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Angler's Profiles
by Hugh Markey
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| A series of articles introducing RISAA members to the rest of the club. |
| (From the October, 2004 Newsletter) Richard Hittinger |
Think you’re smart? Here’s a little
quiz for you: what exactly does an environmental engineer do?
Hmm… must be something to do with ecology, but what? If you don’t know, there’s someone in RISAA who could gladly explain it to you. Aside from his volunteer work on the Legislative Committee, the Boat Show Committee, and working on the Fishing Show, his occupation is just that. He’s a guy who’s been in the business for years, and carries a passion for his profession, for the water, and for competition: Rich Hittinger. CLEAN THAT UP! “Basically, what we do is come up with ways to clean up any releases (of pollutants) to the environment,” Hittinger explains. “We’ve been involved with concerns over storm water runoff (where oil, antifreeze, and other toxic waste washes from the roads and makes its way into the waters around the state), restoration of eel grass, brown field cleanup (taking land formerly polluted and rendered useless by industry and restoring it to a habitable environment), and lots of other things. Basically, we take care of problems in the environment once they occur.” 
Rich Hittinger explains this in his Warwick office. He is trim,
with sandy colored hair and a mustache. He sits beneath a
three-foot-long sculpture of a fish created from slices of cans that
hangs from his ceiling. The fish is a gift created by his
daughter. On the walls are nautical charts of the waters from
here to New York, as well as a collage of fishing photos. Although his job involves him in many other pollution issues besides those involving the marine environment, it is this latter expertise that led him to fill in for RISAA President Steve Medeiros at a Citizens Advisory Committee meeting the night before. The topic of discussion was the Greenwich Bay Special Area Management Plan. That mouthful of a title refers to what he hopes will a way to prevent the ecological scare of a year ago: the massive fish kill that occurred in the Bay. “The CRMC wants to come up with the most effective use that the bay can withstand,” Hittinger explains. “This is a heavily used area, including recreational fishing, commercial, recreational boating, and quohogging. I was there trying to keep things in a RISAA perspective.” Hittinger pointed out, for instance, that the impact of draggers in the bay extends beyond the direct damage to the sea floor and reduction in fish population. “The tearing up of the sea floor actually causes a water quality issue. As the creatures they scoop up die, they’re dumped 
back into the bay. As the creatures decay, algae forms, and there
is a depletion of oxygen in the water. That can play a role in
the fish kills. We’re attempting to create a steering policy
regarding land use, marina development, and draggers that will
stabilize the Bay environment.”Rich Hittinger does similar work for a living, but he is donating his time to RISAA because it affects an aspect of his life that has always been at the forefront for Hittinger: his love for the water. WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE… Rich credits his grandfather with teaching him some of his earliest skills on the water, including fly-fishing at ten years old. A ten-year-old fly fisherman? “My grandfather had a lotta patience,” Hittinger smiles. “He’d have me out teaching me these little roll casts – on a pond, of course, where there were no tree branches to hang up on!” Grandpa’s patience was rewarded when his grandson walked off with first prize in a tournament, this time fishing the back woods. He would continue fishing with his grandfather often, including offshore trips sailing from his native New Jersey. His father often accompanied them as well. As Hittinger grew, he spent time in the Boy Scouts, and eventually branched off into the Sea Explorers. The Explorers were (and are) a division of the Boy Scouts designed for older boys who wished to devote their time into learning all they can about boating. 
“Our troop actually raised the money to buy a 40-foot Chris
Craft. It was in horrible shape,” says Hittinger, wincing at the
memory. “We spent every available moment fixing it up. By
the time we were finished, we actually had a pretty good boat to go
cruising in, and we sure learned every aspect of boating, from knots to
mechanics to navigation.”The days of toiling away on the old Chris Craft only increased Rich’s love for the water. He proudly points out that he earned his captain’s license from the Coast Guard five years ago. For years, he has continued to pursue boating and fishing in a slightly unconventional way: with a partner. THE COMPETITORS It’s no secret that owning and maintaining a boat is an expensive venture. When the whole family fishes and spends time on the water, the expense may be justified. In Rich Hittinger’s case, though, he was alone in his interest. “It’s a cruel trick,” he jokes. “Sometimes it (the love of fishing) skips a generation.” Despite wife Victoria at home and three children, Rich has had to look elsewhere for fishing partners. “None of them ever really got into it. My wife will come out once, maybe twice a year, just to make sure I still own the boat.” That’s what led him to share the burden with long-time friend and fellow RISAA member Bob Murray. “We’ve been co-owners of boats since 1989. It’s really worked out well. We rarely go out without each other. We have a built-in partner. Between the costs and the work involved in maintaining the boat, splitting the responsibilities is great.” Today, the two co-own a 30-foot Hydrocat twin diesel catamaran dubbed the Skipjack. Hittinger and Murray participate in many tournaments, including a recent fluke tourney in which they took fifth place. Pretty respectable, right? Particularly when the duo caught almost the same poundage as last year’s first place winners? “No,” he says flatly. “We were in it to win.” Although he is relaxed and affable in his office environment, Rich Hittinger becomes distinctly more animated as he extols the virtues of competition. “Right now we’re considering entering a sea bass fishing tourney. You have to go out and catch those guys; they’re not going to catch themselves. I love fishing for sea bass, because there’s a little finesse involved.” In a way, Rich Hittinger’s attitude seems suited to his approach to his profession and to the water as well. “I like competition. If you’re out there and there are lots of others who are pretty good, well… you’ve got to do a lot of work to stay ahead of the group.” |
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