ICES has appointed Alan Haynie, US, as the next General Secretary, becoming the sixteenth to hold this position since the organization was established in 1902. Set to step into the role this August, Haynie is excited to take ICES out of the pandemic and on course to achieve the vision of ecosystem-based management.
“As we return to in-person interactions and strive to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a great opportunity to strengthen our community by bringing in new scientists and once again meeting colleagues, while continuing to use virtual and hybrid tools to efficiently expand and deepen our network. ICES recognizes that Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) and effective conservation require trade-offs across ecological, economic, and social dimensions. We have made great strides in this direction, but to truly make the organization’s EBM vision a reality, we will need to continue to focus on coupling social and natural sciences.”
Haynie comes to ICES Secretariat from NOAA Fisheries in the United States. Since 2004, he has been an economist and interdisciplinary leader at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle as well as an affiliate professor at the University of Washington and University of Alaska, Fairbanks. A graduate of NOAA’s flagship organizational leadership programme, Haynie has also worked with the NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology.
As a leader in marine resource economics and interdisciplinary marine science, Haynie’s research and leadership contributions have focused on improving the effectiveness of environmental policy under changing climate, ecosystem, and economic conditions.
Among the many activities that have prepared him for his new role as General Secretary, Haynie has led interdisciplinary marine climate projects and worked to provide resource managers with the scientific background to more effectively reduce bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. Haynie has worked with biologists to improve stock assessments, led NOAA's Human Integrated Ecosystem Based Fishery Management (HI-EBFM) Strategic Plan, and evaluated the long-term budget and staff spending patterns across NOAA Fisheries Science Centers. He has extensive experience working with diverse stakeholders, from government leaders and fishery managers to indigenous, commercial, and recreational fishers.
Haynie is no stranger to ICES, having been involved with a number of expert groups. His experience includes chairing the Strategic Initiative on the Human Dimension (SIHD) as well as being a member of the Strategic Initiative on Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems (SICCME), Working Group on Economics (WGECON), Joint ICES/PICES Study Group/ICES Council Strategic Initiative to plan participation in the UN Decade of Ocean Science (IPOD-SC), and Working Group on Balancing Economic, Social and Ecological Objectives (WGBESEO).
Having a life-long commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Haynie looks forward to supporting the ongoing work on this both in the Secretariat and throughout ICES network. “Not only is this a core value for me, but inclusive and diverse environments have repeatedly been shown to be more effective.”
William Karp, ICES President welcomes the appointment, “I am delighted that Alan has been selected to be our new General Secretary. I am very much looking forward to him taking office and to working with him in the coming years”.
