Alexa Cole has been appointed as the director for NOAA Fisheries’ Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection.
Cole will begin in her new position “in the coming weeks,” according to NOAA, and will work out of the agency’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.
“We are incredibly pleased to announce Alexa as our new director for the Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection,” NOAA Fisheries Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations at NOAA Fisheries Paul Doremus said. “She is a skilled negotiator and has ably represented the agency at high stakes international fisheries science and management meetings and treaty negotiations. Her unique experience as an attorney and a negotiator gives her the perfect skill set to take on this new role and lead this office into the future.”
Cole, who has served as acting director of the office since May 2019, will “work to promote international engagement and cooperation to achieve effective, responsible marine stewardship and ensure sustainable fisheries management on a global scale,” according to NOAA. She will also oversee the office’s seafood inspection services.
Previously, Cole held leadership positions at NOAA as acting chief and deputy chief in the enforcement section in the NOAA Office of General Counsel. In these positions, she supervised the section’s unified and consistent enforcement of NOAA's marine resource statutes through international, legislative, legal, and regulatory work, according to NOAA. Cole also served as senior enforcement attorney in the agency’s Pacific Islands Region, prosecuting civil and criminal cases involving international and domestic fisheries and protected resources.
“In her external roles, Cole has successfully developed and led capacity-building initiatives around the world to positively influence the sustainable management of natural marine resources. She has represented NOAA at international fisheries science and management meetings and treaty negotiations, including the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the South Pacific Tuna Treaty,” NOAA said in its release. “As a skilled negotiator, she represented the agency at high-stakes international fisheries science and management meetings and treaty negotiations, including those held at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the South Pacific Tuna Treaty.”
In 2009, Cole received the U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award “for her leadership in enacting the first extensive international management measures for tuna fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean.”
Cole has a master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University, a law degree from from Vermont Law School, and a bachelor’s degree in geography and environmental studies from McGill University.
Photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries
