Nomination Period Extended for US Seats on IPHC

NOAA Fisheries has extended until Sept. 18 the nomination period for candidates to fill two US commissioner seats on the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

The original deadline was June 4.

The terms of current US commissioners expire on December 31.

In May, NOAA Fisheries publicly solicited nominations for two presidential appointments to serve as US Commissioners and the nomination process yielded just two names for the two expiring seats, both re-nominations of current commissioners. US commissioners are appointed for terms not to exceed two years, and are eligible for reappointment.

NOAA officials said that while both are strong candidates the agency is seeking a greater number of nominations from which to propose two candidates for appointment by the president. The lack of a larger candidate pool affects the ability of the recommending officials to propose alternate commissioners.
Nominations may be submitted via email to IPHC2015nominations@noaa.gov.

They may be mailed to Patrick Moran, National Marine Fisheries service Office of International Affairs, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or faxed to 1-301-713-2313.

Nominations are open to all qualified individuals and may include current commissioners. The list of nominees will be published on the NOAA Fisheries Alaska regional office website on Sept. 23. Public comments related to this list of nominees will be accepted through Oct. 26. They may be emailed to IPHC2015comments@noaa.gov, mailed to Pete Jones, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK. 99802-1668, or faxed to 907-586-7249.

All nominees will be vetted by the Departments of Commerce and State and forwarded to the President with a goal of receiving presidential appointments by Jan. 1, 2016, NOAA officials said.