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National
Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Region NEWS RELEASE  Alaska Region, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, Alaska 99802-1668 |
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CONTACTS: Sheela McLean, Public Affairs (907) 586-7032 |
NMFS 02-AKR FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 10, 2002 |
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KURLAND TO RUN NMFS HABITAT DIVISION Jon Kurland, the former national coordinator for essential fish habitat for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), has been promoted to supervise the Alaska Region’s Habitat Conservation Division.
His formal title in Juneau is ‘Assistant Regional Administrator for the Alaska Region Habitat Conservation Division’. Kurland started in his new office September 3.
“Jon brings to the Alaska Region a wealth of experience in habitat issues, especially those pertaining to essential fish habitat,” said Alaska’s Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, Jim Balsiger. "I look forward to working with all of the various industries, agencies, groups, and individuals who are involved in Alaska marine and anadromous fish habitat issues," said Kurland. In his former job as essential fish habitat coordinator for the agency, Kurland ran the program that implemented the essential fish habitat provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. In that capacity, he oversaw a staff and worked with essential fish habitat coordinators in each of the five regions of NOAA Fisheries. Before moving to NMFS headquarters in 1999, Kurland worked for nine years in the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He served in the agency’s habitat conservation program, progressing from a staff biologist to become the assistant coordinator of the program. He worked extensively with the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils on the environmental analysis of fishery management actions. Kurland is not a stranger to Alaska. Last year he served a five-week assignment in the Alaska Regional Office as the lead analyst and author for portions of an Endangered Species Act biological opinion concerning the effects of the Alaska groundfish fisheries on endangered Steller sea lions. Kurland received an M.A. in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island and a B.A. (with Honors) in Government and Public Policy from Hamilton College. He is an alumnus of the Williams College / Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program. He is joined in Juneau by his wife, Anne, and their two young children. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our website at www.fakr.noaa.gov
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