It's Been Awhile..... Now in Alaska

[Colt Snapp]

Wow so its been awhile since I have updated this blog... I don't know a lot of the people on here anymore... let me quick introduce myself to some of the people who might not know me... I'm Colt Snapp, a 2006 graduate of Benton High School and was part of the 2005 and 2006 Marine Biology Classes. I recently graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelors degree in Marine Biology. I have been through many internships and jobs through my college career which you can read about on my earlier blog posts. now that brings me to what am i doing now?

 

After graduation I got hired from a contracting company as an agent for National Marine Fisheries Service. I'm working in Dutch Harbor, Alaska as a North Pacific Groundfish Observer. I'm basically a Fisheries Biologist collecting, maintaining, and distributing data for scientific, management, and regulation compliance purposes in the Gulf of Alaska and the Eastern Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands. I work 3 months at a time on boats/plants/processors in Alaska collecting biological samples that NMFS and NOAA uses to manage the fisheries up here. I'm currently one month into my contract and so far its great! Everything is paid for Room/Board/Flights plus I'm getting paid a good amount of money per day for a job right out of college. This is a great job for an adventurous person!! Not very many people get to live on or see the Aleutian Islands. I plan on doing this job for a couple years with a few months break in between contracts.

 

I hope everything is going well in Missouri and with all the new Marine Biology classes...If anyone wants to see pictures from Alaska just facebook me.. I don't have internet very much but I try to update as much as possible. If anyone has any questions about marine biology or anything related feel free to ask and I will answer!! ill be back in town in November so maybe ill sit in on a class or two!

 

Good luck on the New Year!!

[Sean Nash]

Hey Colt, you don't happen to know this fellow do you?  Wow. What do you think of tHaT? Seems like a rather unfortunate blow to the often-unpopular practice of quotas. 

 

[Nicole Rohr]

Rock on, Colt! That is so totally awesome! Definitely not my cup of tea (turns out I am a business suit and high heels kinda chick) but I am intimately involved in NOAA/NMFS issues. Congratulations on finishing school and becoming gainfully employed. :)

 

I love hearing updates from the Missourians who are now working on ocean issues - just goes to show that it doesn't matter where you're from, only where you're going! Be careful up there and I would love to see some pics too!

[Sean Nash]

Colt, there are few things I enjoy more in my life than opening up this network and seeing a post like this one just pop up out of nowhere.

 

Dutch Harbor, man...  that is fringe. And fringe in a completely different way than our forays into the remote corners of the Bahamas, huh? Boy, I just cannot wait to get my image work completed so I can show you the places we visited on this past June trip to the Exuma Cays. We had an adventurous and more-than-capable captain who took us to places I'd never imagined taking Deja Vu. I'm excited to share those stories with you.

 

And yet, your story continues to be even better than that. To think that your first trip to Andros Island with me ended with a knee full of stitches and a week spent watching people snorkel from the topside of a sailboat...  wow. I was always glad you got to go back the next year, but I had no idea at the time you'd later go on to:

 

*Live blog (here) the experience of hurricanes advancing on Galveston

 

*Return here to show and tell about your experiences with marine reptiles, etc., in the Gulf of Mexico

 

*Stick around to let us share in the next phase of your career/life story as you venture to ecosystems we spend precious little time on at any point in school (even Marine Biology)

 

I'm not sure what all that says about your experiences with this program, your basic human nature, or what...  but I do know that it is all very good and so deeply appreciated. Slivers of contact like this show Midwestern kids what is possible in the field of Marine Biology, and allow an old teacher to retain focus and fire in an educational environment that seems to favor standardization and exams written by people miles away.

 

As always, I thank you for this, and I look forward to your future adventures. I know I speak for more than just myself on this one.

 

*PS- If you ever get a chance, drop a few photos of the raw beauty of your surroundings here. We can't get to FB from the schools as it is blocked. After this summer, I need to see snowy peaks and frigid seas every now and then.

 

Thanks, Colt.