Patricia Kurkul, the Northeast Regional administrator for NOAA's Fisheries Service, retires at the end of the year.
Her tenure included implementation of the catch shares program and the squeezing out of many smaller fishermen from the industry; the dismissal of a 15-1 vote of the New England Fishery Management Council to ease regulatory cutbacks (hers being the dissenting vote); an inspector general's report on an unfair, corrupt and potentially criminal enforcement structure that prompted reparations of $649,000 to fishermen; and a working environment between the regulators and the industry the inspector general characterized as being at a low point.
Kurkul stood at the helm of the regional office since 1999, and was praised by Eric Shwaab, the national administrator of NOAA's Fisheries Service, for her oversight during the "important rebuilding of cod, flounder, haddock and other groundfish."
More than a few fishermen will be glad to see her go, despite New Bedford's continued national supremacy in value of seafood landed.
Read the complete opinion piece from The Standard-Times