PORTLAND – The Gulf of Maine Research Institute has hired an internationally known fisheries expert to lead its waterfront research center under construction in southern Maine.

John H. Annala, the chief scientist of the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, is expected to be the institute’s chief scientific officer responsible for assembling a research team by August or September.

The Portland-based institute focuses on fisheries issues and emphasizes collaborative research with fishermen.

Donald Perkins, the institute’s president, said Annala is an ideal leader because of his international respect and ability to bridge the gap between scientists and policy-makers.

His hiring ends a two-year search for a scientist to lead the institute. Annala, who was born in Keene, N.H., received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine and his doctorate from the University of New Hampshire. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

Annala also worked for New Zealand’s Ministry of Fisheries for 27 years and has been the agency’s top scientist for the last 10. In that post, he helped manage such commercial species as rock lobster and southern bluefin tuna.

Lew Incze, a marine scientist with the University of Southern Maine’s Bioscience Research Institute in Portland, applauded Annala’s credentials.

Incze said Annala has a reputation for using science to make good judgments about managing fisheries.