Now, he’s giving something back in the form of scholarships awarded by the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association (MSSA) Scholarship Foundation, providing financial aid to applicants from Bay region states who major in subjects such as marine biology, environmental science, engineering and sciences, and fisheries management.
The association itself was founded in 1981 by a small group of fishermen who wanted to save the prized rockfish, which were quickly becoming depleted. Partly as a result of the group’s efforts, the Maryland legislature enacted a seven-year moratorium on rockfish fishing that rescued the species. MSSA now works to sustain all marine life, including crabs and oysters.
“It isn’t just the angling anymore—it’s working to maintain sustainable waterways,” Abbott says, describing how the group’s mission has broadened.
“Training young people in these kinds of fields is critical to whether we’re going to have fish around here for generations or whether we’ve seen the last of them,” says Abbott, who serves as president of the 22-year-old charitable foundation. “We’re the green tip of the MSSA. We’re the focal-point.”
A lifelong angler himself, Abbott hasn’t exactly hung up a “Gone Fishing” sign during his six-year tenure as the foundation’s leader. When he took the helm, the organization provided $18,000 worth of scholarships, serving 10 to 12 students. It had no website, no outreach program, and a limited campaign for donations.
Abbott, a Harvard Business School graduate who headed his own consulting firm before moving to MSSA, took the association into the electronic age and broadened its fundraising efforts. Today, the program provides $33,000 in scholarships a year, apportioned among 10 high school seniors and 10 college students. The number of applicants has swelled to 54.
High schoolers who want to apply must live in one of the seven states that border the Chesapeake, have above-average grades, and demonstrate an interest in marine sciences and the environment. (Hint: Working for a maritime-related environmental group is decidedly a plus.) College students can extend their grants if they maintain a B average or higher.
As Abbott tells it, he began his life on the water at age two, taking the ferry from Long Beach to Santa Catalina Island, where his family spent summer vacations. His parents also had a 26-foot Steelcraft daycruiser, which he learned to operate in his early teens. And he learned to fish. “It was a dream child-upbringing,” he recalls.
As a naval officer Abbott spent 25 years on active duty, much of it at sea, punctuated by several tours of shore duty, where he spent his free time racing sailboats. In 1976, he was assigned to head the navigation and seamanship department at the Naval Academy, which gave him plenty of time aboard the school’s 44-foot sloops.
After leaving the Navy, he spent four years with an international consulting firm, carrying out a support project in Saudi Arabia, and another four and a half years with a small executive search firm in Annapolis, getting involved in defense and intelligence projects. In 1988, he started his own company, the Abbott Group, which closed in 2011.
Abbott and his wife, Dorothea, live in Centreville, MD. The two met in London, when she was in the Royal Navy stationed at the school of navigation and air defense. Their daughter, Sarah, lives in North Carolina, with their only grandchild, Katherine (aged seven), and Abbott has two sons by a previous marriage. The family owns a Bristol 29 sailboat.
Now 81, Abbott has begun thinking about retiring again so he can devote more time to—guess what?—sailing and sportfishing. Although he’s cut back on both from his earlier days (a moped accident in 1991 deprived him of the use of his left arm), both have been lifelong pursuits. He has been a regular in bluewater sailing races and offshore fishing tournaments.
In the meantime, he’s still out looking for contributors and applicants to MSSA’s scholarship program. You can find the group’s website at mssascholarships.net.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017 - 09:45
For the better part of 80 years Peter Abbott has been reaping the rewards of being on the water. As a teenager, he operated a water-taxi in San Pedro, CA. Then came a career in the Navy, where he was skipper of a minesweeper and a guided-missile frigate and later was involved in the sailing program at the U.S. Naval Academy. And he’s always been a fishing buff.
Now, he’s giving something back in the form of scholarships awarded by the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association (MSSA) Scholarship Foundation, providing financial aid to applicants from Bay region states who major in subjects such as marine biology, environmental science, engineering and sciences, and fisheries management.
The association itself was founded in 1981 by a small group of fishermen who wanted to save the prized rockfish, which were quickly becoming depleted. Partly as a result of the group’s efforts, the Maryland legislature enacted a seven-year moratorium on rockfish fishing that rescued the species. MSSA now works to sustain all marine life, including crabs and oysters.
“It isn’t just the angling anymore—it’s working to maintain sustainable waterways,” Abbott says, describing how the group’s mission has broadened.
“Training young people in these kinds of fields is critical to whether we’re going to have fish around here for generations or whether we’ve seen the last of them,” says Abbott, who serves as president of the 22-year-old charitable foundation. “We’re the green tip of the MSSA. We’re the focal-point.”
A lifelong angler himself, Abbott hasn’t exactly hung up a “Gone Fishing” sign during his six-year tenure as the foundation’s leader. When he took the helm, the organization provided $18,000 worth of scholarships, serving 10 to 12 students. It had no website, no outreach program, and a limited campaign for donations.
Abbott, a Harvard Business School graduate who headed his own consulting firm before moving to MSSA, took the association into the electronic age and broadened its fundraising efforts. Today, the program provides $33,000 in scholarships a year, apportioned among 10 high school seniors and 10 college students. The number of applicants has swelled to 54.
