SavingSeaFood - Congressional hearing coming to Gloucester on March 2

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Congressional hearing coming to Gloucester on March 2

Two congressional House subcommittees have now scheduled back-to-back hearings into an Inspector General's findings that the federal fisheries law enforcement office in Gloucester had established a record of questionable actions against the fishing industry — including fines in the Northeast that far exceed those levied in other parts of the country.

And one of them will be in Kyrouz Auditorium at Gloucester's City Hall.

The hearing in Gloucester, announced by Congressman John Tierney, will be held on March 2 — the same day the government and the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction will go to trial on a 59-count allegation against the top broker for Gulf of Maine groundfish..

Tierney's subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, is the House Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee.

The next day — on March 3, in Washington — the House Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, led by Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, will hold an oversight hearing on "Setting the Bar for Accountability: Improving NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement Programs and Operations."

Neither panel has announced a list of witnesses, but each has published notice that representatives of the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of the Inspector General and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are expected to answer questions.

The Gloucester hearing, in addition, will hear from "Gloucester fishing industry experts."

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

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