![sunrise Half Moon Bay Leaving Half Moon Bay before the sun for a day of fishing with the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (photo: E. Loury)](https://mlml.sjsu.edu/student-life/wp-content/uploads/sites/75/2009/08/sunrise-half-moon-bay.jpg)
![Erin Loury Erin Loury](https://mlml.sjsu.edu/student-life/wp-content/uploads/sites/75/2008/08/erin-with-fish12.jpg)
By Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab
If you’re not a good morning person, think carefully before considering any type of marine field work. Whether it’s to catch a good low tide to sample an otherwise submerged tidepool, or to squeeze in as much fishing time on the water before the afternoon wind, it’s not unusual to start a summer morning of field work at 4 a.m. I definitely gain a new respect for weather and tides when operating on nature’s schedule – and maybe lose a bit in the beauty sleep department.
There are other consequences: I start thinking about lunch around 9:30 a.m., and bed starts sounding awfully good at 8 p.m. Although I often wish I had a crowbar to pry open my eyelids that early in the morning, the pre-dawn start can have its benefits too. Such as watching the sunrise light up the ocean. Suddenly, the field work I was cursing not two hours before becomes the luckiest job the world – and I remember just why I wanted to do marine science in the first place.
![IMG_9061 Sunrise at the Channel Islands on a National Marine Fisheries survey (photo: Erin Loury)](https://mlml.sjsu.edu/student-life/wp-content/uploads/sites/75/2009/08/img_9061.jpg)