As a teen he probed those shores, digging up bait from the marshes, exploring the shoreline in a series of water-craft from oar powered rubber rafts to his present day 23 foot sea worthy Mako center console. While finishing his Biology degree with an emphasis on Fisheries, Captain Joe worked for an Environmental company called Normandeau Associates, where he could be found tagging, measuring, and aging Striped Bass from the waters surrounding Manhattan. Another N.Y. State run study involved safely pumping the stomachs of 200 hundred Striped Bass to gain knowledge of their dietary preferences in the Hudson river and the New York Harbor estuary.