Bill Lee challenged fishermen to overcome their worry about retribution and either register their complaints — he said fishermen should give the IG a chance to force corrections in the system — or forever hold their peace. "Don’t tell me in Dunkin’ Donuts," Lee said in a telephone interview after the end of the closed-door interview yesterday." Stand up for your rights.
"I’m proud to be an American fisherman. We are an honest, hardworking community." Bill Lee said that was the theme of his presentation yesterday to a team from the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce.
He also told them the industry had been turned into an adversary of the enforcement arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has insured violations by piling mountains of bureaucratic requirements on fishermen, making compliance virtually impossible.