Burden named executive director of Marine Conservation Alliance

July 26th 3:27 am | Alaska Newspapers Staff

Commercial fisheries veteran Merrick Burden has been named executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, a coalition of seafood processors, harvesters, support industries, coastal communities and community development quota groups.

The announcement of his appointment came July 25 from MCA, which is marking its 10th anniversary with new priorities and initiatives.

Burden will be based in Seattle with an office at Seattle Fisherman's Terminal. MCA also has offices in Juneau.

Burden was most recently the senior fisheries economist for the Environmental Defense Fund. He has extensive background in fisheries, including time on the water as well as land, where he worked for the National Marine Fisheries service and the Pacific Fishery management Council.

Burden said he looks forward "to helping chart a course which enhances MCA's impact in the pursuit of sustainably managed fisheries through the use of science."

Among MCA's current and new priorities are catch share programs, bycatch management, Steller sea lions, habitat and coastal and marine spatial planning.

Merrick will also head the MCA Foundation, which continues its work on marine debris cleanup and cooperative research on issues including crab tagging, information collection in the scallop fishery, and the intersection between fishery activities and right whales.

Alaska Newspapers Staff can be reached at editor@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at 907-348-2449

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