When commercial salmon troller Mike Hudson was asked to talk to San Francisco Bay Area high school students about his work and the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, he enthusiastically accepted.
“Nobody ever gets to meet a fisherman — a commercial fisherman — and it’s a treasure for them,” Hudson says.
The sanctuary is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and NOAA offers an assortment of programs designed to foster an understanding of man’s impact on the ocean and an appreciation for the marine life of the sanctuary.
“Fisherman in the Classroom” is one of those programs, and it’s geared to seventh- to 12th-graders. Local fishermen such as Hudson and sanctuary educators are invited into classrooms to talk about the cultural history of fishing on California’s coasts, sustainable fisheries, climate change and watershed restoration.
This NOAA video has more about the program and Hudson’s involvement:
Although few of the students Hudson addresses have ever gone fishing — “a couple, three hands [come up] in every class, and I just think it’s really not enough, you know,” he says — Hudson believes his visits have an impact.
“They take some of what I say home with them,” he says.
