Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment Thursday of a San Diego County resident to the state’s Fish and Game Commission.
Del Mar resident Samantha Murray, 42, has been executive director of the Master of Advanced Studies Program in Marine Biodiversity & Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography since 2017. She also runs her own consulting business.
Prior to joining Scripps, Murray was the director of the water program at the Oregon Environmental Council in 2015 and 2016. She has also worked with the Ocean Conservancy, the Golden Gate Audubon Society, the Audubon Society of Portland and the Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
San Diego lawmakers Sen. Toni Atkins and Assemblyman Todd Gloria offered their praise.
Congrats to Samantha Murray from #DelMar on her appointment by @GavinNewsom to California’s Fish and Wildlife Commission!
Proud to have one of #AD78’s own marine conservation experts tapped by the Governor to help ensure good fish and widlife stewardship. Cc: @Scripps_Ocean. ????
— Asm. Todd Gloria (@AsmToddGloria) March 1, 2019
Congratulations to Samantha Murray of Del Mar for her appointment by @GavinNewsom to the #California Fish and Game Commission. She’s the executive director of the master of advanced studies program in marine biodiversity and conversation @Scripps_Ocean and my constituent ?
— Senator Toni Atkins (@SenToniAtkins) March 1, 2019
The registered Democrat’s appointment to the $100-per-diem post requires Senate confirmation.
In July 2017, Murray wrote a piece in The San Diego Union-Tribune titled “Why preserving marine sanctuaries is important for California.”
“California is teeming with opinions, backgrounds and perspectives as varied and dynamic as our coastal and offshore waters themselves,” she wrote, opposing a Trump administration effort to open marine sanctuaries to offshore oil and gas drilling and mineral exploration. “But the one thing most of us agree upon is that we don’t want to take a chance on new oil rigs or mining in the waters off our spectacular coastline.”
— City News Service contributed to this report.