Working on the water can mean many things
Before Greg Skomal, internationally known shark scientist, spoke to 400 or so high school students gathered at the Cape Cod Community College, a video about last year’s WaterWORKS event was projected on a big screen. One student made a confession. “I didn’t know about any of these opportunities,” he said, speaking of the myriad water-related industries and nonprofits he had just visited with as part of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce’s Blue Economy career day...
Saying goodbye to Napi
The week before Christmas the phone rang at the Fishermen’s Alliance office and Napi was talking, which meant I needed to stop and pay attention because anytime Napi started talking you needed to focus. His mind was able to connect disparate, startling, shocking, brilliant, disquieting, cantankerous, but ultimately satisfying elements at a moment’s notice...
Alumni revisited: Catching up with Claire
Growing up, Claire Fitz-Gerald always wanted to do something with oceans as a career. “I’m a Chicago native,” she says, “so at first I thought it would be at an aquarium, with dolphins.” After studying marine biology in college in New England, Fitz-Gerald got a position as a federal fisheries observer, which gave her first-hand knowledge about life on the water...
Slow-Mo decisions
We all express frustration with the pace of government, how the wheels seem to turn too slowly if at all, how the process feels like a slog through mud, how weeks turn into months turn into years. Believe me, there are times when I share that feeling.
Dumitru welcomes the switch from shepherd to scalloper
Dumitru Babes came to the United States from Romania and one day he was hanging out with close friends watching the movie “Arthur.” Star Dudley Moore is drinking heavily, then told he’s had enough. Moore replies he wants “more than enough.” Sandy Keese, granddaughter, mother and grandmother of fishermen, remembers Babes hearing the line and cracking up...
Seal study aims to investigate the human element
On any summer day there are tourists at the Chatham fish pier who love seeing “adorable” seals cavort around the fishing vessels. There are also fishermen who have lost part of their catch to those seals. Both tourists and fishermen support protecting the ecosystem, but how they view that may differ. And those views may be wholly different from someone who enjoys surfing off Nauset, but is concerned about sharks...
Protecting herring is a key generational accomplishment
Captain Ted Ligenza could have retired; he has been fishing for more than 40 years. But he was waiting. He remembers how good the cod fishery off Chatham was in the winter, before midwater trawls came and changed everything.
Nat Mason will be missed
Peter Baker remembers when Nat Mason wandered into the office of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen and asked if they needed an intern. “The Hook” was operating on a shoestring budget, and Baker, the campaign director, was about 30 years younger than this man who wanted to volunteer. “He ended up being our CFO – for seven years,” remembers Baker...
Alumni revisited: Catching up with Tom
For Massachusetts native Tom Dempsey, Pacific Grove, California seems like home. “It’s a fantastic small town, feels almost like Chatham,” he says. “The coastline is stunning and beautiful, like on the Cape.” For the past four years, Dempsey, his wife and their three children have lived on this West Coast peninsula adjacent to Monterey, where he works as the California Oceans Program Director for The Nature Conservancy...
Remembering my dad
We buried my father last week, surrounded by family and friends, a gathering of events public and private, full of memories, sadness and joy.
