Nina M. Young joined SSCS in August 2023. Previously Ms. Young worked as Foreign Affairs Specialist for the NOAA Fisheries Office of International Affairs, Trade, and Commerce leading the office’s international marine mammal conservation efforts, including drafting NOAA Fisheries International Marine Mammal Action Plan. She was instrumental in drafting the proposed and final rule implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act Import Provisions and the List of Foreign Fisheries. Ms. Young was also the primary author of the report: “Worldwide Bycatch of Cetaceans,” an evaluation of the most significant threats to cetaceans, the affected species, the geographic areas and gear types of high risk, and recommendations for action. Ms. Young led consultations with foreign government related to compliance with the MMPA Import Provisions and vaquita and Maui dolphin conservation. Prior to her federal service, Ms. Young was the Deputy Director of External Affairs at the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education responsible for drafting legislation, Congressional testimony, and lobbying for various ocean-related bills and agency budgets. For more than fifteen years, she was Director of the Marine Wildlife Conservation Program at The Ocean Conservancy, working to reform and implement the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Ms. Young also served as field coordinator for the NOAA Mussel Watch Program at Battelle Ocean Sciences. She earned a B.A. in marine science from the Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in physiology (with a minor in zoology and veterinary science) from the University of Florida. Ms. Young is a past president of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine. She has more than three dozen publications on marine mammal conservation and policy, including chapters on the Marine Mammal Protection Act in American Bar Association Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy and the CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine. Ms. Young also holds a Master Mariner license.
