SavingSeaFood - Frank taking fishing fight to national arena

Home

Frank taking fishing fight to national arena

January 17, 2011 - The policy rift with the White House over executive decisions that Congressman Barney Frank has described as unjustified, contemptible, weak-willed and destructive to the fishing industry has been pulled into the national political realm.

In no way was it encouraging to the White House to have Frank question policies whose end result, he noted in remarks last Thursday dripping with disdain, were to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

"How come in a Democratic administration," he asked, "is income distribution so skewed? This is not what Democrats should be proud of."

Yet, he continued, this is what administration policies through the Department of Commerce and its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have wrought.

If the policies aren't changed, he added, "I have informed the Obama administration that my working relationship with them will suffer."

"Now and through the election," he said, "I can't allow this to stand."

Frank raised the specter of the Obama campaign's progressing without the active participation or blessing — or perhaps even with the passive opposition — of one of the Democratic Party's strongest national brands.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

MELISSA WOOD, NATIONAL FISHERMEN: Meting out the meager

May 22, 2012 - Listening to the New England Council's Groundfish Advisory Panel talk about how that industry is going to pay for monitoring costs is kind of like trying to figure out how to pay your bills when you've just lost your job. Though monitoring is important keeping costs down is critical. As Panel Member Gary Libby pointed out, "If we had 100 percent monitoring we probably wouldn't have an industry."

More Opinion >