Via SeaCoastOnline:
TweetVeteran commercial fisherman and biologist Capt. David Goethel of Hampton said he had the opportunity to speak with Palin at the Fisherman Coop Thursday, June 2, after his day out on the water. During his meeting with her, he explained to her the fishery regulations and his position as a member of the New England Fishery Management Council. “I explained how New Hampshire is disadvantaged here,” Goethel said. “She knew exactly what I was talking about.”
Goethel said Palin conveyed to him her feelings that small businesses are important, and that their closing is counterproductive to the economy.
“She didn’t seem to be in campaign mode,” Goethel said. “She seemed like a tourist.”
Goethel said of the approximately 45 minutes to an hour Palin was there, most of that time she and her parents and daughter, Piper, were in the building where fish were being filleted and where the lobster tanks are located.
“My wife took them into the lobster tank area, and basically gave a biology lesson on how to tell a male from a female,” Goethel said. His wife, Ellen, is also a marine biologist.
Goethel said New England lobsters are different from anything found in Alaskan waters and Palin and family members appeared interested in learning about products of our local waters.
“She seemed like a nice person, normal and down to earth and friendly,” Goethel said. “We didn’t discuss international relations but she didn’t seem like any lightweight.”
Minus the mob of media crowding her, Goethel said Palin seemed sincere, very unscripted, and without any pre-planned “canned” statements, and just seemingly interested in learning about fishing in New England.
Goethel said his son, Daniel, who is currently working alongside his father on his 44-foot stern trawler vessel, the “Ellen Diane,” also spoke to Palin. After Palin learned of David Goethel’s horrific accident last September, where he fell 25 feet from his boat to the ground, Palin’s reported parting words to Dan were to “take good care of your father.”