Good fishery managers must be really hard to find.
We know this because the Obama administration, now just 21 days away from finishing its first year in power, still hasn't chosen someone to lead the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The prior administration of George W. Bush was quicker, naming Bill Hogarth as NMFS chief on Sept. 6, 2001, seven and a half months after Bush's inaugural.
We've heard a few names bandied about for the job: Arne Fuglvog, Elliott Norse, Brian Rothschild. You can read about them in prior Deckboss posts.
I also have it on good authority that Jim Balsiger of Juneau, appointed acting NMFS administrator in February 2008 after Hogarth took a university job, wants to stay in the position.
Evidently, none of these candidates is good enough. Or, more likely, not of the right political or ideological stripe.
Anyway, here comes 2010 and who knows, maybe employees in the nation's foremost fishery management agency will soon know who's at the helm for the long haul.
I guess Obama doesn't consider these applicants communist enough?
ReplyDeleteMaybe NOAA doesn't want a head of NMFS who might not follow the dictates from above, or maybe they have decided to rule by committee. I am not sure it makes any difference anyway -- NMFS is becoming less and less relevant to the survival of the commercial fishing fleets. Peter Flournoy
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