October 3, 2017 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council in late September expressed full confidence in its leadership team when it unanimously affirmed the reelection of Dr. John Quinn of Massachusetts and Terry Stockwell of Maine to serve as Council chair and vice chair, respectively, for another term.
This marks Dr. Quinn’s second consecutive year as chairman. Prior to that, he served three years as Council vice chair under Stockwell. The two switched leadership positions during 2016 but continued to work together as a team to direct the Council’s management and policy initiatives.
“I am honored to be reelected by my colleagues as chairman,” said Dr. Quinn. “We have a lot of very complex and important issues facing us in the year ahead, and I am looking forward to collaborating with my fellow Council members and various stakeholders to attempt to solve some of the problems confronting the industry.”
Dr. Quinn is Director of Public Interest Law Programs at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) School of Law. He also is a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and represented many fishing interests while practicing law in private practice for over two decades in New Bedford before joining UMass.
Stockwell is beginning his first term on the Council as a secretarial appointee. He previously served as the state of Maine’s designated fisheries official to the Council but retired from state service in June following a 21-year career at the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR). DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher now sits at the Council table in that capacity. Stockwell was appointed in August to fill the seat previously held by Mary Beth Tooley of Maine, who had served three consecutive terms on the Council, the maximum allowed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
In another show of confidence in leadership, the Council reelected the same slate of members to serve on its Executive Committee for the 2017-2018 Council year:
- Doug Grout, chief of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Marine Division, was elected to serve his fifth consecutive term on the Executive Committee;
- Peter Kendall of New Hampshire also was elected to serve a fifth consecutive term; and
- Terry Alexander of Maine was elected to serve his second consecutive term.
Dr. Quinn and Stockwell also serve on the Executive Committee in their roles as Council chair and vice chair.
Read the release at the New England Fishery Management Council