Harry Koster, Executive Director
Harry joined the Fisheries Department of the European Commission in Brussels in 1983. His activities in the Department covered areas such as international relations in fisheries, markets, control of State aid and in particular control and enforcement of fisheries legislation. He was responsible for the fisheries inspectors of the European Commission for almost 10 years.
From 1993 – 1997, Harry served as the Chairperson of the Fisheries Commission of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization and from 2000 – 2004 as chairperson of the Permanent Commission on Control and Enforcement of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Committee.
In 2006, Harry was appointed as the first Executive Director of the new European Fisheries Control Agency. In this function he managed the setting up of the Agency and the starting up of its operational activities in priority areas such as the operational coordination of control and enforcement in the bluefin tuna fishery and the cod fishery.
Throughout his career in fisheries, he has actively and consistently contributed towards better control and enforcement both on international level as well as in Europe.
You can reach Harry at hkoster@imcsnet.org
Ariel Kagan is the assistant to the Executive Director of the International MCS Network Secretariat. She has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Environmental Studies from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, USA . Prior to working with us, she helped expose the unsettling prevalence of seafood mislabeling with the Seafood Fraud team at Oceana, an NGO in Washington D.C.
You can reach Ariel at akagan@imcsnet.org