Profiles In Fishing

What does the word "sustainable" mean to you?

To me, the word "sustainable" means that it ("it" in this case being fisheries resources) will not lose ground, that fish stocks will be maintained at healthy and productive levels well into the future. With considerations to the dynamic marine environment, complex ecological relationships, and the continued pressure to maximize the harvest of our fisheries resources, "sustainable" is not as easy as it sounds. For a resource to be "sustainable", we need to: have plentiful and reliable science, be adaptable to the changing needs of our blue planet, and have scientifically based fisheries management.

What is your role in the sustainable management of U.S. Fisheries?

Fisheries observers are on the ground level of sustainable fisheries management. We go out to sea with the fishermen and collect the biological data that scientists use to create population models. Fisheries managers develop management strategies based on these models and determine how and what data observers should be tasked to collect. It's all quite circular.

Why is your role so important?

Fisheries observers are the building blocks of the foundation to sustainable fisheries management, and I am very proud to be one of those blocks. In my eight-year career as a fishery observer, I have had the opportunity to work in several regions and among numerous fisheries throughout the U.S. territorial waters. When I'm sent out to sea, I trust that I have been asked to collect data that is pertinent to helping to sustain healthy fisheries resources for generations to come. I also trust that I have been trained to collect this information in a scientifically reliable manner and have been provided the resources and support to do so. It is very important to me that the end users of the data (scientists and fisheries managers) have complete confidence in the information that I have gathered and that it is used to manage our marine resources for sustainability.