(June 27, 2007)
– Julie K. Morris, assistant
vice president for academic affairs at New College of Florida,
was reappointed June 25 to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management
Council by U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos M.
Gutierrez.
Morris
holds an at-large seat on the Gulf Council, one of eight
regional fishery management councils that manage fishery
resources in federal waters. The Gulf Council includes members
from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Her reappointment is her second to the 17-member panel. Morris,
one of four voting members from Florida, was first named to a
three-year term on the Gulf Council in 2001 and again in 2004.
She was elected the panel's vice chair in 2003 and chair in
2004.
Morris is a New College graduate, who earned a bachelor of arts
in biology and ecology in 1974. She has been with New College's
Environmental Studies Program since 1981, first as a coordinator
and, since 2002, as director. After serving as assistant to the
provost for three years, she was appointed assistant vice
president for academic affairs in the Office of the Provost in
2006.
The Environmental Defense Fund applauded Morris' reappointment,
saying: "She supports ending overfishing with the use of catch
shares and additional conservation methods. As former chair of
the Gulf Council she has advocated for sound decision-making
practices and is committed to pursuing the public interest."
The Gulf Council just completed a management plan to end
overfishing of red snapper, "a complicated plan that reduces
direct harvest of red snapper as well as bycatch in shrimp
trawls," Morris said. Next on its agenda will be ending
overfishing of gag grouper.
The Gulf Council and the other seven regional councils were
established in 1976 by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act. The secretary of commerce appoints the 72
members to the eight councils; each member may serve up to three
consecutive three-year terms. The director of National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service oversees the
appointment process and solicits nominations from governors of
fishing states.
