The only sides with any standing — or input — in this summit should be America's fishermen, their attorneys, NOAA law enforcement officials, and federal prosecutors, who need to hold NOAA's agents and prosecutors accountable for past wrongs, and bring NOAA's criminal agents to justice.
As spelled out clearly over the four-day course of our series "Fishery Under Siege" (The Times, June 29-30, July 1-2), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under administrator Jane Lubchenco, has virtually ceded all policy and regulatory influence to the Big Green environmental lobby, notably the special-interest Environmental Defense Fund, where Lubchenco formerly served as board vice chair.
But whether through arrogance, ignorance or lack of any sense of accountability, the agency's embattled law enforcement wing may have hit a new low in reaching out for "input" while preparing for a summit leading to potential enforcement reforms.
If Lubchenco and her henchmen were serious about seeking the necessary enforcement reforms, they would have reached out to the likes of Gloucester attorney Stephen Ouellette, who's documented the thuggish actions carried out by NOAA agents for years — or former Rockport fishermen Bill Lee, whose own case of NOAA and Coast Guard enforcement overkill helped bring to light the heavy-handed tactics now validated by a federal Inspector General's report and audit.
Read the complete editorial from the Gloucester Daily Times.