Candidates from the eastern and western epicenters of American fishing — a politically effective scientist at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and a longtime Alaska commercial fisherman and senatorial aide — are apparent finalists to head the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The Massachusetts candidate is Brian Rothschild, 73, a professor of marine science who came to prominence during a campaign that disproved NMFS science findings in the 1990s and helped resurrect the scallop fishery based in New Bedford.
The other finalist, according to a report Tuesday in the industry Internet publication Seafood.com News, is Arne Fuglvog, 45, a fifth-generation Alaska fisherman and fishery official now on the staff of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.