New Director of GARFO Selected

Michael Pentony was appointed the new Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in January. Pentony has been with the agency since 2002, serving in a series of positions including as the Assistant Regional Administrator for the Sustainable Fisheries Division since 2014. He succeeds retiring Regional Administrator John Bullard, who had been in the position since 2012. In his new role, Pentony will head the agency’s regional office, which has responsibility for managing approximately 100,000 square miles of the northwest Atlantic, the marine ecosystem from Maine to Cape Hatteras and the Great Lakes. His office works closely with the New England and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, the states, fishing industry, and other stakeholders to manage federal commercial and recreational fisheries, marine mammals, habitat, and much more.

As Administrator, he will also oversee critical aspects of international fisheries conservation and management in the region. Pentony has extensive experience leading the development and implementation of the fishery management plans and regulations created by the two councils and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. In his sustainable fisheries management role, he oversaw all aspects of fourteen management plans for 42 species valued at nearly $1.6 billion annually. Prior to taking the Assistant Regional Administrator position in 2014, Pentony served for 12 years as a team supervisor in the sustainable fisheries division. Before joining NOAA Fisheries in 2002, Pentony worked for five years as a policy analyst for the New England Fishery Management Council, primarily on issues related to habitat, marine protected areas, and the red crab fishery. He has a B.S. degree in engineering a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University. Between college and graduate school, Mr. Pentony served for six years as an officer in the United States Air Force as an engineering project manager on a variety of military satellite and launch-vehicle programs.