U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
See photos at http://northeast.fws.gov/cblinks.html.
The U.S.F.W.S.'s fisheries plan in Maine has a new manager whose 27-year fisheries career has taken him from his Massachusetts roots to Alaska, Washington state, and back again.
Carl Burger's new job has him supervising managers for Craig Brook and Green Lake countrywide fish hatcheries, as well as the Maine Fishery Resources Office. He began work in September as the 1st manager for the newly established complex, headquartered at Craig Brook Countrywide Fish Hatchery in East Orland.
"Joining all 3 fishery offices under one umbrella increases our efficiency and decreases cost," Burger said. "There is real value in coordinating offices that have related missions. We work with each other to even out the workload, which minimizes duplication." The Service fishery work in Maine centers on recovery and restoration of endangered Atlantic salmon. Additional efforts are directed toward public outreach, watershed stewardship, technical assistance to Indian Tribes, and restoration of American shad and other anadromous species in Maine's rivers.
At the Service's Abernathy Fish Technology Center in Longview, Wash., Burger oversaw research in fish genetics, nutrition, pathology and physiology as the center director for 6 years. He worked on improving fish hatchery techniques and on using hatcheries as conservation tools for Pacific salmon and steelhead restoration and recovery.
For 21 years prior to working at Abernathy, Burger worked for the research arm of the Service (later the U.S.G.S.) in Anchorage, Alaska, researching Pacific salmon populations, their genetics, habitats and life histories. He also studied fish introductions and the ecology of hatchery/wild fish interactions. All of this research, Burger says, can be applied to the Service's efforts to enhance Maine fish populations.
"In Alaska, I came to believe that research on wild populations provides valuable insights and new perspectives for restoring and recovering fish populations elsewhere," Burger said.
Burger was president of the 9,000-member American Fisheries Society from 2000 to 2001. He has a bachelor's degree in biology with an emphasis in marine invertebrate zoology from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., and a master's degree in fisheries from Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Burger and his family - wife Kristie and daughter MaKenzie - project to settle in the Ellsworth area of Downeast Maine, close to his new work location.
The U.S.F.W.S. is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 540 National wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 Countrywide fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid plan that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
