Sarah Too

For once, a work trip that allowed enough time to see the host location! My recent week (is 4 days equal to a week?) in Gloucester, MA was not only worthwhile at the work level, it was a great reminder of my love for New England. A field trip on Wednesday morning, led all us fisheries nerds to Whole Foods' Pigeon Cove seafood processing plant. Action at the plant was a little slow because in the Northeast region fishing season really opens in June, and we arrived for our tour at the plant around 9-9:30 am. The plant receives orders from about 100 Whole Foods' stores across the nation and on Wednesday, they were shipping Norway salmon, New England scallops, and Vietnamese-caught tuna to various stores. Additionally, I'm not sure I really want to eat a salmon burger or salmon sausage, now that I know from what both are made. Like they always say: "If you like the law, and you like sausage, don't watch either being made." Unfortunately, I've seen both made and regardless of how I feel about either process, I participate in the former, and still grill up the products of the latter.

After the fish processing plant, our group of about 20 folks headed over to the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center. The pier of the Center was used in the filming of The Perfect Storm as the dock outside of The Crow's Nest - a local dive bar actually located about a mile away from the Center. Hollywood constructed a facade over the Center's building by the dock and attracted more gulls with bread crumbs thrown on the roof to make the location look "more authentic."


The Center is undergoing a renovation right now, and they are constructing replicas of the ships that were involved in the Boston Tea Party. One of the boat builders offered a VERY detailed description of events preceding the party, as well as of the tea party itself. I listened to tidbits, but mostly focused on the man in the background, preparing hemp for use as caulking in the hull of one of the replicas. It was a beautiful day to be outside and near the water. Even a person more acclimated to Florida's spring heat and humidity could appreciate the blue skies, white fluffy clouds, and air temperatures with a hint of crispness. In fact, for the time I was in Gloucester, I preferred it - that is, until the rain came on Thursday.

Ultimately, I would like to go back to Gloucester and to Boston - a town which I never explored. (I don't think the area surrounding Logan Airport is the best face of the Bosox's hometown.) Gloucester has a great little downtown area with boutiques, galleries, and restaurants - quintessential New England - that reminded me of family trips to Maine, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod. And it made me realize how much I miss the northern landscapes of the Atlantic Ocean.

Summary:
Lobstas eaten: 1 (and it was buttery goodness)
Cups of chowda devoured: 1 (and I should have brought some home)
People pooped on by overfed seagulls: 1 (it was NOT me and they say that's "lucky")
Fisherman's Brew enjoyed: 3 (clearly, I liked it enough)
Wrong turns on the way to return the Dodge Magnum rental: at least 1
Trips to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and coffee in lieu of poor service at the The Ocean View Inn's restaurant: 2
Fishing boats named after space shuttles: at least 3 (including the one named after "Challenger")
Awards received: 1 (and it was for just showing up to the workshop)

Recommendations:
Passports, 110 Main Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
Alchemy, 3 Duncan Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
Valentino's, 38 Main Street, Gloucester, MA 01930

P.S. All can rest easy as I did get to watch the season premier of So You Think You Can Dance.

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Could I possibly say "no," when my boss calls me down to his office today and asks, "Can you travel?" My reply had to be "yes," as I had no better excuse than "But, So You Think You Can Dance premiers next week!" (I LOVE So You Think You Can Dance, and I am deeply concerned about missing the season premier next Thursday. I can see you rolling your eyes, and well, I don't care. My love for that show may run deeper than my love for any of you, so keep rolling them eyes. :-P)

So where am I off to, this time, you ask? Why no where other than Gloucester, MA, America's Oldest Seaport! Wait...huh??? (Confused looks, knit brows...) Gloucester has a connection to NOAA Fisheries in that it is home to our Northeast Regional Office. I'm headed up there next week as a fill-in for a co-worker at a workshop on recovery of ESA-listed species. I guess you could say its a kind knowledge swap or a "lessons learned" kind of deal, as we NOAA Fisheries folks are going to discuss recovery as its been applied in the past and how we ("The Agency") will deal with recovery in the future for newly listed species and for currently listed species undergoing mandatory 5-year status reviews. I'm alternate number 50 down the line for filling in at this workshop, as my boss just found out today that my co-worker cannot attend next week. Others are unable to travel for any number of reasons, but as my boss so eloquently stated, "Well, you're young, rich, and single." Hey boss, I know you've seen my paycheck, so I think we can safely pull "rich" out of that statement, okay? If you want to replace that word with "gorgeous," "stunning," or "extremely talented," well, then I'd be more than OK with that.

Oh, and the picture (above) that kicked off this post? That's not only the location of the workshop, but it is where I'll be staying while in Gloucester. Its called The Ocean Inn and its ridiculously quaint, in a very New England seaport kind of way. Unfortunately, I've got to be home on Friday in time to head off to Orlando for some "young, rich, and single" fun out on the town, so I'll miss out on the whale watching field trip that day. Regardless, I hope to get some good photos while I'm on the road and between sessions at the workshop.

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Today was my first day back in the office after spending all of last week at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (FWS) National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. I went there to learn everything there is to know about species recovery planning and implementation. Any species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) must have a recovery plan. The training course was intense, with few moments spared for oneself or non-recovery talk. The lack of readily accessible and reliable cell phone and internet service further isolated everyone on campus from the rest of the world. In a way, it was a nice respite; however, there was little escape from one another or from the topic at hand: recovery, recovery, and oh, MORE species recovery.

My classmates were a mix of FWS employees as well as some fellow NOAA Fisheries Service employees from other regions (e.g., Alaska). Our instructors were diverse, intelligent, and engaging. Overall, the course was good, with some ups and downs with my level of interest and with the level of applicability of the course concepts to coral recovery. I think one of the most interesting portions of the class was the guest speaker presentation on recovery of the endangered short-tailed albatross.

After a week at the center, sleeping in dormitories, eating in a cafeteria filled with buffets of amazing food, and winding down in the evenings at the "lounge" filled with giant mugs of local microbrews for $5 grew stale. I was at least 5 pounds heavier and ready to come home. (Seriously, mealtime was akin to eating on a cruise - everything was too good to turn down!) That being said, I would not turn down another opportunity to attend a training. The experience was great and the location was beautiful. We were in the middle of nowhere, west of the Appalachian Trail, and I saw four deer, one cardinal, and one bunny. The deer were just steps away from me and completely content, gnawing on tree bark and shrubbery in the wooded areas. If I actually liked and knew my birds better, I probably would have come away with a longer list than that. I felt like I saw more wildlife in one week there than I do all year in Florida, but thinking about it again, I just see different wildlife at home. My classmates from Wyoming and California - they don't see manatees, mullet, snook, tarpon, or dolphins swimming just off the seawall next to the office. And they don't have lorikeets and ibis and pelicans. Regardless of the wildlife that we do run into on a regular basis, we all work to protect our backyard treasures, no matter how uphill or impossible the task may seem. The one vital lesson I did take away from my class is this: as soon as you say a species cannot be recovered, you throw hope out the window. Where would any of us be if we did that?

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