Richard Merrick, who works at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, has been named chief science adviser for NOAA Fisheries.
In announcing the appointment Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Merrick has 26 years of experience with NOAA, beginning in Alaska where he spent 12 years. Since 1997, he has been attached to the Woods Hole-based science center, where he directed extensive research on sea mammals and most recently oversaw the regional fisheries' stock assessments.
Officials at NOAA previously noted the chief science adviser serves as "the principal spokesperson on scientific and technology issues and guides and directs the work of the agency's six regional science centers."
"It's a step up in some ways but a lot of this involves issues I've been dealing with at the center, so it just expands the remit," Merrick told The Standard-Times on Thursday.
Andrew Minkiewicz, a lawyer with the Fisheries Survival Fund, which advocates for the scallop industry, welcomed the appointment.
"In our dealings with him, we found him to be open and forthright and a very competent scientist," Minkiewicz said. "He's the kind of federal official you want to work with."
In a press release announcing the appointment, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eric Schwaab wrote Merrick will assume a prominent role in NOAA's efforts to improve the stock assessment process. Asked what form that initiative might take, Merrick replied: "Some of those efforts are going on at the center right now. One of the things I believe in is the revamping of the way we do assessments in general so we can generate more stock assessments, faster, for the fishery management councils and react more quickly to new data."
When the science center provides its advice to a management council, it may take up to two years for changes to occur in the quota that fishermen are fishing on, he said. "From delivering the stock assessment to the time we get the specifications out on quota, I think we all recognize that that has to be speeded up."
Taking on a new job, one with national importance, will bring about many changes, including lots of travel, Merrick acknowledged, and he will be leaving Cape Cod with some reluctance, he said. "My family loves it here. They are staying and I will come home every month."
Dr. Brian Rothschild of UMass Dartmouth's School of Marine Science and Technology said he is familiar with Merrick's work.
"It's a big job and we look forward to working with him," Rothschild said "But the other side of this is that NOAA still needs to find a director for the science center and a director for its Northeast Regional Office and, hopefully, the community will have some input into that."
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