National Marine Fisheries Service

Robert W. Schoning, Director

1974

Bob Jones, your executive secretary, has given me this opportunity to tell you, the membership of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, about the outlook, philosophy, and objectives of the National Marine Fisheries Service in 1974. I am happy to convey my thoughts on the course charted for NOAA’s NMFS, and what we in the Fisheries Service see as our most pressing responsibilities. Our paramount objective, simply stated, is to do a progressively better job.

We’re convinced that one of our greatest needs at this time is to interface in the closest possible way with the diverse members of our constituency - commercial and sport fishermen, the industry, State agencies, the academic community, conservation organization, and other Federal agencies. Members of organizations like yours can help us meet that need, mainly by giving us meaningful and constructive suggestions and advice. You must keep us informed of how well you thing our programs are doing, whether you think we could better the conduct of certain operations, and if you think we are approaching a problem efficiently. In other words you must give us your message loud and clear, and we must listen with a sharp and discerning ear. Our strength lies in playing as teammates, not as adversaries. We play on the same team, but in different position and in somewhat different styles.

We at NMFS want to take full advantage of the professionalism offered by you, as members of the fisheries fraternity. You are successful in your chosen business because of your knowledge, experience, and good judgment -- in other words you are pros in the fish business. We, as expert suppliers of Federal assistance, are also pros. We try to see that the taxpayer gets his money’s worth where fisheries products and other aspects of the marine environment are concerned, and we try to provide the industry with the utmost cooperation, leadership, support, and encouragement. By blending your professionalism with our expertise, we at NMFS will end up with better programs and more efficient service to both the resource and users of the resource. Service is the name of our game, but we can’t provide it as fully as we wish unless we have your and others’ help/

My remarks apply with equal emphasis to State agencies, which bear a heavy responsibility for resource management. We want to work closely and cooperatively with them as well, in a variety of endeavors -- in an expansion of the kind of association that has produced such excellent results for a number of NMFS-Sea Grant-State University ventures.

I am new in the Service. I know I have much to learn, and I have spent considerable time this past year traveling around the country, attempting to meet, speak with, and listen to as many representatives of the fisheries community as I can reach. I believe I now know a lot more about our mutual problems and philosophies than I did a year ago, partly because of the frank talk I’ve heard. I’ve noticed repeatedly that one area needing improvement is communication between various factors. We at the Federal level and you at the constituent level do no communicate as well as we should on matters of mutual importance. The blame, I believe, lies with both of us, and I for one am going to be extremely insistent that we keep our avenues of communication wide open at all times. The NMFS exists to provide service, but it cannot do its job properly unless your industry and other concerned people tell us where and when the job is either not being done or could be done better.

I suggest that communication can be greatly improved if the NOAA-NMFS constituency will take advantage of the many and varied services offered by field installations. NMFS has about 1,400 people working in 100 offices, laboratories, and stations around the country who are ready, willing, and able to help. Take you problems to them. Like you, they are pros, paid to help you, anxious to help you, and under emphatic instructions to interface with you in planning, implementing, and carrying out NMFS programs. They will listen to your advice and pass along your suggestions. You may be interested in my oft-repeated policy in this respect: "If you have a problem, contact our regional director in your area; if he is the problem, contact me." And please keep in mind that the NMFS field representatives are all part of the larger National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Commerce Department, which offers a wide variety of services to many kinds of users.

One of our most important field operations is in the southeastern region, the site of the country’s most productive commercial and sport fishing action. Commercial fishermen in the area accounted for an almost two-billion-pound catch worth $325 million last year; about 20,000 fishing craft use the services of some 46,000 fishermen each year; recent compilation of sport fish statistics show an annual catch of almost 880 million pounds; and immense quantities of processed seafoods and other fishery products, worth a billion dollars annually, flow from processing plants and factories in the Southeast and Gulf States.

Such a massive contribution to the US economy deserves -- and receives -- extensive support from the Federal Government. Scores of workers for the NMFS (as well as others in the employ of various Commerce Department agencies) pursue a variety of activities in offices, laboratories, and aboard research vessels in 17 southeastern States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Their efforts stress the management, conservation, and wise utilization of marine resources. Our people maintain a close working relationship with State agencies, universities, Federal Government environmental groups, trade association, and conservation commissions. We can and will continue to offer an impressive amount of expertise, service, and technical advice to members of your organization and other fisheries interests in the Southeast.

I repeat that we at NMFS are engaged in continual across-the-board effort to do things better. We are constantly conducting critical evaluations of our own performance, striving to find the more efficient way, seeking suggestions that may give better results. We need a constant barrage of suggestions, particularly from pros like you. Not that we will always agree with your suggestions -- we won’t. But disagreement sometimes can be as useful as agreement. If you believe our position is unsound, we’ll listen to your views; if we believe we’ve struck a sound position, we’ll defend it--with vigor, if need be. We will never agree just to be agreeable.

I hope I’ve explained the general NMFS viewpoint. The beliefs outlined will be followed at every opportunity, with your help. You and we have common goals and we both know that a concerned effort or attack is much more rewarding than a single, or fragmented one. Our goals can be reached much faster and more efficiently with the unstinting help of interested, competent teammates. We at NMFS seek your assistance in helping us both to do our jobs better, to survive and thrive in years ahead.