Mayor Lang: Cities to appeal fishing ruling
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NEW BEDFORD — Lawyers for New Bedford and Gloucester will scour for appeal material after a recent federal court decision against the two cities in their case against fisheries management rules imposed by the Commerce Department last year.
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Judges Criticized by Special Master are Re-Assigned to Hear New Legal Requests in Yacubian and Gloucester Seafood Display Auction Cases
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by Christian Bourge
Special to Saving Seafood
WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) July 8, 2011 -- In a surprising move that runs counter to a Secretarial directive, two Coast Guard administrative law judges have been reassigned to adjudicate additional legal requests in controversial NOAA enforcement cases. The cases, involving former New Bedford scalloper Larry Yacubian and the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction, were among the cases in which an independent special master found the defendants’ rights so severely trampled that they received apologies for the wrongdoing from Secretary Gary Locke and NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco as well as reimbursement of the judge’s imposed fines.
These moves come despite a directive last May from Secretary Locke for NOAA to terminate its contract with the Coast Guard’s administrative law judge (ALJ) office, which provides arbitration judges to oversee agency regulatory enforcement efforts, “in order to reset NOAA’s relationship with the regulated community.” Locke’s decision was based on Special Master Judge Charles Swartwood III’s review of 31 NOAA enforcement cases. The resulting 236-page redacted report detailed 13 separate cases of wrongdoing on the part of the agency and some ALJs involved. Judge Swartwood is currently conducting a review of 77 additional cases.
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Fishing advocates eye appeal of judge's ruling
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In crisis mode, angry and worried, as many as 40 parties — fishing industry plaintiffs and their attorneys from North Carolina to Maine — are scheduled to participate in a conference call Friday to discuss whether to appeal a federal judge's decision upholding a radical reorganization of the groundfishery.
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Judge: System not clear-cut enough to force referendum
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U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel rejected a dozen challenges to the legality or propriety of Amendment 16, the radical reorganization of the New England groundfishery into a hybridized system based on business cooperatives.
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Congress leaned on to fix NOAA
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With the decision of U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel to defer completely to the federal government in the regulation of the New England groundfishery, plaintiffs and industry opponents of the commodification regimen and NOAA's methods are looking to Congress, the third leg of the democratic system, as the best — if not last — hope for redress.
Other opponents of the system also wondered at the credulity of the judge in her decision to defer to NOAA.
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