Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, with concurrence from the White House, named Chris Oliver Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. The Texas native assumed his new position on June 19.

As Assistant Administrator, Oliver will oversee the federal agency responsible for recreational and commercial fisheries. In addition to managing productive and sustainable domestic fisheries, including some aspects of marine aquaculture, the agency works to recover and conserve protected resources such as whales, sea turtles, and corals.

For the past 27 years, Oliver worked at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council–first as a fisheries biologist, later as deputy director, and finally as executive director for 16 years. Through his long-time participation in the Council Coordination Committee and various international fishery management organizations, Oliver gained extensive knowledge of national and international fisheries issues. A Texas native, Oliver also worked on Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery management issues prior to moving to Alaska in 1990.

AFS staff will be reaching out to Assistant Administrator Oliver to meet with him about issues that have traditionally been important to both AFS and NMFS and explore ways to partner going forward.