Summer of 2014 was a tough time. I wasn't in the job I wanted, wasn't in a situation I wanted, and while I had put together a woodshop, I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. So at the tail end of that long summer I packed a bag and took off for Cape Cod, to go stare at the ocean and get my head right. If you have some heavy thinking to do, the Cape is the place to do it. I spent my time wandering the beaches, going on whale watches and being a tourist in general. One day I walked out to long point and met a group of curious seals. As I walked along the beach, they followed in the water. Its a pretty charming quality they have, that seal curiosity. I was smitten. Later that week, while looking for something to read, I stumbled across Yankee Magazine and brought it home to devour an article about the conflict the seal population was causing on Cape Cod. Featured in the article was a seal researcher, and while I was interested to know what she thought of the seal issue, I was distracted by the title under her picture. "Marine Animal Rescuer and Researcher" it said, and went on to explain that she works for Center for Coastal Studies. I'd heard of them, but had no idea what they did, exactly, so I did the obvious, I googled them. Once on their website, I was amazed. It turns out the marine animal rescuing the article was referring to is the Marine Animal Entanglement Response. Whales get tangled in fishing gear and rope, and these folks get in a boat, find the whale and then set about freeing the whale from the entanglement using buoys to slow the whale and knives on long poles to cut the animal free. The team has disentangled a large number of whales, some of them endangered North American Right Whales. Because of the work CCS and others do, these whales are making a slow comeback. I had no idea people did this kind of work, and marveled at the MAER teams willingness to be on call at all times to do what must be both difficult and dangerous.
I can't thank the seal researcher in the picture enough. Partly for her role disentangling whales, partly for her work as a biologist, but also for standing still for a picture that opened a new world to me. She has no idea, but I thank her every time I walk into my little dusty woodshop.
I can't thank the seal researcher in the picture enough. Partly for her role disentangling whales, partly for her work as a biologist, but also for standing still for a picture that opened a new world to me. She has no idea, but I thank her every time I walk into my little dusty woodshop.
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