World Class Scientist to Steer NOAA
January 20, 2009
In the News…….
Recently, President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Jane Lubchenco from Oregon State University to be the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the governing body for US fisheries resources. Dr. Jane Lubchenco is an environmental scientist and marine ecologist who is a teacher, researcher, and communicator of scientific knowledge. She is very well respected by the scientific and the conservation community and has published well over 100 scientific publications.
When I heard the news, I was struck by the opportunity that this presents for understanding some of the root causes of the shortcomings of fisheries mismanagement in the United States. Today we are faced with trying to heal a wounded ocean as over 85% of global fisheries are fished at or over capacity. We have yet to recognize that we have failed to deal with the complexities of the ocean in our fisheries management plans and we seem to forget the fish abundance of the not so distant past. For example, explorers’ ships in the Northeast of North America (1500-1600) reported getting stuck in schools of cod and were able to drop a bucket and bring it up full of fish. Perhaps these reports are over-exaggerated, but the point is that fisheries have declined steadily on a global scale since industrial fishing began. I would argue that the biggest cause of fisheries collapses and declines has been the triumph of politics and economics over science. Let’s remember that NOAA falls under the Department of Commerce and, therefore, has an economic mandate above all other considerations. Politicians love to tout their worthiness through the vehicle of economic growth. However, when you are dealing with a finite supply such as fisheries, how can you have infinite growth? Something has to give eventually. I have often wondered whether or not the problems of poor fisheries returns are the result of the system that controls their management or the result of the people in charge of the system itself.
I have never heard of such a world-class scientist being appointed to such a prominent fisheries management/political position and I am fascinated to watch how things will unfold. As someone who has now worked in the environmental community for the past seven years, I have experienced tremendous frustration with how governments approach environmental issues and treat science that is counter to their political agenda (e.g. sea lice science in British Columbia, global warming, etc). My hope is that with Dr. Lubchenco at the helm of NOAA we will have the best opportunity to date to find out what the problem has really been.