The recent criticism of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) by Harvey Mickelson, the attorney for the American Scallop Association, unfairly demeaned the school's faculty, students, staff and administration. I respond on behalf of the academic leadership group of SMAST: Associate Dean Avijit Gangopadhyay; Professor Lou Goodman, chair of the Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences; Associate Professor Kevin Stokesbury, chair of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography; and me.

Mickelson clearly believes that SMAST should be a single-issue enterprise focused only on fisheries research that advances his clients' commercial interests. He would have SMAST abandon its work in both fundamental research and applications of that research to important societal issues such as coastal zone preservation, marine renewable energy, ocean modeling, climate change, and other marine-related priorities of the commonwealth and nation — all of which are ongoing at SMAST.

This is an insult to the many graduate students, staff and faculty who are dedicating their lives to this important work. Furthermore, it fails to recognize the importance of these fields to the future of our commonwealth and our SouthCoast communities.

In questioning the university's commitment to fishery-related research, Mickelson ignores the tangible support being provided to the Department of Fisheries Oceanography. During the past 12 months, a period of extremely difficult budget challenges for the university, Provost Anthony Garro and Chancellor Jean MacCormack have approved the addition of two new faculty members to the department. One of these faculty members has arrived and the other will arrive in June. The university is replacing a faculty member who left the department this past fall.

See this enitre column at The South Coast Today.