December 19, 2012 — Dr. Brian Rothschild a world-renowned fisheries researcher and author, and dean emeritus of Marine Fisheries Institute, has been removed from his co-directorship of the institute, which he founded and developed over the past 10 years.
This move by the UMass president's office will place the institute under the control of the president's office and the institute's co-directorship will go to the current School of Marine Science and Technology dean, Dr. Steve Lohrenz, not exactly a fish specialist, but a champion of President Obama's controversial National Ocean Policy and a former vice-chair of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, which partners with Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (a program devoted to deep ocean geology exploration associated with oil and gas production).
The stated reasons for Rothschild's removal are at best flimsy and at worst they appear to be a Kafkaesque rationale for a political purge.
"It lacked an oversight board, a budget and annual reports and it wasn't coordinated well enough to solicit research grants from industry, government and other institutions, said university spokesman John Hoey," according to a Dec. 14 Standard-Times article ("Fisheries institute revamp ousts co-director").
Really? After 10 successful years, this Marine Fisheries Institute now isn't coordinated well enough to get research grants? Grants coming from industry, government, and other institutions. Now who might they be? Could it be Pew or perhaps EDF/CLF/NOAA or the Department of the Interior?
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times