NMFS TRANSFERS GLOUCESTER LAB TO STATE

The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced that the agency's Gloucester, Mass., laboratory will not close, but will transfer to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries within the next few months, and all federal lab employees will be offered positions elsewhere with the fisheries service.

The facility transfer marks the end of several years of negotiations between the fisheries service and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to provide an established scientific facility where the state agency can conduct critical natural resource conservation and management operations.

The current employees will be asked to continue their work at the NMFS Gloucester regional office and the NMFS laboratory in Sandy Hook, N.J. The fisheries service will provide maximum access to available counseling and outplacement service to those who choose not to relocate.

The move is part of the Federal Workforce Reform Act of 1994, as well as an administration mandate that requires each federal agency to streamline and consolidate current workforce and operations. Additionally, the lab transfer is consistent with complying with earlier directives by the Inspector General. The laboratory was selected as a candidate for consolidation because the primary work conducted there was not critical to the fisheries service mission in the Northeast and the work could be absorbed by other agency laboratories.

The Gloucester laboratory staff conduct organic chemistry contaminant investigations and seafood quality and safety analysis investigations. Research functions critical to New England groundfish, such as stock assessments, are not conducted at the Gloucester lab and will continue to be conducted out of NMFS's Northeast Fisheries Science Center and laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.