The U.S. Department of Commerce has formally announced a series of steps that will allow the alleged victims of excessive fisheries law enforcement actions a new recourse for appeal.
Speaking in teleconference from Washington this afternoon, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco also announced plans to undertake a deeper probe into the scandalized fund of fines paid to NOAA by fishermen, most notably in Glocuester and around New England.
Among the concessions from NOAA and the Commerce Department are authorizing and funding a forensic audit of NOAA's Asset Forfeiture Fund back to 2004, that's with eye toward determining how NOAA's office of law enforcement and its litigation team worked through close to $50 million in fines paid by fishermen and the industry.
Read the complete story from the Gloucester Times.