Press release
Niels Hintzen will be the new Chief Science Officer at the Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (PFA) as of 1 March 2023. He will succeed Martin Pastoors, who has led the PFA’s scientific work for almost nine years.
Niels Hintzen has worked as a fisheries researcher for Wageningen Marine Research (WMR) for 16 years. He holds a Master of Science in biology (Wageningen University).
In his role at WMR, Hintzen’s specialisations included statistical analyses to simulate future fisheries management scenarios. He played an important role in international groups of scientists assessing the herring stocks in Europe and the jack mackerel stock in the South Pacific.
Martin Pastoors joined the PFA in 2014 and successfully drove the expansion of the PFA’s science and research programme, including self-sampling, experiments with underwater cameras and automatic weighing and measuring systems. He always emphasised the importance of close cooperation with the fishers onboard because they are the ‘eyes and ears at sea.’ Pastoors, who has been instrumental in promoting the role of industry data in science and management, will remain involved with the wider (pelagic) fishing sector through his own consultancy business.
PFA President Tim Heddema is very happy that the PFA can continue its leading role in harnessing data and knowledge for fisheries science:
“Our scientific work is the cornerstone of our fishing activities. Increasing and using scientific knowledge are essential for sustainable fishing. Together with our members, we will keep gathering data on pelagic stocks, which will then feed into our fishing operations and hopefully into fisheries science and management. We thank Martin Pastoors for his passionate efforts throughout the years and we look forward to building on those achievements with Niels Hintzen.”
Date Posted: 14th December 2022