Directors Office
The Directors Office of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center is responsible for overall scientific leadership and research direction, program management, and operational policy. In addition, the office serves as a liaison with other NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS) and NOAA offices, Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC), University of Hawaii, State of Hawaii, and other agencies and organizations.
Directors' Bios
Dr. Samuel Pooley - Science Center Director
Dr. Pooley served for twenty years as the NMFS Honolulu Laboratory's lead economist with responsibilities ranging from economic analysis of commercial fisheries to evaluation of the benefits of recreational fisheries and endangered species preservation. He has published papers on bio-economic analysis, alternative fishery management and property rights regimes. He is also affiliate graduate faculty with several departments and programs at the University of Hawaii, as well as a member of the steering committee for the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR). Dr. Pooley is the U.S. representative on the Governing Council of PICES, the North Pacific Marine Science Organization.
Dr. Pooley received his doctorate in Political Science with a dissertation on economic decision-making from the University of Hawaii and his masters in Economics from the University of Birmingham (U.K.).
Prior to becoming Center director, Dr. Pooley was chief of the Honolulu Laboratory's fishery management program and was acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Islands Regional Office of NOAA Fisheries during its first year of existence in 2003.
Dr. Michael Seki - Deputy Director
Dr. Seki is the Deputy Director of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center located in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a career government employee having been with NOAA Fisheries since 1980. As a research scientist over the past 24 years, he has conducted studies on marine resources in the Pacific region including seabirds, sea turtles, tropical snappers, oceanic squid, tunas, and billfishes, and has authored or co-authored over 40 scientific papers on topics such as open ocean food webs (ecosystems) and the influence of the physical oceanographic environment on the distribution and abundance patterns of living marine resources.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Dr. Seki received his B.S. in biology from the University of Oregon, his M.S. in oceanography from the University of Hawaii, and his Ph.D. in marine environment and resources from Hokkaido University (Graduate School of Fisheries Science); with a dissertation topic focused on how living marine resources in the North Pacific respond to abrupt changes in oceanographic conditions.
