New College’s Julie Morris to Testify before U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs

(July 26, 2011) — New College of Florida Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Julie Morris is scheduled to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs today at 2 pm. 

Morris, a former co-director of the College’s Environmental Studies Program, currently serves on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee and is a past board member and chair of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.

The purpose of today’s hearing, which is entitled “NOAA’s Fishery Science: Is the Lack of Basic Science Costing Jobs?,” is to explore how amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act enacted in 2007 have affected domestic fishery management.  Specifically, the subcommittee is interested in Morris’s views on whether data generated by NOAA is sufficient to help fishery managers comply with the new requirements and whether the 2007 amendments may be curtailing harvest levels, thereby negatively impacting coastal economies and jobs produced within the fishing industry.