Unalaska, AK – The chairman of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has been reappointed to serve another three-year term. Eric Olson of Anchorage was reappointed as Alaska's designee to the council by the Secretary of Commerce. This will be his third term on the council and second term as chair.

Also announced yesterday was the reappointment of John Henderschedt of Seattle. Henderschedt is a designee from the state of Washington.

Both men have strong ties to Alaska's fisheries. Olson is from the Bristol Bay region and works as quota manager for the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association. Henderschedt had worked for Seattle-based at-sea pollock catcher/processors. He's now executive director for the Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum, a fisheries think tank that's linked to Stanford University and the Environmental Defense Fund.

The names of both men were submitted to the Secretary of Commerce by the governors of their state.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council regulates fisheries in federal waters past the three nautical mile line. Its primary responsibility is managing groundfish including pollock, cod and halibut. It also has been working to reduce bycatch of salmon and crab species by trawlers.