‘It will not be easy.’ As labs begin to reopen, enormous challenges remain

Abstract

Russell Hopcroft spent much of April hunkered down in Fairbanks, Alaska, plotting how he’d return to research once the state ended its lockdown Late last week, he finally got the call—or rather, the Zoom: The National Science Foundation was granting Hopcroft, a biological oceanographer at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, permission to set sail on his ecological expedition to collect data on critical Gulf of Alaska fishing grounds But there would be some big caveats When the vessel left port yesterday, it held only three researchers, instead of the typical 24 The voyage is limited to 1 week, not two, meaning the scientists will not be able to conduct their usual surveys of birds and marine mammals And everyone on board is wearing face masks and physical distancing, not a simple task for crews accustomed to working hands-on in close quarters