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Whale case ends in $200 plea deal |
| A Gloucester fisherman accused of harassing humpback whales on Stellwagen Bank in 2008 reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors yesterday that will see him fined $200. | |||
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Fishermen, politicians make case NOAA has failed them at New England Fisheries Summit |
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Around 300 fishermen, dealers and at least one processor, gathered at the Whaling museum in New Bedford for a fisheries summit that is setting the direction how New England will move forward to address fisheries problems within NOAA. The meeting was notable for the powerful unity of the basic message: NOAA has pushed the New England fishing industry too far by not responding to legitimate concerns about scientific methods and unwillingness to address economic issues central to Magnuson. As a result, the region is now committed to reforming Magnuson-Stevens and providing a clear Congressional mandate for the agency to live up the original intent of the law which was to sustain U. S. fisheries for the economic benefit of the nation Fishermen said that the IG report vindicated their charges that they had been treated like criminals, and that their efforts to show scientists that data had to be erroneous were often rebuffed. Some accused the fisheries service move to catch shares of ignoring the law that requires a LAPP program (Limited access privilege) to only be implemented through a referendum - which has not happened in New England. Barney Frank likened NOAA to the 15th century vatican - rigidly holding on to the belief that the earth revolved around the Sun, despite increasing numbers of observations contradicting that. He said that 'it was hard to maintain theory of sun going around the earth, because the more they measured, the more they had it wrong, so they tried to amend the theory and after awhile they had a set of rules that were so complicated no one could follow them, and the whole edifice fell apart of its own weight because whole thing was flawed. That is where we are with magnuson. It is too rigid because we have tried to put certainty where it does not belong.' One said that 'after each trip I would lie awake at night worried about what rule I might have violated'. At the end of the day, Jimmy Ruhle, head of a national fishermen's organization, who fishes out of Wanchese, North Carolina, made the case that NOAA's trawl survey was useless, as they had no ability in the past to monitor how much their trawl was actually on the bottom. Doing comparative tows on skates (which are uniformly distributed across sandy bottom), Ruhle was able to catch 50 times the amount of the NOAA vessel, towing just one mile apart. The broader seafood industry needs to pay attention and get behind this movement for flexibility. US fisheries laws call for a balance between sustainable fisheries development and the economic health of fishing communities. In New England, this balance has gotten way out of whack, and it is time for a restoration of common sense to fisheries policy. This is not a battle between fishermen and environmentalists. It is a demand by the industry that environmentalists accept the legitimacy of controlled and regulated fishing, and recognize that maintaining such fisheries is in fact the law of the land. |
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AUDIO: Fisheries Summit - Congressman Barney Frank and Governor Deval Patrick speak |
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Saving Seafood is now providing an audio recording from the 2010 Fisheries Summit -- Congressman Barney Frank and Governor Deval Patrick.
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Tierney, Kucinich press and warn top NOAA cop |
| The two congressmen who last week grilled federal oceans law enforcement chief Dale Jones about findings of his agency's wrongdoing against the fishing industry during a field hearing at Gloucester's City Hall have stepped up their push for answers — and financial documents. | |||
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Dr. Brian Rothschild discusses the Fisheries Summit and a proposed moratorium on catch shares |
| Each week, on WBSM in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bob Vanasse of Saving Seafood joins host Phil Paleologos to discuss issues related to the fisheries with news-making guests. | |||
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EDITORIAL: Fire Dale Jones, reimburse fishermen
Jane Lubchenco made one very important public commitment — on the record and under oath. She noted that the problems in enforcement of fishery regulations, documented in a blistering report by U.S. Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser, had predated her tenure. But she added, "I own them, and I intend to fix them."
