Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is stepping down in February, citing family reasons. “I have decided to return to my family and academia,” she wrote to NOAA employees.
In her letter Lubchenco listed no less than 20 achievements during her tenure including: “ending over-fishing, rebuilding depleted stocks, and returning fishing to profitability; creating the first National Ocean Policy; reforming international fishery management organizations; and by creating a saltwater sport fishing summit, developing a recreational fishing action agenda.”
Many recreational anglers took issue with Lubchenco’s views on management of fisheries stocks, frequently pointing out that the data she used to determine her definition of “over-fishing” was flawed. Under her direction, many recreationally popular and economically important species saw significant tighenting of restrictions and imposiiton of closed seasons – often in the face of wide-ranging ancedotal reports that seemed to contradict the data being used to make such determinaitons.
No successor has been announced for Lubchenco, who has held the job since 2009 and became well-known for her publicly criticized role in response to the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana in April 2010. In that role, she initally down-played the size, scope and visibility of the spill. A few weeks later, a study by independent scientists reported an invisible, 22-mile underwater plume of oil ingredients and NOAA quickly acknowledged that the deepwater oil had not degraded as quickly as she had reported.
Lubchenco also oversaw in 2010 the controversial transition to catch shares in New England. The system, lauded by the Ocean Conservancy, aimed to give fishermen flexibility to fish when the market and conditions were good while freeing them from being restricted to an ever-dwindling number of allowable days on the water. Most of all it pleased environmentalists because it established hard, enforceable catch limits to better prevent overfishing but the move was widely unpopular in the recreational and commercial fishing sector.
A marine ecologist and environmental scientist by training, and a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Lubchenco was one of several prominent scientists hired by the Obama administration. She was a professor at Oregon State University when the president appointed her in 2009. She said in her email Wednesday that “as many of you know, my home and family are on the West Coast.” Her letter often used humor to describer her four years. In reference to her 20 accomplishments she joked, “All this and more for less than a nickel a day from each tax payer- now that’s a bargain!”
Rallies at the Nation’s Capital in 2010 and 2011 drew a bead on Lubchenco’s policies and fishermen held signs up with a picture of her “research” boat, a triple outboard Boston Whaler that was purchased by NOAA. In May, Jack Hayes- then head of NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) – retired after an investigation found senior staff had misdirected millions of dollars in funds. Her resignation has not been linked to Hayes’ resignation.
