I didn't read Marty's link, but I saw in the local paper that Stelle is leaving NMFS. Hot seat or not, I think that the reason he's leaving is because there is an election less than two months away. I believe his job at NMFS is a political appointment, not regular gov't. service. With a new Prez in January, there will be lots of new directors at federal agencies.

He has an impossible job. The environmentalists hate him for not doing enough to protect salmon, and business and industry hate him for coming down too hard on their self interests in destroying salmon habitat. That's a difficult needle to thread, at best.