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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 5
January 2008
Hogarth improved NMFS during tough tenure
After six years at the helm, Bill Hogarth is stepping down as the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In January, he will become the interim dean of the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida.
With the constant conflict the Northeast fishing industry has been having with NMFS, a lot of people might be tempted to think, “Good riddance.” But that would be a mistake.
Beyond the “the devil you know” advantage, Bill Hogarth has brought a lot of qualities to the job that deserve appreciation and are important to bear in mind as new candidates for this crucial leadership position come forward.
Hogarth was officially named National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration assistant administrator for fisheries in 2001, just a week after the 9/11 attacks.
He brought strong managerial experience to the post, having worked for years as the director of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries and then in various offices within NMFS, including an important stint as the head of the NMFS Highly Migratory Species Management Division.
Along the way, Hogarth got to know a lot of fishermen – how they worked and what their concerns were.
Among his initial goals were to improve NMFS’s relationship with its constituents and to make the agency more efficient and effective. He also pledged to cut down on the huge number of lawsuits – 130 were pending when he started – that were effectively paralyzing the agency.
To a significant extent, he succeeded on all of those counts. Over the course of his tenure as director, NMFS communication and outreach to industry improved significantly. Hogarth understood how important it was to explain to industry the mandates NMFS was required to carry out under federal law. It was rarely a message fishermen wanted to hear, but at least it was clear.
Hogarth was from the start a strong supporter of cooperative research, which is now a widely respected way to gather information to enhance stock assessments and management strategies.
On the contentious issue of individual fishing quotas (IFQs), which has now morphed into a broader strategy called “limited-access privilege programs,” or LAPPs, Hogarth came to NMFS believing they were legitimate tools that could protect fishermen’s investments. However, he readily admitted LAPPs weren’t a panacea for management and that the industry needed to be involved in the design of any IFQ-type program. And that measured approach can be seen in what’s happening in fisheries management today.
In addition, Hogarth has encouraged ecosystem management, promoted US seafood, and backed new gear technology development.
Today, there are terrible struggles with groundfish management and a big dispute with NMFS over whether the groundfish crisis should be declared a fishery disaster. Cooperative research partners continue to have trouble getting exempted fishing permits in a timely way. And fishermen still have serious disagreements with NMFS over the agency’s decision-making policies.
So Bill Hogarth hasn’t been a cure-all for what divides the agency from its constituents. But he has been accessible and sometimes even sympathetic to the fishing industry. He has worked tirelessly to professionalize NMFS. And he has tried to be fair. Not bad for someone who has had the impossible job of balancing the requirements of federal law with the demands of such diverse stakeholders as commercial fishermen, sport fishermen, and environmentalists.
We thank Hogarth for his service and wish him well.
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