Many in the local fishing industry believe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco has at last done something positive.
The agency's recent creation of a new position in the Northeast and her appointment of a Gloucester man to fill it looks good for both NOAA and the fishing industry.
Two local groundfish skippers and the president of the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction are especially enthusiastic about the appointee.
Don Mason "… is up and running as our Compliance Liaison in the Northeast," said Eric Schwaab, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries.
The 51-year-old Mason is a Gloucester lifer and family man who first worked along the Inner Harbor as a lumper and seafood buyer before becoming a fisheries reporting specialist for NOAA Fisheries in town 24 years ago.
After scrutinizing and finding fault with some NOAA Fisheries enforcement operations in the Northeast last year, the Inspector General recommended a number of remedies in a report last September.
Mason's position resulted from Recommendation 3, which read, in part: "… NOAA's enforcement program would benefit from the establishment of an independent office empowered to advocate or advise the regulated community on violation avoidance, compliance assistance, and defense and settlement advocacy …"
Little did Mason know last January, well before the report came out, that he became an unofficial candidate for the position while writing back and forth to Andy Winer, NOAA's director of External Affairs at NOAA's Silver Spring, Md., headquarters.
"I presented some outreach ideas, and he liked them. My ideas were similar to the Inspector General's, and I never saw the report," said Mason.
Winer was also impressed by Mason's qualifications, and he, no doubt, highly recommended him to his superiors later on.
Mason's new job officially began in November. Besides primarily covering Gloucester, his domain also flows to other ports within NOAA's Northeast Region, including New Bedford, Portland, Maine, and Point Judith, R.I.
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