NSF Speakers

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Special Agent Andy Cohen will draw on his many years as a diver and law enforcement officer, as he discusses important preservation initiatives spearheaded by him and NOAA to help sustain the oceans we all love so much.

Andy Cohen has twenty eight year’s experience in Federal law enforcement with NOAA and the National Park Service. He is currently the Special Agent-in-Charge of NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement’s Northeast Division. As such, he supervises investigations of conservation related crime in a nineteen state area. Cohen specializes in international investigations, involving organized crime syndicates smuggling high value commodities, such as bluefin tuna, caviar and Patagonian toothfish.

During the 1980's he was assigned to an elite undercover unit that orchestrated the largest undercover fisheries and wildlife sting in history. The case involved high seas caught salmon, unlawfully taken in the by foreign pirate fleets and resulted in a United Nations resolution banning high seas driftnet fishing.

More recently, he helped to implement satellite based Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) in domestic, high seas and foreign fisheries.

Cohen graduated from Western Washington University in 1979 with a Bachelor’s degree in Park Management. He has been awarded US Department of Commerce Gold and Silver medals, the NOAA Administrator’s Award and is a Senior Fellow at the Council for Excellence in Government. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the Boston Special Agents-in-Charge Association and is a member of the US Treaty Delegation to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

Please plan to attend earlier for the usual social gathering to enjoy the great pub on site, serving up good food and drink with very reasonable prices at the Nineteenth Hole Pub.