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Nov
1, 2002
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an
online newsletter for and by NOAA employees
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"An inspiration to all that work with him"  responsible
for fulfilling a critical NOAA Fisheries' mandate. From the start of this
effort last year, John is noted for being "a true leader, providing highly
professional, front-line service to NOAA constituents and exhibiting flexibility
that, through teamwork, has increased agency morale across several offices."
In June 2001, NOAA Fisheries concluded that long-term operation of the U.S. pelagic longline fishery, including fisheries for swordfish, tuna and shark, was likely to jeopardize the continued existence of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles. The line office was charged with undertaking cooperative research to develop or modify gear technologies and fishing practices. The goals are to reduce capture rates and improve the status of sea turtles throughout the Atlantic Ocean. The deadline is tight -- January 2004 is a very short time frame for completing a project of such magnitude. But John and his team are up for the challenge. This is the group that developed the turtle excluder devices required in all shrimp trawls used in the southeastern U.S. The devices are now used widely throughout the world. In addition to improving the status of sea turtles throughout the Atlantic Ocean, NOAA hopes that new methodologies and gear technologies will also be used by foreign fleets, further improving the status of the protected species throughout the world. John convened a meeting of constituents and government and academic scientists in April 2001 and in May submitted a permit application to conduct research on behalf of NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The proposed research involved the intentional taking of many protected species to evaluate gear modification effectiveness, such as the effects of colored bait. Once the permit was issued, experienced commercial fishing vessels were contracted and, to execute the experimental design, allowed to fish in waters that had been closed to them. In 2001, eight vessels took part in 16 trips. There was 100 percent observer coverage to learn how well the experimental design was working. This past March, John again convened a meeting of industry and scientists to evaluate the results and design a 2002 experiment. Observers were again trained and captains and vessel owners are now conducting experiments with 14 vessels. John has also coordinated experiments with those being conducted in the Pacific Ocean and Azores. He has further designed and executed fishery independent experiments to resolve conflicts. |
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