The candidacy of Brian Rothschild — former dean of SMAST and the Montgomery Charter Professor of Marine Sciences and Technology at UMass Dartmouth — had been strongly backed by Congressman Barney Frank and New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang, as well as leading industry figures.
In 2007, Rothschild was praised by NOAA as "one of the most cited fishery scientists in the world," when he won its sustainable fisheries leadership award for his contributions to marine science and education. He spent a decade working for NOAA as a policy adviser and director of several offices, with research expertise that includes population dynamics, biological oceanography, fisheries management and natural resources policy.
Barney Frank's reaction was characteristically forthright. "Dr. Rothschild was clearly the best possible guy, but he's been right too many times and he makes them nervous," he said. "Now I'm nervous. I don't know this guy, but this makes me more and more determined to revise the Magnuson Act. I'm building a coalition of Atlantic Coast people from Maine to South Carolina to revise the act and build in more flexibility."
"We had hoped that Dr. Rothschild would be appointed since he understands the socioeconomic impact of the fishery regulations," Mayor Lang said Thursday. "Mr. Schwaab needs to build trust quickly. But we're keeping an open mind and we're inviting him to a fisheries summit that we're planning to host here at the beginning of March."
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