CONTACT: Gordon Helm               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                   5/22/97

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today named a list of panelists to provide guidance to NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service as it seeks public input in a National Academy of Sciences study on Individual Fishery Quotas.

Future use of the Individual Fishery Quota (IFQ) as a management tool in selected fisheries will be the focus of the study by the National Academy of Science's National Research Council. The study will comply with provisions of the newly reauthorized Sustainable Fisheries Act as mandated by the U.S. Congress, and is due to Congress in October 1998.

Nominations to fill the two 15-member advisory panels were requested between Feb. 25 and April 14, 1997. One panel will serve as advisor for West Coast fisheries, the other for East Coast fisheries. Panel members will assist the fisheries service in evaluating the NRC study and in preparing the agency's response to the study once it is completed. Both the NRC and the fisheries service plan to hold public hearings on IFQs, and each advisory panel member will attend one of these hearings to ensure that the panels are represented in this process.

The panelists are:

East Coast:  

Ted Ames                      Jim Kendall
Stonington, Maine             New Bedford Seafood Coalition
                              New Bedford, Massachusetts



Harriet A. Didrikson          Thomas R. Hill
Mattapoisett, Massachusetts   Atlantic & Pacific Marine Consultants, Inc.
                              Gloucester, Massachusetts

Howard Nickerson              Richard B. Allen
Executive Director            Wakefield, Rhode Island
Offshore Mariner's Association, Inc.
New Bedford, Massachusetts

D. Doug Hopkins               Lee Anderson
Environmental Defense Fund    College of Marine Studies
New York, NY                  University of Delaware 
                              Newark, Delaware

David Wallace                 Walter M. Gordon
Wallace and Associates        President, Mid-Atlantic Foods, Inc
Salisbury, Maryland           Pocomoke City, Maryland

Pete Jensen                            Roy O. Williams               
Deputy Director, Fisheries Service     Marine Fisheries Commission        
MD Dept of Natural Resources           State of Florida              
Annapolis, Maryland                    Tallahassee, Florida

Miles Mackaness                    R. F. Zales, II
Merritt Island, Florida            Panama City, Florida
                    
Kenneth J. Roberts
Louisiana State University Agricultural Center
Baton Rouge, Louisiana  

West Coast:  

Elizabeth A. Stewart              Linda Kozak
Juneau, Alaska                    Kodiak, Alaska 

Paul K. Seaton                    Linda Behnken
Homer, Alaska                     Sitka, Alaska 

Ben Muse
State of Alaska 
Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission
Juneau, Alaska



Jan Jacobs                        Mark S. Lundsten
American Seafoods Company         Queen Anne Fisheries, Inc.
Seattle, Washington               Seattle, Washington

L. John Iani                      Scott C. Matulich
UniSea, Inc.                      Department of Agricultural Economics
Redmond, Washington               Washington State University
                                  Pullman, Washington

Ralph G. Hoard                    David Fraser
Icicle Seafoods, Inc.             Port Townsend, Washington
Seattle, Washington

C. Jim Ponts                      Rodney M. Fujita
Fort Bragg, California            Environmental Defense Fund
                                  Oakland, California

James Cook                        Francis Christy
Pacific Ocean Producers           IMARIBA
Honolulu, Hawaii                  Washington, D.C.

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