THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020268
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Duke University Professor Michael K. Orbach resigned Monday from the Marine Fisheries Commission, saying he could play a more important role as a fisheries researcher.
Orbach said he will concentrate on research that will be needed by a steering committee rewriting the state's fisheries management programs.
Earlier this year he was denied a new research grant because he was a member of the commission, the 17-member panel that oversees the state's coastal fishing industry. He said the commission should act to ensure that a lack of clarity over its ethics policy does not deter other scientists from serving on the board.
``My value to the state is larger as a researcher,'' said Orbach from his office at the Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort. ``I have talked to a lot of people, and they all agree that it is much more important that I continue this work.''
Robert V. Lucas, the state's top fisheries official, agreed, calling Orbach a ``crucial'' player in the drive to improve the state's fishing stock.
At a meeting in Morehead City in April, a committee of the fisheries panel voted to exclude Orbach from a $74,561 grant it awarded to Jeffrey C. Johnson, a researcher with the Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources at East Carolina University in Greenville. The committee agreed that Orbach could not participate in the research while he served on the Marine Fisheries Commission.
Orbach was listed as a subcontractor for the project, which is designed to assess the condition of North Carolina's coastal fisheries, evaluate methods that other states use to control fishing and conduct a series of workshops on management alternatives for North Carolina's coastal fishing industry.
Orbach announced his resignation in letters Friday to Lucas and Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., who will appoint Orbach's successor.
``In a case such as this, where my ability to engage in important research is perceived as being in conflict with my role as Marine Fisheries Commission, it is the research which must take precedence,'' Orbach wrote.
``There are several scientists who sit on boards and commissions in this state, many in dedicated seats, who regularly perform state and federal funded research. This is usually an entirely acceptable practice. We need to ensure that lack of clarity in our conflict of interest polities does not preclude our ability to take advantage of the talents of our state's scientists as members of boards and commissions.''
Orbach's resignation also raised concern from Lucas that other qualified scientists may not be willing to serve on state policy-making boards for fear of ethics violations.
``It certainly will chill those scientists that are in the fisheries community,'' Lucas said.
In recent years, Orbach, who joined the faculty at Duke after a stint at East Carolina University, has become a national authority on fisheries management issues, particularly on limiting the number of commercial fishermen and the types of gear they can use.
Orbach has served 10 years on the Marine Fisheries Commission. During his tenure, he has tackled some of the panel's most contentious issues.
Moratorium steering committee members who voted in April to remove Orbach from their grant said their decision was affected by questions raised about the fisheries resource grants, even though the project was not related to the moratorium.
The $1 million fisheries resource grant program was the subject of controversy in March after a grant selection committee, charged with winnowing the application pool down to match the available funds, released its recommendations.
Three of the 41 grants recommended for funding were to members of the grant selection committee or their family members, or to businesses with ties to grant selection committee members. The recommendations sparked claims from some in the state's coastal fishing community that some committee members had committed ethics violations.
None of the three grants was awarded funds by the Marine Fisheries Commission. Also, the commission asked its long-range planning committee to develop a written ethics policy to guide commission members, like Orbach, who may be faced with conflict-of-interest questions.
That planning committee is scheduled to meet next month in Greenville, Lucas said.
In April, a lawyer for the state told the moratorium steering committee that Orbach's role as a subcontractor for the grant would not be a conflict of interest because the Marine Fisheries Commission is not involved in funding moratorium study grants.
Some moratorium steering committee members said they feared the committee was overreacting to publicity from the other grants. But most committee members said removing Orbach from the project was the proper step to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
KEYWORDS: RESIGNATION by CNB