Saving Seafood

SAFMC Seeks Applicants for Executive Director

May 31, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has recently started recruitment for a new executive director.

The executive director serves as the chief executive officer of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and is responsible for managing all administrative and technical aspects of Council operations. The SAFMC is based in North Charleston, SC, and covers the management of stocks along North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east Florida to Key West. It’s also responsible for coastal migratory pelagics species from New York to Florida and for dolphin/wahoo from Maine to Florida.

The new director will replace current director Gregg Waugh. Waugh was the SAFMC deputy director until he succeeded then-executive director Robert Mahood in 2016.

According to the SAFMC, Waugh began working as a contractor for Council’s Spiny Lobster Fishery management Plan in 1980.

“I grew up on the water fishing and spearfishing as a kid and selling conch shells, dried starfish, and sea fans to tourists as a youngster, and later commercial spearfishing to make spending money,” Waugh said in a SAFMC press release in 2015. He went on to study marine science at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and then to more work at the SAFMC. He became deputy director in 1990.

Some of the SAFMC executive director’s duties and responsibilities, according to the recruitment announcement, include:

  • planning, organizing and implementing fishery management activities in support of Council programs and policies;
  • interacting and coordinating with other Councils, state and federal agencies, NMFS, universities, and the public;
  • serving as spokesperson for the South Atlantic Council when participating in meetings and conferences;
  • providiung administrative and technical support for the Council through subordinate staff. Recruits, conducts interviews and hires staff on behalf of the Council;
  • the position requires sensitive and facilitative leadership skills as this position identifies critical and complex political, managerial and organizational challenges and recommends courses of action to solve such problems to the Council;
  • serving as the focal point for the Council’s efforts to work together toward a common purpose in marine fisheries conservation and management; and
  • responsibility for internal operations of the Council including the review of all administrative practices and also for the accounting and control of fiscal resources.

The starting salary range is $121,280 – $137,450, negotiable depending upon education and experience. It is a non-federal position with benefits. The closing date is June 21, 2019, and the full position announcement can be found at: http://safmc.net/announcements/safmc-recruitment-announcement-executive-director/ .

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.