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Gettin’ close to an overload Up against a no-win situation Shoulder to shoulder, push and shove I’m hangin’ up my boxin’ gloves I’m ready for a long vacation These are the words from one of my favorite songs by the rock band Journey. How appropriate they ring as I write to you for this final time. Life is short. Anger and frustration had replaced fun and excitement in my job and my life. Life is too short for all that. I have family and friends that deserve better than that from me. I have had twelve wonderful years of thinking through the creation of NAMA with some wonderful people and then being chosen as Coordinating Director and leading this great organization through its infancy and early childhood. I have made some lifelong friends spanning across the globe and I will forever be grateful for this opportunity. Let me leave you with one last parting plea. I hope that someday, somehow and someway, the fish come back before the last fisherman leaving the Gulf of Maine has to turn off the lights. It won’t happen if we don’t take control of our own destiny. You must seize power and authority to manage both the marine resources and yourselves. For thirty years we have digressed and abdicated our rights to political appointees. I don’t have to remind you of the outcome—most of you are living it. The time is right. You must brush aside what you disagree about and focus on what you agree on. Learn to work together. Learn to trust your neighbor. Take the time to read NAMA’s principles one more time and then apply them to your own personal life. I will always remember the words of my dear friend and mentor Dee Hock “given the ability to try — quite ordinary people will find quite extraordinary solutions to some of life’s most complicated problems” I believe that to be true. When you finish reading NAMA’s principles, go back and read the Gulf of Maine Inshore Fisheries Conservation and Stewardship Plan and Local Area Management of Groundfish — A Framework for Moving New England Forward. You will realize that Dee’s words ring true. These two documents which were proposals developed by good, caring people to whom NAMA gave that unique opportunity to try, are two projects I believe represent the best work of my career. I’m not sure where I’m headed. I’m not sure what the future holds for me. What I am sure of is that I have given, with all my heart and soul, every day that I was employed by NAMA. And I hope that someday soon there will truly be a Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance that has an opportunity to create programs based on abundance not scarcity and operates during a time of prosperity not despair. I often wonder where we would be had we chosen to collaborate with the Native Americans instead of creating an adversarial position with them. What if we made decisions based on whether or not there would be equal or more seven generations from now? Sadly we may never know because greed interfered, much like it is today. Good Luck, Good Fishing, Good Vision to Good Decisions and thank you all again for a wonderful life opportunity. Craig Pendleton |
