April 27, 2011 – An independent review of three agencies responsible for managing New England's fisheries has found multiple problems, including poor communication, declining staff morale and a void in leadership.
The critical report, released Tuesday, was requested last December by Eric Schwaab, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries division. It was conducted by Preston Pate, former director of North Carolina's Division of Marine Fisheries, working with the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Touchstone, which specializes in the public sector.
Based on confidential interviews with 179 people, the bulk of them employed within the government or inside the fishing industry, the report focused on three entities: the New England Fishery Management Council, the Northeast Regional Office and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. It found widespread dissatisfaction with all three and described a culture of finger-pointing and "an overall victim mentality" among the respondents.
In the case of the New England Fishery Management Council, Pate found "pockets of low-performing council staff" and observed that, while meetings were professional and open, there appeared to be "no vision or strategic plan guiding decision-making."
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