I have a sword
I had a pretty entertaining conversation with Calvin this morning. We were commiserating about a particularly complex proposal. The thing is nasty. It has sub-awards, it has in-kind, it has cost-sharing, it has about 15 different partners. Calvin described it as a menacing, slimy, Hydra monster of a proposal.
I shrugged. "Whatever; I have a sword."
Calvin laughed out loud.
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| Photogrammetric model of a fishing net on the Portland bow. Credit: Marine Imaging Technologies. |
The proposal itself is actually the closest I'll ever come to playing offence: prevention. We're proposing to partner with stakeholders across Massachusetts to prevent future entanglements of fishing gear on shipwrecks. You know what I'm talking about - my team discovered in 2019-2020 that trawl nets and monofilament had become entangled on multiple historic shipwrecks in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. It's tragic for a fisherman to lose an expensive net. What's more, that net can damage the physical structure of the shipwreck it got snagged on, and it can even alter the biological community living on the shipwreck.
Our partners at the sanctuary have already started taking steps to reduce fishing impacts on shipwrecks, but we can do more. By bringing all relevant stakeholders to the table and engaging the fishing community as experts, we're hoping to identify tractable solutions with broad support and protect our underwater cultural heritage.
This proposal is a new experience for me. It's the first time my research has identified a problem, and then I've taken concrete steps to try and fix it. I'm learning a lot as I go. For all the complexities and headache this particular proposal brought me, I am proud of our work.
And when it comes to cutting nets off of shipwrecks - hey, I have a sword.
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