I retired after a 35 year career with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in January 2012. Since that time I have worked as a consultant dealing with fishery related issues. In addition, in May 2016 I was appointed as the Independent Chairperson of the Newfoundland and Labrador Groundfish Industry Development Council (NL-GIDC). This provides me with more than 45 years of experience in fisheries science and management activities related to the commercial fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador.I completed both science and management work from a domestic, national and international perspective. For the first 15 years of my career with DFO I worked in the science sector, primarily as a senior fish stock assessment biologist. For the past 15 years at DFO, I worked as an Executive manager (mostly in Fisheries Management) and concluded my career as Regional Director General (3.5 years). As RDG I had executive responsibilities for various DFO sectors (Science, Oceans, Policy, Fish Management and Corporate Services). Throughout my career I had considerable interaction with other Federal Departments, many Provincial governments as well as all sectors of the Fishing industry.I was also the Head of Delegation for Canada at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) for 2.5 years prior to my retirement. As such I was Canada’s chief negotiator for the determination of fish quotas and management measures for Northwest Atlantic Groundfish and shrimp fisheries. This required an extensive understanding of annual science assessments for related species, an understanding of ecosystem impacts (bycatch as well as fishery impacts on the ocean floor) and considerable interaction with managers and scientists from the key NAFO Contracting Parties (Canada, EU, Norway, Iceland, Russia, United States, Japan, Faroe Islands/Greenland and France-SPM).