Cal Poly Humboldt's strong commitment to marine sciences environments and ecosystems and to the communities that depend on and steward these environments and ecosystems along the North Coast and beyond.
Eric P. Bjorkstedt, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Interim Director of Marine Operations & Department of Fisheries Biology (Adjunct)
Telonicher Marine Laboratory
Cal Poly Humboldt
(707) 826-3688