SAYONARA, SARAH: A FOND FAREWELL TO THE SANCTUARY SUPERINTENDENT

By Rachel Bowman

If you took a peek inside the day planner of the superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, it might look like this: 

Take over the role of superintendent of a barrier reef just in time to watch a Category 4 hurricane plow through it. You’ll be responding to an unprecedented fast-moving stony coral tissue loss disease – we will also need this to be done during a global pandemic – and then mitigate a heatwave and coral bleaching event (also unprecedented). Also, there’s going to be a massive migrant influx and a derelict vessel issue. And while you’re at it, we need you to completely overhaul and update the sanctuary’s management program, too. 

Oh, and on Tuesdays we have spinning sawfish. 

Our Florida Keys have been through a lot in the past eight years, and I wonder if we realize just how damn fortunate we have been to have Sarah Fangman as our sanctuary superintendent.   She has been the steady hand on the wheel, guiding us through the map of tumultuous processes we knew lay ahead (Restoration Blueprint) and the unexpected last-minute swerves around resource impacts (another mini-season?). 

“Sarah brought a calm, empathetic leadership style to the sanctuary,” according to Beth Dieveney, FKNMS’ policy analyst. “Her commitment to the people, the mission, the community and the ecosystem is inspiring.”

If you ever had the privilege of attending a public comment session during the drafting of Restoration Blueprint, you saw firsthand the grace and quiet dignity that Sarah possesses, and you witnessed her determination and reserve when she spoke on contentious issues. She could respond to an emotional outburst with compassion and thoughtfulness, and you could see an understanding on the other side of the table. I know fishermen who disagree with sanctuary policies, but they applaud Sarah’s motives. She comes across as genuine and as someone who is affected by everything and everyone around her.  

Liz Trueblood, community engagement coordinator with the FKNMS, said about Sarah, “She remains calm when faced with tough and complicated issues. She has a knack for listening and that has helped her build relationships within the community and also grow a strong sense of teamwork within her staff.”

As a member of the Sanctuary Advisory Council, my Notes app on my phone contains a list of single sentences that Sarah has spoken during the last eight years of meetings that resonated so powerfully with me, I had to write them down. At an FWC meeting at Hawks Cay in October, she asked the commissioners to address the issues in the Restoration Blueprint “with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer,” and I wanted to stand up and cheer. Sarah’s way with words cannot be appreciated enough. 

At Sarah’s last council meeting this month, she described her new position as the West Coast regional director of national marine sanctuaries as “getting closer to being able to pull the bigger levers.” While she won’t be living here in the Keys, she’s leaving a little bit of her heart here with us. I firmly believe that she will continue to look after us, in her own Sarah style: calm and determined. And most likely, wearing a very pretty dress. 

Editor’s note: I had the honor of getting to know Sarah as a classmate in Leadership Monroe County’s Class XXX. Although I’ve witnessed a fraction of what Rachel describes here – she introduced Sarah to me as her “girl crush” for all things marine conservation – I cannot echo her sentiments enough.