“We need a leader in NOAA who understands that the welfare of communities is a priority and that there can be a balance between economic sustainability and conservation”, Mr Lang, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, America's financially top-producing seaport, said, reports Menakhem Ben-Yami.

Mr Lang's statement followed the hearing of the Senate Oceans Subcommittee, at which Senator John Kerry reminded Ms Lubchenco that the Massachusetts Fisheries Institute reported that "80% of the revenues went to 20% of the boats". Ms Lubchenco, according to several witnesses, answered evasively and with equivocation question after question from the Subcommittee members - three Senators and three Congressmen. Also, she and her deputy for fisheries Mr Schwaab didn't stay for the whole hearing, missing, among others, the testimony of Professor Brian Rothschild, one of the most respected American fishery scientists and one of the most credible critics of NOAA/NMFS's fisheries management policies.

The hearing was very important, Professor Rothschild told WF, because it set the stage for reviewing and modifying the catch share program which has not been working well in the US Northeast.

Ms Lubchenco came to NOAA directly from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an NGO financed by large corporations, and made its agenda the US national policy, said Robert Jones, Executive Director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, and her policies have caused significant pain among fishermen and fishing communities.

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