Pacific Council has a new skipper

The Pacific Fishery Management Council has tabbed Merrick Burden as its next executive director.

He's expected to start Nov. 15, succeeding the retiring Chuck Tracy.

Burden currently is senior director, resilient fisheries with the Environmental Defense Fund, his LinkedIn page says.

From 2011 to 2015, he was executive director of an Alaska-focused industry organization, the Marine Conservation Alliance.

Burden previously worked as a senior analyst with the Pacific Council, and as a fisheries economist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

He has a master's degree in environmental and resource economics from Oregon State University.

The Pacific Council is based in Portland, Oregon, and manages salmon, groundfish and other fisheries on the West Coast of the United States.

– Wesley Loy