June 8, 2016 — When the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker announced a couple of weeks ago that seven of the nine sitting members of the state’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission were being replaced, many assumed the worst.
“This is strange and not well-thought-out,” said Phil Coates, of Sandwich, the retired former director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries. “It will have an impact that will go far beyond the new members.”
Coates, like many, wondered if the sacking of so many commissioners was retribution for the board not supporting Douglas Christel for Division of Marines Fisheries director last fall. Christel is a former NOAA Fisheries employee whose candidacy was backed by the Baker administration. Christel was the top choice of a screening committee to replace retired Director Paul Diodati over Division of Marine Fisheries deputy directors David Pierce and Dan McKiernan.
The commission selected Pierce, a longtime Marine Fisheries employee with many years working on state and federal fisheries issues, as Diodati’s representative on the New England Fishery Management Council.
Baker, Coates said, ignored the wisdom of replacing just three members at a time on the advisory commission to maintain institutional memory while managing a wide range of recreational and commercial fisheries that intersect with both federal fisheries management through the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and coastwide species through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.