Print
Email
Michael Sutton is a member of the Center for Ocean Solutions (COS) Management Committee, as well as the Fellowship & Curriculum Committee. He is also Vice President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium where he directs the Center for the Future of the Oceans. In 2007 and again in 2009, he was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger as a Member of the California Fish and Game Commission. Sutton also serves as summer faculty at the Vermont Law School, where he teaches ocean & coastal law. He recently co-authored a book, “Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy,” published by the American Bar Association. He has lectured at graduate seminars on ocean conservation at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Tufts, George Washington University and the University of Rhode Island.
Previously, Sutton helped establish ocean conservation programs at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund, where he founded the Marine Stewardship Council. He currently serves as Chairman of the Wild Salmon Center and as a Board member of LightHawk, Ocean Champions, COS and the Sea Change Investment Fund.
Before joining the WWF staff, Mr. Sutton served as a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as a park ranger with the National Park Service in Yosemite, Yellowstone, Biscayne and Virgin Islands National Parks, and Death Valley National Monument. He received a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Utah State University in 1978 and pursued graduate studies in marine biology at the University of Sydney, Australia. In 1992, he received a law degree in international and natural resources law from George Washington University's National Law Center in Washington, D.C. He lives in Carmel Valley, California.
Publications
Hansen, K., K. Mengerink, and M. Sutton. 2009. A Bold New Ocean Agenda: Recommendations for Ocean Governance, Energy Policy, and Health. 39 Environmental Law Reporter 10012-10019.
Baur, D.C., T. Eichenberg, and M. Sutton, eds. 2008. Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy. Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association, 708 pp.
