jane lubchenco

With seafood fraud a continuing problem in Maryland and across the nation, environmentalists, fishermen and lawmakers are expressing concern about a decline in the number of special investigative agents and enforcement cases at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Seafood fraud and black market fishing are highly lucrative enterprises in the United States and around the world. But cuts to federal investigators have hurt efforts to uncover criminal enterprises.

Eric Schwaab, a longtime Marylander who's spent the last three years in the federal government overseeing fisheries and conservation efforts, is returning home to take a new post at the National Aquarium. Schwaab, currently assistant secretary for conservation and management at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will join the aquarium July 1 as its first-ever senior vice president and chief conservation officer, the Inner Harbor nonprofit announced Wednesday.

Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator, will be among the speakers at an open house at the National Weather Service's Sterling, Va., headquarters.