Name: Paul Smith

Q: Where in NOAA do you work now?
A: I am a task leader in Fisheries Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, La Jolla California on the Campus of University of California at San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Q: When did you begin your work with NOAA?
A: I began work in the Department of Interior Bureau of Commercial Fisheries La Jolla lab in the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) to convert the standard sampling net from a silk mesh (which was beginning to be prohibitively expensive) to a nylon mesh (which was beginning to be practical). This was necessary to study the sardine ecosystem which was beginning to be dominated by anchovy.

Q: Looking back, what events stand out as the most memorable during your time with NOAA?
A: The adoption of fisheries management plans to regulate fisheries in a risk averse manner based on empirical rather than theoretical foundations. This regime has been enlarged to include the ecosystemic effects of climate change and fisheries. The anchovy management plan was the first to be implemented because of wealth of data provided by the CalCOFI environmental monitoring. The sardine was the first major fishery stock to recover from thousands of tons to millions of tons based on the new management regime.

Q: From your point of view, what have been the most significant changes NOAA has experienced during the past 30 years?
A:  The growth of national and international programs to support rational management of fisheries based on empirical information rather than theoretical projections.

This page updated on: Monday, 07-Jan-2002 21:41:59 GMT
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