October 2026 - Director's Corner

By Melissa Mahoney, October 5, 2026

One word sums up the month of September: hurricane.

With at least nine recorded hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean—including notable storms like Marie, Nolo, Polo, Odalys, and Rachel—some brought severe destruction to communities on the island of Hawaii. Out on the water, there is widespread talk of unusual oceanic conditions, an impending super El Niño, and the anticipation of stormy weather for our West Coast fisheries this year.

Metaphorically speaking, the first part of September felt like a hurricane of activity—but in a positive way.

We released the Monterey Bay Commercial Fisheries: Status & Trends Report on September 1st, marking a major landfall moment for MBFT. Our team worked on this document for nearly a year after acquiring the 40+ year dataset from CDFW last October. Having it fully laid out, finalized, and released to the world felt both exhilarating and terrifying—much like standing in the path of an approaching storm. I felt incredibly proud of this accomplishment and its contribution to our region's social science. At the same time, I felt that inescapably human fear of "not good enough" once exposed to the public eye. But like being in a hurricane, there comes a moment to surrender and just let go. So I did. And you know what? It was fun!

We hosted a live webinar with our co-authors from UC Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay Aquarium to present key insights from the report. Over 75 people joined us and asked thoughtful, engaging questions. I loved seeing those connections take root, and I hope many more follow as the report makes its way through harbor offices, docks, local government agencies, and research institutions. Preparing for and executing that event was a mad rush—like battening down the hatches before a storm hits. Surprisingly, things have quieted down since. The internal storm that drove our team to reach this milestone has passed, and we're now gearing up for the next flurry of activity: port-based stakeholder workshops.

As of this writing, my thoughts and prayers are with the people, animals, and communities currently facing real risk from active hurricanes. Closer to home, I'm focusing on where I can continue letting go, smiling in the face of our challenges, and enjoying our work with colleagues and community members as we keep building resilience together.