Democrats question NOAA ‘Fisherman in Residence’

Neither NOAA nor NOAA Fisheries took public notice of Delano's appointment to the newly created position, and neither agency's websites on Monday included any reference to a "fisherman in residence."

On Monday, agency officials did not respond to requests for comment. Neither Delano nor representatives responded to a phone message or emails requesting comment.

In their letter, Huffman and Dexter cite potential overlaps or conflicts between Delano's dual responsibilities as a fishing industry advocate and as NOAA's designated fisherman. They identify as one example his support for a lobster industry lawsuit challenging NOAA Fisheries' protections for the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

"In other words, Mr. Delano’s non-government roles and professional work involve representing fishermen in litigation and advocacy that directly implicate NOAA and the regulated industries and stakeholders before it," the lawmakers wrote.

In a 2019 oral history interview, conducted when he was 28 years old, Delano recounted that he began his lobster fishing career when he was 11 and had a little skiff. By the time he was a high school senior, he said, he had his own 34-foot wooden boat and was hauling 100 or more traps. As his fishing business grew, so did his interest in issues facing the industry, including the potential consequences of offshore wind projects.

"I’m pretty nervous about the movement towards offshore wind development, because that’s such a huge spatial issue," Delano said in his oral history interview. "You’re talking thousands of square miles. If I couldn’t fish out there, if that was taken over, it would just destroy a livelihood and might put an end to a generational heritage."

Delano pointed, as well, to issues with Endangered Species Act-related restrictions in explaining that he and his fellow lobstermen "just feel like we’re constantly being attacked by so many different things."

As a board member of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, Delano's résumé reports that he "played a key role in opposing NOAA’s risk reduction plan for North Atlantic Right Whales" and further recounted that he "helped secure a court victory" in challenging the federal agency's whale assessments.

"No one — especially no lobsterman — doubts the need to ensure the survival of the endangered North Atlantic right whale," Delano advised the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries in a hearing last year. He added, though, that "the drastic over-reactionary mitigation efforts nearly shuttered the New England lobster industry two years ago."

The current North Atlantic right whale vessel strike rule published in 2008 requires that vessels 65 feet or longer travel no faster than 10 knots when crossing through “areas of concern” for the endangered species.

The Biden administration in 2022 proposed extending the speed restriction to smaller boats, specifically those 35 feet or longer. Commercial and sport fishing organizations, among others, strongly opposed the idea and NOAA Fisheries withdrew the proposal in January 2025.