Dr. Gerard DiNardo has over 25 years of experience as a research fishery scientist and senior manager for NOAA Fisheries in the United States, as well as extensive knowledge, understanding, and involvement in fishery issues and processes of tuna-RFMOs and RFOs. Ensuring sustainable development and management of fisheries, including the identification of research and plans of action to support effective management decision making has been the focus throughout his career, and with a strong background and understanding of international fisheries and MSC.  He holds an MSc from Long Island University, C.W. Post Center and a Ph.D from University of Maryland, where his dissertation topic was FISHMAP: An Expert System for Sampling Fish Populations.

Gerard was appointed as the Fisheries Resources Division Director of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego, CA from 2015 to 2019. Previously, he held several positions at NMFS, including Supervisor of the Stock Assessment Program in the Fisheries Research and Monitoring Division at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. While leader of the Stock Assessment Program Dr. DiNardo advanced lobster research and management through development of a collaborative research program between industry and scientists, as well as implementation of a risk-based management approach. He also developed and implemented a bottomfish (deepwater snappers and groupers) research program leading to the establishment of an industry-based fishery-independent bottomfish survey that forms the basis for stock status determinations.

Dr. DiNardo has multiple publications related to the assessment of pelagic species, including tuna, as well as lobsters and bottomfish.  He’s held positions as Co-Chair of the Joint PICES/ISC Working Group on Ocean Conditions and the Distribution and Productivity of Highly Migratory Fish for the North Pacific Marine Science Organization, standing member of the NMFS National Stock Assessment Methods Steering Committee, science expert on the U.S.A. Delegations to the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, and Chair of the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean (ISC).