COMMERCE
Subscriber Services
Classified Ads
Subscribe
Advertise
NEWS
This Month
Editorial
Letters
F/V Safety
Past Issues
ABOUT US
Contact Us
Latest Issue
Subscribe
History
MORE CONTENT
CFN Archives
Links
Each month exclusively in the PRINT edition of CFN
Along the Coast
Ask the Lobster Doc
Bearin’s
Classifieds
Coming Events
Editorial
Enforcement Report
FISH SAFE
Fleet Additions
Letters
Lobster Market Report
New Boats
News Catch
Quahog Market Report
|
Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 12
August 2007
New and familiar appointments made to fishery management councils
WASHINGTON, DC – Veteran commercial fisherman and industry spokesman Phil Ruhle Sr. of Rhode Island will not be returning to the New England Fishery Management Council when members’ new terms officially start on Aug. 11.
Ruhle was not reappointed to the at-large seat he has held since his first-term appointment in 2004. Frank Blount, a charter boat fleet operator from Rhode Island and former council member, was named to fill the seat.
Blount, who formerly served as council chairman, was ineligible for reappointment when his third term came to a close last year, but, under federal rules, was eligible for appointment again after a one-year break from council membership.
Environmental Defense praised Blount’s appointment, calling him “a consensus builder who puts science-based management of the resource and the public interest first.”
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced the 2007 council appointments on June 25. Commerce Department Secretary Carlos Gutierrez made the appointments based on nominations submitted by state governors.
In addition to Blount’s appointment to the New England council, New Hampshire commercial fisherman David Goethel and former Salt Water Sportsman magazine publisher Rip Cunnigham were both appointed to second terms. Goethel occupies the obligatory seat for the state of New Hampshire and Cunningham holds an at-large seat.
Mid-Atlantic
The Mid-Atlantic council will have several new members as of Aug. 11.
Lee Anderson, a professor of economics and marine studies at the University of Delaware and a former council member, was named to fill the obligatory seat currently held by Ron Smith of Lewes, DE.
Erling Berg, an experienced commercial fishing industry member from Cape May, NJ, long-time member of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council, and a New Jersey representative to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, was named to fill the at-large seat currently held by Fan Puskas of Barnegat Light, NJ.
Berg’s appointment was praised by the Garden State Seafood Association, which worked hard to counter an effort by recreational fishing interests to replace Puskas with a rec representative. If they had succeeded, it would have been the first time the Mid-Atlantic council would have been without a commercial representative from the state of New Jersey.
Richard Robins Jr., owner of Bernie’s Conchs in Cheriton, VA and Ocean Perfect Seafoods in Suffolk, VA and an associate member of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, was named to fill the at-large seat currently held by Michelle Peabody of Newport News, VA.
Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association and a charter/party boat captain from Rock Hall, MD, was reappointed to his at-large seat and will be starting his third consecutive term.
In addition to the commerce secretary appointments, the Mid-Atlantic council will have two other, as yet unnamed, new members due to the retirement of Gordon Colvin, director of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Bureau of Marine Resources, and Rick Hoopes, director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Fisheries.
South Atlantic
For the South Atlantic council, Rita Merritt was reappointed to North Carolina’s obligatory seat and Thomas Swatzel III was newly appointed to South Carolina’s obligatory seat.
Merritt has worked in the commercial fishing industry for more than 18 years, including spending time as a crewman. She is also an avid recreational fisherman.
Swatzel is the president of Captain Dick’s Marina. /cfn/
Back to story list
|
|
Tell us what you think.
