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North Pacific Research Board Selects An Executive Director
Today, the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) announces the appointment of Clarence G. Pautzke, Ph.D., as its new executive director. Dr. Pautzke has served the past 21 years on the staff of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, one of eight in the nation that work with the National Marine Fisheries Service in managing federal fisheries in the 3-200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone. He was the Council's deputy director from 1980 to 1988, and has been the executive director since 1988. He took a brief tour at the National Marine Fisheries Service headquarters office in Silver Spring, Maryland, serving as Director of the Office of Sustainable Fisheries in the fall of 2000, and then as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs during the first half of 2001, before returning to the Council staff.
Dr. Pautzke earned a doctorate in biological oceanography from the University of Washington in 1979. His research focused on Arctic Ocean marine ecosystems and he was project leader during three field seasons in the Beaufort Sea, on Ice Island T-3 in 1968 and 1973, and then with the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment in 1975.
He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy on active duty from 1969 through 1971, serving aboard the guided missile destroyer, USS Waddell, off Vietnam and in the Philippine Sea, and then as an analyst with the Fleet Intelligence Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He subsequently held various leadership positions in the Naval Reserves, retiring with the rank of Captain in 1992.
Dr. Pautzke's many years with the Council, working on diverse fishery management issues, and his scientific background, provide him with a unique combination of skills to ensure the coordination, collaboration, and leadership necessary to develop a successful, responsive, long-term, scientific marine research program for the North Pacific, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean. The program will be designed to enhance our understanding of the highly productive marine ecosystems off Alaska and reduce the uncertainty of resource management decisions.
"The new millennium will pose great challenges for Alaska's living marine resources, as well as the people dependent upon them. The NPRB, under the leadership of Dr. Pautzke stands prepared to meet those challenges" said Dave Benton, Interim Chairman for the NPRB and Chairman of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. "Dr. Pautzke's transition from the Council to the NPRB will be seamless and complementary to both organizations. The Council has greatly benefitted from Clarence's work these past twenty years and I feel Clarence is the person to move the NPRB process forward."
"Dr. Pautzke's broad experience in working with the various constituents of Alaska, Oregon and Washington State will be highly effective in implementing the NPRB to foster research collaboration with other organizations in all waters off Alaska" said Jim Balsiger, Regional Administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. "Clarence maintains a forward looking view toward research coordination and this will enable the NPRB to adapt its mission to the vicissitudes of environmental changes and other issues which our constituents feel are important."
Dr. Pautzke temporarily may be reached at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council office at (907) 271-2809, in Anchorage, Alaska, through late January 2002.
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