November 3, 2014 — Tom Dempsey, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council and Policy Director for the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, announced in a Friday, October 31 email that he was resigning from the Council to start a new position with the Nature Conservancy in California. His letter to the Council is reproduced below.
Council members and staff,
I’m writing to tell you that I’ve accepted a new job and, for that reason, have resigned as a member of the New England Fishery Management Council. I’ll be working with The Nature Conservancy’s Sustainable Fisheries Initiative in California and look forward to continuing to work with fishermen to meet the many challenges that face our marine resources and the fishing industry.
In light of our soon to be expanding family, we’ll need to make the move west faster than we otherwise would have. I regret that I likely won’t have the chance to see many of you in person before I leave, but I trust our paths will continue to cross in the future. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from my years on the Council and appreciate the time and effort you all put into addressing the issues facing New England’s fisheries.