A leading Ohio Division of Wildlife Lake Erie fisheries
expert is trading his state management hat for a quasi-federal larger size.
Jeff Tyson – current Lake Erie fisheries program
administrator stationed at the Wildlife Division’s Sandusky office – will transfer
his biological status flag to the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission office in
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
There he’ll move out of administering people and shuffling
papers to “facilitating” communication, priorities, plans, and activities
between all of the Great Lakes’ state, provincial, tribal, and federal
stakeholders. The commission is a joint venture between the United States and
Canada and receives funds from these two respective federal entities.
In effect, Tyson’s job will entail helping to keep these
varied interests from pulling in opposite directions; in effect , ensuring that
“we’re all working toward the same set of objectives;” those points being what’s best for the Great Lakes fishes and their
respective end users including sport and commercial fishers.
“I wasn’t job hunting,” Tyson also said about making such a
major career move after spending 23 years with the Wildlife Division.
“I’ve always been happy here but I’m going to be able to
take what I’ve learned and accomplished and now do it on a larger Great Lakes
regional scale. I guess what it will be is that I will remain engaged but in a
different way.”
As the head of the Wildlife Division’s Lake Erie fisheries
program, Tyson supervised some 14 full-time and 10 seasonal employees bivouac at
the agency’s Sandusky and also Fairport Harbor research station offices. The
annual budget for this combined state fisheries research arm is $2.5 million.
However, at the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission Tyson will
no longer manage people but rather work to build consensus between stakeholders
so that the right hand does know what the left hand is doing.
“The Commission really is a vital link in helping people and
government understand what everyone is doing and also to help them understand
what options are available,” he said.
Though Tyson has held his present Wildlife Division job for
only four years his impending departure in a few days from now does not mean a
bitter separation from the agency.
“Absolutely not,” Tyson said. “It was a difficult decision;
I owe a lot to the Wildlife Division, the people here and also with the lake’s stakeholders,
like the anglers.”
True enough, also says Rich Carter, the Wildlife Division’s
executive administrator for fish management and research.
Carter added that while Tyson’s departure represents a loss
for the Wildlife Division and Lake Erie specifically, his move to the
Commission really represents a plus for the entire Great Lakes and its mammoth
fisheries diversity.
“We were surprised, sure, about Jeff’s move but all of us
certainly recognize that someone as capable as he is – with all of his talents
and with a great resume – deserved to take the job when presented with such a
tremendous opportunity,” Carter said.
Carter said also that replacing Tyson will encompass a
search that will begin immediately; a task made more difficult by the fact that
Tyson was a perfect fit as the Lake Erie fisheries project administrator.
Regardless of who eventually replaces Tyson, the work of
managing Lake Erie’s fisheries will continue without missing a heartbeat,
Carter says as well.
That effort will remain focused on properly managing Ohio’s
share of Lake Erie’s walleye and yellow perch fisheries “because they are
critically important for our anglers and the economic health of our region,”
Carter says.
And the new, still-to-be-named administrator will likewise
focus on helping the “viability” of Lake Erie’s smallmouth bass and largemouth
bass populations along with the Wildlife Division’s goal of restoring the
Lake’s once thriving sauger population, Carter said.
“We’re confident we’ll find someone to lead our Lake Erie
fisheries program into the future,” Carter said.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. Jeff is the recipient of more than 125 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state
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