Noah Oppenheim -- fisheries management, the human element of commercial fishing

** Interview episode 107 **

 

Born and raised in the rich fishing area of Maine, Noah Oppenheim has pursued a life on the ocean that has taken him from the beauty of the Galapagos Islands, to the wide open expanse of the south pacific, up to the rich waters of Alaska. On his way to building a career around the management of fish populations, Noah has been a scientific scuba diver, commercial fisherman, and federal observer on fishing vessels, developing a rich perspective on the challenges we face with managing our fish populations today. Nobody likes shark finning, but behind that is a human element of people doing so to make money to feed their families, just like all other fishing practices around the world, and Noah sheds light on all of that for us. 

 

While we are focusing on fish today, take a minute when you’re done listening and check out a couple non-profits doing good for fish populations — WWF and Institute for Fisheries Resources — and any time you can, buy local caught fish.

You can also find fun stuff on the ThisOceanLife.TV website, Instagram, and Facebook, and Twitter. Host: Josh Pederson, @surfpaddletailgate  

 

Other parts of our conversation:

• Born and raised in Maine
• Scuba certified as a teenager and moved quickly to becoming a dive master
• Took marine biology internship in the Galapagos 
• Dialog with local fisherman on how to move from wasteful practices, such as shark finning, to something that still provides them a livelihood
• Sailing 32 days from Seychelles to Tonga
• Fisheries observer program in Anchorage Alaska, then moved to a season of commercial salmon fishing
• Went to get a Master's Degree in marine biology and marine policy
• Intricacies of modeling fish populations to predict returns and set quotas for catching