The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has announced the appointment of Dr. Victor Restrepo to Chair the Foundation’s independent Science Advisory Committee, taking on the role full-time in April 2010. ISSF President Susan Jackson said that Victor is profoundly talented, widely respected and his leadership skills will be an incredible asset to our organization.
She also informed that the job is demanding and Victor is the right candidate for the same. Dr. Restrepo has been involved in tuna fisheries science for over twenty years, primarily in stock assessment. He spent six of the past eight years working as Assistant Executive Secretary for the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and also served as a member of the ISSF Science Advisory Committee.
It is told that from 2007-2009, Dr. Restrepo was Chief of the Highly Migratory Species Division of the United States National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center. According to Dr Restrepo the Foundation’s respect for the role of science in creating sustainable tuna fisheries makes this a position I can be passionate about with demands I can be fully dedicated to.
He also said that the Committee’s independent status within ISSF means scientists can be scientists and the work we do isn’t influenced by outside interests. As a chairman Dr Restrepo will also serve as a voting member on the ISSF Board of Directors. Dr. Meryl J. Williams will serve as Vice Chair of the ISSF Science Advisory Committee. Dr. Williams has also been a member of the ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee since its
inception and is the founding Coordinator of the FishWatch-AsiaPacific Project of Asian Fisheries Society (AFS) and Honorary Life Member, AFS.
