[CINC] Fwd: CINC is the Best!

[Paul Petrich]

> 
>> From: <ppetrich39 at me.com>
>> Subject: CINC is the Best!
>> Date: June 11, 2013 4:04:40 PM PDT
>> To: channel_islands_ naturalist_corps <channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org>
>> 
>> CINC Colleagues,
>>  Please read the attached short speech I was asked to give at the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Leadership Awards Dinner. It was not read, but rather spoken from the heart. You got spontaneous applause when I stated " Volunteer organizations don't get any better than the Channel Islands Naturalist Corps!  Sincerely, Paul
>> 
> Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2013
NMSF Leadership Awards Dinner/Volunteer of the Year Acceptance Speech

Paul Petrich Jr.

Ladies and gentlemen, I come from a family whose reliance on the sea goes back to the 1600s. Both my father and grandfather came to Southern California as immigrants to fish commercially the bountiful seas surrounding the Channel Islands. They became a part of what was then the most productive fishing industry in the world out of San Pedro. When I was a student my summer jobs often relied upon that same rich harvest.

 

In my late teens, I witnessed my father make a very courageous transition. He became the Master Captain of the State F& G research fleet. That fleet sought answers as to why certain previously profitable fish species along the California coast were in sharp decline.

 

 Upon graduating from college with my teaching credential, I chose to live and teach where I could enjoy the Channel Islands. In doing so, I soon witnessed the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill. That event made me decide to be a steward of the sea in my own right. Soon, the geography classes I taught had a special unit in local ocean conservation.  I became a charter member of the Cousteau Society. Flashing forward many, many years, my acceptance into the CINC in 2006, became the highlight of my retirement years: basically because I was going to continue to teach about local ocean conservation, using a continually updated National Marine Sanctuary lesson plan!

 

  Volunteer organizations don’t get any better than the CINC! In 2011 we won the “Take Pride in America” award for being the best volunteer program in the nation! We gained this honor, in large part, because of fantastic cooperation between the Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, both of which we represent. Our 130 volunteers have deep roots in the communities of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Right at this minute my colleagues should be gathering at their annual picnic with a view over the Santa Barbara Channel of the Marine Sanctuary and the National Park that they  serve. We will applaud them later. “I am here , only because I am a reflection of all of them!”

 

Our Naturalist Corps outreach is offered on tour and whale watch boats out of three ports accessing our Sanctuary. We constantly share with visitors the latest science at work in the Sanctuary-and the many successes achieved. Let me share one of those successes with you which especially inspires me.

 

In the four decades my father sailed through the waters of what is now the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, he never saw a Blue Whale. They were not there! But, now, whale watch boats full of passengers are seeing them regularly come to feed on abundant krill in our Sanctuary. Before my dad passed on, and during my first year as a volunteer, I was able to share with him that I counted 20 spouting Blues in one August sighting! We both agreed: These giant canneries of the sea, must be telling us we are doing something right!

 

Now, I hope you will join me in applauding all the great ocean people who volunteer throughout our entire Sanctuary System. Tara Brown, would you please stand. Tara is my very special lady friend in the Naturalist Corps. We met in the Naturalist Corps, so that is further proof that the Sanctuary System works! Please join Tara and I in applauding all those who volunteer in our sanctuaries.  “ You don’t get paid, but that does not make you worthless, it makes you priceless to the success of the Sanctuary’s mission.”  Thank you all! These applause are for all of you: East coast, to west coast and beyond!

 

 

 

 

> 

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