High schoolers who want to apply must live in one of the seven states that border the Chesapeake, have above-average grades, and demonstrate an interest in marine sciences and the environment. (Hint: Working for a maritime-related environmental group is decidedly a plus.) College students can extend their grants if they maintain a B average or higher.
As Abbott tells it, he began his life on the water at age two, taking the ferry from Long Beach to Santa Catalina Island, where his family spent summer vacations. His parents also had a 26-foot Steelcraft daycruiser, which he learned to operate in his early teens. And he learned to fish. “It was a dream child-upbringing,” he recalls.
As a naval officer Abbott spent 25 years on active duty, much of it at sea, punctuated by several tours of shore duty, where he spent his free time racing sailboats. In 1976, he was assigned to head the navigation and seamanship department at the Naval Academy, which gave him plenty of time aboard the school’s 44-foot sloops.
After leaving the Navy, he spent four years with an international consulting firm, carrying out a support project in Saudi Arabia, and another four and a half years with a small executive search firm in Annapolis, getting involved in defense and intelligence projects. In 1988, he started his own company, the Abbott Group, which closed in 2011.
Abbott and his wife, Dorothea, live in Centreville, MD. The two met in London, when she was in the Royal Navy stationed at the school of navigation and air defense. Their daughter, Sarah, lives in North Carolina, with their only grandchild, Katherine (aged seven), and Abbott has two sons by a previous marriage. The family owns a Bristol 29 sailboat.
Now 81, Abbott has begun thinking about retiring again so he can devote more time to—guess what?—sailing and sportfishing. Although he’s cut back on both from his earlier days (a moped accident in 1991 deprived him of the use of his left arm), both have been lifelong pursuits. He has been a regular in bluewater sailing races and offshore fishing tournaments.
In the meantime, he’s still out looking for contributors and applicants to MSSA’s scholarship program. You can find the group’s website at mssascholarships.net.
Now, he’s giving something back in the form of scholarships awarded by the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishing Association (MSSA) Scholarship Foundation, providing financial aid to applicants from Bay region states who major in subjects such as marine biology, environmental science, engineering and sciences, and fisheries management.
The association itself was founded in 1981 by a small group of fishermen who wanted to save the prized rockfish, which were quickly becoming depleted. Partly as a result of the group’s efforts, the Maryland legislature enacted a seven-year moratorium on rockfish fishing that rescued the species. MSSA now works to sustain all marine life, including crabs and oysters.
“It isn’t just the angling anymore—it’s working to maintain sustainable waterways,” Abbott says, describing how the group’s mission has broadened.
“Training young people in these kinds of fields is critical to whether we’re going to have fish around here for generations or whether we’ve seen the last of them,” says Abbott, who serves as president of the 22-year-old charitable foundation. “We’re the green tip of the MSSA. We’re the focal-point.”
A lifelong angler himself, Abbott hasn’t exactly hung up a “Gone Fishing” sign during his six-year tenure as the foundation’s leader. When he took the helm, the organization provided $18,000 worth of scholarships, serving 10 to 12 students. It had no website, no outreach program, and a limited campaign for donations.
Abbott, a Harvard Business School graduate who headed his own consulting firm before moving to MSSA, took the association into the electronic age and broadened its fundraising efforts. Today, the program provides $33,000 in scholarships a year, apportioned among 10 high school seniors and 10 college students. The number of applicants has swelled to 54.
High schoolers who want to apply must live in one of the seven states that border the Chesapeake, have above-average grades, and demonstrate an interest in marine sciences and the environment. (Hint: Working for a maritime-related environmental group is decidedly a plus.) College students can extend their grants if they maintain a B average or higher.
As Abbott tells it, he began his life on the water at age two, taking the ferry from Long Beach to Santa Catalina Island, where his family spent summer vacations. His parents also had a 26-foot Steelcraft daycruiser, which he learned to operate in his early teens. And he learned to fish. “It was a dream child-upbringing,” he recalls.
As a naval officer Abbott spent 25 years on active duty, much of it at sea, punctuated by several tours of shore duty, where he spent his free time racing sailboats. In 1976, he was assigned to head the navigation and seamanship department at the Naval Academy, which gave him plenty of time aboard the school’s 44-foot sloops.
After leaving the Navy, he spent four years with an international consulting firm, carrying out a support project in Saudi Arabia, and another four and a half years with a small executive search firm in Annapolis, getting involved in defense and intelligence projects. In 1988, he started his own company, the Abbott Group, which closed in 2011.
Abbott and his wife, Dorothea, live in Centreville, MD. The two met in London, when she was in the Royal Navy stationed at the school of navigation and air defense. Their daughter, Sarah, lives in North Carolina, with their only grandchild, Katherine (aged seven), and Abbott has two sons by a previous marriage. The family owns a Bristol 29 sailboat.
Now 81, Abbott has begun thinking about retiring again so he can devote more time to—guess what?—sailing and sportfishing. Although he’s cut back on both from his earlier days (a moped accident in 1991 deprived him of the use of his left arm), both have been lifelong pursuits. He has been a regular in bluewater sailing races and offshore fishing tournaments.
In the meantime, he’s still out looking for contributors and applicants to MSSA’s scholarship program. You can find the group’s website at mssascholarships.net.