After 27 years with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, including 15 as executive director, Chris Oliver is taking on a new challenge, as assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries in Washington DC.
In that role, Oliver is tasked with overseeing management and conservation of recreational and commercial fisheries, including some aspects of marine aquaculture, preservation and maintenance of safe sources of seafood, and protection of marine mammals, marine protected species, and coastal fisheries habitat within the U.S. exclusive economic zone, NOAA said in an announcement this week.
Oliver, who took office on June 19, will be managing an agency with some 3,200 employees in five regional offices, six science centers and 24 labs and fish stations in 15 states and U.S. territories.
Oliver, a native of Rockport, Texas, has a degree in business management and a master’s degree in fisheries science, both from Texas A&M. He has also been a research associate at Texas A&M from 1987-1990, working with federal and state agencies on management issues associated with Gulf of Mexico shrimp fisheries. He had been in the NPFMC since 1990, also as a fisheries biologist and then deputy director.
During his tenure as executive director, Oliver was credited with several cutting edge management initiatives, including development of limited access privilege programs and fishery cooperatives and catch share programs, the North Pacific’s comprehensive onboard observer program. He also credited for his contributions to numerous bycatch reduction programs, extensive habitat protection measures, commercial and recreational allocation programs and coastal community development programs.
Oliver said he is looking forward to lading NOAA Fisheries and helping with partners to rebuild U.S. fisheries and conserve and recover protected resources where necessary. Also on his list are promoting domestic marine aquaculture production where appropriate, maintaining the nation’s reputation for world-renown science and anlaysis and maximizing fishing opportunities for commercial and recreational fishermen, processors and coastal communities dependent on the fisheries.
Oliver received a round of accolades from the fisheries industry during the June meeting of the NPFMC in Juneau.
During that session the council approved a regulatory amendment to allow community development quota groups to lease Area 4B, 4C and 4D halibut individual fishing quota shares in years when the catch limits are below certain thresholds.
In Area 4B, the option would be available if the catch limit was one million pounds or lower. For Area 4C and 4D, the option would be available when the catch limit for Area 4CDE was at or below 1.5 million pounds.
Leased IFQ would be available to vessels less than or equal to 51 feet length overall, subject to the groups’ internal management. The council noted that such actions would not convert IFQ to CDQ shares.
Any vessels harvesting leased halibut IFQ would have to follow all halibut IFQ regulations with one exception. In Area 4D, IFQ leased by a CDQ group would be permitted to be fished in Area 4E.
The council also adopted an option specifically intended to prevent individuals from buying quota shares with the sole intent of leasing those shares. The provision would not allow an individual to lease such IFQ within three years after acquiring it.
Also to discourage reliance on leasing of Area 4 quota shares, a quota shareholder would not be allowed to lease halibut IFQ on a consecutive basis for more than two years.
Also during the June meeting, the council took final action on a regulatory change expanding ways that an eligible observer can qualify to become a fixed gear lead level 2 observer.
The action was intended to address a potential shortage of fixed gear lead level 2 observers for deployment on freezer longline vessels, or other fixed gear vessels requiring lead level 2 observers. The council noted that the majority of freezer longline vessels operate under conitoring requirements that require them to have at-sea scales and carry a single LL2 observer onboard at all times when the Pacific cod fishery is open in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands. The council noted that some vessel owners and observer coverage providers have reported challenges with the availability of such observers, and that the consequence can be that a vessel has to delay fishing because of it.
