About the Siino Family
In memory of Randy Siino, one of Frank Siino's 3 sons of whom we've lost along the way, we dedicate this journey. The remaining third generation of Siinos are working to combine the use of a historic fishing boat with education in ecological conservation. It all started in Isola delle Femmine, a province of Palermo, Sicily. Angelo Siino immigrated to Pittsburg, California in 1903, later migrated to Monterey, California in 1916 and founded the Siino Boat Works. The complete story can be found in the book published in 2014 by Angelo Siino's grand-daughter, Master Boat Builders of Italy. You can purchase this book as a donation to the Classroom on the Bay by clicking the FUNDRAISING menu item above. Curriculum Topics Historical Monterey, California sardine fishing industry, the boat builders ands boat building of the sardine fishing era, Italian/Sicilian contributions to Monterey and Pittsburg CA, as well as the negative impact to Monterey Bay, its tributaries and the Pacific Ocean; with solutions to a healthier environment. The curriculum will meet the needs of educators to teach history and ecology of the Monterey Bay fisheries and link that knowledge to preservation activities in the ocean and watershed. |
About Preserving the Watersheds and their Tributaries
The California Stories Project funded the creation of a multimedia and art exhibit that told stories of individual and community relationships to a living river, the Pajaro River and tributaries that empty into the Elkhorn Slough which empties into Monterey Bay. The exhibit was documented by Janet (Siino) Martinez and MMPublishing as an interactive bilingual multimedia presentation that was presented locally and around the country. The Compact Disk, Rumme (Mutsen for Water) was distributed free to elementary schools within the Pajaro Watershed District. With regional, national and international interest and mounting pressure brought by river advocates in 2006, American Rivers proclaimed the Pajaro River "the most endangered river in the U.S." See more at Rumme, Living River In 2008, MMPublishing partnered with the Watershed Institute at California State University Monterey Bay and Partners for the Advancement of Teaching at California State University Monterey Bay to document the story of the Gabilan Watershed as an art exhibit and multimedia presentation at the National Steinbeck Center. See more at The Creeks of Salinas: The Gabilan Watershed Experience |
About Advocating for Clean Water and Climate Change
Mark Siino: "The fishing industry is rather fearsome and is an extreme event to go fish in deep water like this boat (the General Pershing) has done with its crews. We refit the boat to give it a different future to teach children about clean water and climate change (which is a real event) and it seems to have been forgotten in the last so many years. We all have known that in the last 50 years resources are limited and yet we haven’t done enough about it." |