In a move that recreational anglers across the country have reason to support, Eric Schwaab has been appointed assistant administrator for fisheries for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In his new position, Schwaab will oversee management and conservation of marine fisheries and marine mammals, sea turtles and coastal fisheries habitat within the U.S. economic zone. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a sportsmen’s group, responded positively to this turn of events: Schwaab has a long history of partnership with the TRCP in attaining goals important to the sportsmen-conservation community.
Schwaab’s involvement in resource management spans local, state and federal levels. He comes to NOAA from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, where he was deputy secretary, and has served as a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee. As resource director for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Schwaab co-chaired the TRCP Marine Conservation Working Group and was instrumental in bolstering the interests of angler-conservationists in the 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs marine fisheries management in federal waters.
In a statement announcing Schwaab’s appointment, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, called him a “creative and proven manager, consensus builder and leader” and said that his experience and leadership will “bring a fresh perspective to the management of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.”