Day 2 – Today we had an excellent presentation from Ted Harrington, the Director of the Boston Regional Office of the US Coast Guard. He showed us a video of a fishing vessel that sunk off the coast of Massachusetts to demonstrate the need to ensure that you have the correct equipment, the equipment works, and you know how to use it. It can come down to seconds between life and death when an emergency happens on the opens seas. After the presentation we visited the fishing vessel (F/V) Alaska. F/V Alaska is a scallop boat. We learned about the safety equipment on board, and in a small way, what it is like for fishermen who can be out at sea for 10 days catching scallops. After the Alaska, we went to the Fleet Fisheries processing center. Inside we saw how they prepare scallops, cod, flounder, and lobsters for packaging and transportation to restaurants across the country.
John Talty, our project officer from NIOSH, was able to join us on the tour today. We were glad that he was able to be with us, and was able to see some of the tour.
After a nice lunch at a local hangout, we’re off to Montpellier VT and Barre VT for the Granite Quarry.