Sandy Macfarlane has lived her entire life by the sea. Like many kids, she grew up loving the water and her curiosity about all things marine, begun in youth, continues. Aided by forty years of hands-on experience in resource evaluation, policy and management and decades of recreational rowing in a fixed-seat skiff, she learned about the biological and physical world around her. In the process, she also gained insight into the social, political and economic landscape of coastal communities. She is past-president of the New England Estuarine Research Society and a member of numerous professional societies and community outreach organizations. Swirling Currents is her third book.