Page 40: of Marine Technology Magazine (October 2012)

Gloucester sets its sights on subsea tech New England Regional Focus Nestled on the North Shore of Massachusetts is the town of Gloucester. The town sits on Cape Ann and this popular summer destination is quintes-sential New England. It was originally founded in 1623 and is one of the earliest English settlements. In its earlier days it was an important shipbuilding center, and to this day due to its proximity to Georges Bank, it remains one of the most important Þ shing ports in the country. As you stroll along the waters edge you will Þ nd the iconic statue of GortonÕs Fisherman leaning into the helm of his ship. The statue looks out to sea standing as a reminder of the over 10,000 men of Gloucester who gave their live to the Atlantic Ocean. Several of those men were depicted in the novel by Sebastian Junger, the Perfect Storm. Today as with many commercial Þ shing ports whoÕs industry faces an unknown future, there is a movement to position the area for an inß ux of marine technology clusters. Marine Technology Reporter sat down with Carolyn Kirk the Mayor of Gloucester and the towns Director of Harbor Planning Sarah Garcia to see what is happening in the historical port.By Rhonda MonizCan you tell us a little bit about your focus in northern New England with regard to increasing the viability and accessibility for marine technol- ogy companies? Ms. Kirk: I took ofÞ ce January 1, 2008. Gloucester has 62 miles of coastline and one mile of the designated port area, which is what we consider to be our working harbor. That is the area of concentration that we have focused on. We had a series of what I call listening posts throughout the city. Was this an effort to take the pulse of the area regarding a focus for the working harbor? Ms. Kirk: Yes. We asked people what their vision was for the working port of the city of Gloucester. We had over 600 people attend these meetings, and the format was very simple. They got to go to a microphone and speak for up to three min- utes. We had a panel of nine people that were regular citizens and that also represented a cross section of the community. With our Director of Harbor Planning, Sarah GarciaÕs help and sup- port we took all the feedback and digested it and came up with a plan for the harbor area. Basically that drove everything we have October 201240 MTRMTR #8 (34-49).indd 40MTR #8 (34-49).indd 4010/4/2012 9:34:25 AM10/4/2012 9:34:25 AM