PERC Research Director Don Leal has been appointed to serve on an advisory panel for the Gulf of Mexico that will help guide decisions on how limited access privilege programs can be used effectively to ensure the health and economic viability of the gulf’s marine resources.
Leal’s career has been dedicated to research on natural resources and environmental issues. For the past 10 years he has focused on preventing over-harvesting of marine resources and restoring ocean fisheries. He is a pioneer in the application of individual fishing quotas to fisheries in the US and abroad.
The overarching governing body for the advisory panel is the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. It is one of nine regional councils established in the late 1970s by the historic Magnunson and Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that gave fishermen substantial authority to manage their own fisheries.
Leal has been working with the Gulf of Mexico fishery for several years on the Ad Hoc Grouper IFQ Advisory Panel. At an August 2009 meeting in Orange, Alabama, he gave a talk with an accompanying PowerPoint titled “Evolving Approaches to Managing Marine Recreational Fisheries.”
