By Alexandra Norelli

Women’s History Month inspired us to dig a little deeper into fisheries history to see where and when women first started making their mark in the field. This is in no way a comprehensive history of all women in fisheries, however, the members of the Women of Fisheries group never cease to surprise and inspire us with their experiences. To start this exploration into the history of women in fisheries science, we polled the Women of Fisheries private Facebook group to see if there were any “firsts” among us.

The Observers

Two early fisheries observers from the Women of Fisheries group spoke up about their experiences, and Board Member Lynn Mattes also has early experiences in observing that she spoke about in her Fish Sister profile last month. Hearing their stories about fisheries observing was especially exciting since many early career scientists consider observing for their first stepping stone into the field and observing in general is often a hot topic in group discussions.  

Fisheries observers are professionally trained fisheries biologists that monitor commercial fisheries firsthand and collect data to support fisheries management. Observing is an adventurous career path that involves weeks or months onboard fishing vessels that often encounter dangerous conditions on rough seas. The majority of captains and crew members (and most observers) on these fishing vessels are men. Yet, many aspiring women fisheries scientists crave the salty breeze and swaying motion of vessel at sea – not to mention the experience of handling a bunch of cool fish! The hands-on nature of the job and the clear impact the research has on fisheries management makes it a desirable position for many adventurous women. 

First hand account

Cynthia Rogers West, a marine biologist, served as a fisheries observer starting in 1994 in the Bering Sea alongside a small group of women from Texas A&M University Galveston. After observing in Alaska, she worked as research assistant with the University of Washington completing freshwater plant and insect surveys and eventually moved on to work for a pharmaceutical manufacturing company and as a regulatory affairs specialist for clinical cancer studies, but observing was “the biggest adventure of [her] lifetime.” 

We reached out to her for comments on her experience as an early fisheries observer, highlights from the interview are below:  

To set the scene, how common were women observers in 1994?  

It was still not all that common in the mid 90’s to see women observers aboard the fishing boats in Alaska. In a crew of maybe 100 there might be a handful of women if any. Most of the time, especially on the smaller vessels, I was the only observer on board and the only woman alongside an all male crew.

-Cynthia Rogers West

What made you choose to be an observer?

I had just graduated from Texas A&M in Galveston (TAMUG) in the summer of 94. This was going to be my first actual marine biology job. No more waiting on tables, working in the school library and studying for classes. I was done with that and ready to move on. 

The job posting read something like ‘looking for a marine biologist to observe in Alaska for the NOAA’s North Pacific Groundfish observer program’. I remember it was pinned up on the college career board in my library. A friend of mine, another graduate of TAMUG, had just come back from doing this job in Alaska…so I asked him to tell me all about it . I found out all I could really quickly as I didn’t have much time to decide. A training class was starting very soon that summer in Seattle and if I wanted to go for the fall/ winter “pollock” season I had to make up my mind fast. 

I asked all my friends and family what should I do, should I go to the Bering Sea in the middle of winter? Boats could sink, you could freeze to death in under five minutes if you fell overboard, you would not be able to call home or see land for maybe weeks or months at a time, and it was deemed one if not the most dangerous jobs … in the world! … I had had plenty of experience on boats by growing up on the Texas coast but nothing … was going to prepare me for this, it was literally an unknown world…and the only thing I keep telling myself is ‘if I don’t go I will never know what it was like.’ 

The final words that helped me make my decision to go was my grandpa Jack’s advice, when I asked him what I should do he said ‘well, don’t let the grass grow under your feet’ and so I said yes, I must try this and so I did!

-Cynthia Rogers West

Did you feel alone or like a pioneer?  

I most definitely felt like a pioneer. Each day brought a chance to see or experience something new. Looking back it was the biggest adventure of my lifetime. 

I didn’t really think of myself as being alone even though I quite often was the lone woman and lone biologist placed on the ship. Most of the time when I was not sampling a catch or documenting my data, I would join a game of cards or dominoes. I watched tons of movies, some of them over and over again like Forrest Gump – about 20 times! Once I volunteered to make lunch for everyone on a really small boat and on the large ships I often sat up in the wheelhouse watching for whales (but mostly just saw huge waves breaking over the bow or rolling us side to side). 

I did spend a lot of alone time though reading books; and I do mean reading a lot of books. We didn’t have cell phones, emails or Facebook back then.

-Cynthia Rogers West

We also received a comment from Liz Mitchell, a board member of the Association for Professional Observers, noting that she was an observer on a Japanese vessel in Alaska in 1984.  That’s a decade before Cynthia’s experience! Liz’s timeline prompted us to look even further back to see if we could trace back to the first woman observer. A Polish ship was the first to accommodate a woman observer: Leslie Watson in 1977! We also stumbled upon a NOAA Article from 1979 titled “A Month on a Japanese Trawler” by Janet M. Wall. Janet was a fisheries observer on a Japanese ship in the Bering Sea in 1979. This article was a refreshing look at the day-to-day of an observer collaborating with a respectful crew and experiencing a different culture in an extreme working environment. We highly recommend this article to anyone that is interested in the history of women in fisheries observing.  

Thank you to Cynthia and Liz for sharing their stories of early observing, and we hope to continue to dig deeper into the history of women in fisheries science in future blogs!  If you have any fisheries “firsts” or other stories to share, don’t hesitate to reach out so we can feature you in a blog post or a Fish Sister Profile!