Decemeber 17, 2018 — When last we saw John Bullard, the big man was sitting in his sun-splashed office at NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester’s Blackburn Industrial Park, wearing an authentic, white Red Sox home jersey with David Ortiz’ No. 34 on the back.
By then, Bullard, who shepherded this region of NOAA Fisheries through the ongoing cod crisis, the remapping of available fishing areas, quota cuts, the imperiled state of right whales and the beginning of the end for Carlos Rafael, already had committed to heading off toward the pasture of retirement. He seemed totally relaxed and completely at ease.
We’ve been meaning to reach out to him for quite a while, if for no other reason than to talk about the Red Sox’ World Series championship and maybe a bit of Pats patter, particularly in the wake of the hideous defeat last week in the heat of South Florida.