Washington

The Secretary of Commerce has released the following statement:
 
WASHINGTON – July 14, 2010 – U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced that he is raising fishing limits on several fish stocks based on new scientific analysis, delivering on a commitment he made to Northeast fishermen and members of Congress.
 
“I directed Dr. Lubchenco to undertake new assessments of several stocks out of concern for the Northeast’s fishermen and their families,” Locke said. “The full scientific review shows this year’s commercial catch limits can be raised and not harm critical stock rebuilding efforts.”
 
The pollock limit was today raised from 6 to 36 million pounds. Previous recent actions have also raised the spiny dogfish limit from 12 to 15 million pounds and revised the skate limit upward from 67.5 to 90.5 million pounds. Another pending action proposes to increase the red crab limit from 3.56 to 3.91 million pounds. These increases in catch limits were put in place by NOAA, the agency that studies and manages federal fishery resources.
 
 “By working quickly to raise catch limits based on newly available scientific information, we are demonstrating our commitment to help create stable and healthy fishing communities and fisheries,” said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) has issued the following release, and letter to Dr. Lubchenco

SCHUMER CALLS FOR NOAA TO IMMEDIATELY SELL UNAUTHORIZED BOATS, CARS AND OTHER ASSETS AND USE PROCEEDS TO HELP FUND NORTHEASTERN FISHERMEN WHO WERE EXCESSIVELY FINED AND WHOSE FISHING SEASONS WERE SHORTENED

Audit of Federal Fisheries Shows Fines in Northeast Region Substantially Higher Than Elsewhere; Forfeiture Funds Were Used for Unauthorized Purchases Such as Cars, Boats, and International Travel

Schumer Calls On NOAA Sell Unauthorized Assets, Return Proceeds to Fund, and Return Arbitrary and Excessive Fines to Northeast Fishermen Who Committed No Wrong Doing or Were Excessively Fined

Schumer: NOAA Already Goes Overboard and Makes It Hard for Fishermen to Make a Livelihood with Catch Restrictions; Funds Could be Used to Help Them Through Hard Times Until Fishing Stocks are Replenished
United States Senator Charles E. Schumer called on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today to immediately begin selling off unauthorized purchases it made with Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF) money and return the proceeds to the fund and fishermen who committed no wrong or were excessively fined. A bombshell report issued by the Commerce Department’s inspector general’s office revealed that over the course of the last four years, forfeiture funds, obtained through fines levied against fishermen and through selling seized property, were used against the law, to purchase vehicles, boats, and international travel for employees of the Northeast Region of the Marine Fisheries Agency. The Inspector General’s report stated that regional offices of the Marine Fisheries Agency were acting autonomously and fines for the Northeast Region were way out of line and more than two times those levied in other regions throughout the country.
 
“It appears that we had a out-of-control regional Fisheries office that used excess fines and forfeitures as a slush fund for excess,” said Schumer. “The fact that the very people charged with enforcing the rules related to fishing have done so in an arbitrary and capricious way throws NOAA’s entire enforcement program into doubt. I am calling on NOAA to hold people responsible, sell off the cars, boats and other unauthorized purchases and fund fishermen who were unjustly or excessively fined and whose fishing seasons have been shortened.”
 
In his letter to Administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Schumer called on NOAA to immediately halt use of AFF funds until NOAA is able to enforce appropriate use of these funds and implements a system of oversight that is accountable and transparent. Additionally, he called on NOAA to refund the AFF monies for any wrongly-spent funds, including staff travel, and sell any assets, such as boats or cars, that were inappropriately purchased with AFF money.  Schumer called on NOAA to immediately analyze individual excess fines, re-calculate an appropriate fine, and return the excess to northeast fishermen.  Moreover, Schumer said that monies not needed to reimburse excess fines be used as economic aid or re-training programs for displaced fishermen burdened by catch restrictions.
 
An earlier Inspector General report found that NOAA’s process for determining civil penalties is characterized by, “(S)ignificant discretion on the part of individual enforcement attorneys,” making it, “difficult to argue with those who view the process as arbitrary and in need of reform.” Further, the report points out that fines in the northeast region were significantly higher than any other region, suggesting that the northeast region was a rouge local entity.  Schumer today was joined by commercial fishermen and fish dealers with first-hand knowledge of such abuses.
 
“I am gravely concerned with the ability of a regional Fisheries Agency to so wantonly circumvent the law without notice for so long,” continued Schumer. “NOAA has a lot of work to do to rectify this situation and we will be watching with a close eye to determine if even more significant steps are necessary to clean up this mess.”
 
July 12, 2010
 
Dr. Jane Lubchenco   
Administrator
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC  20230
 
Dear Dr. Lubchenco,
 
I write today to express my grave concern over a recent audit finding gross mismanagement of Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF) money at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This abuse of funding is even more troubling given an earlier report raising concerns that funds may have been raised inappropriately. I urge you to immediately freeze spending of AFF money and conduct a thorough investigation to determine if this money was collected appropriately and if any should be returned to fishermen.
 
The Inspector General’s (IG) audit of July 1st details a pattern of mismanagement of the AFF, money NOAA collects from fishermen as fines and penalties. As stated in the audit “NOAA has administered the AFF in a manner that is neither transparent nor conducive to accountability, thus rendering it susceptible to both error and abuse.” Management of the AFF was so lax that the auditors were not able to determine how much money was in the account but could only estimate that the “current balance likely falls within a broader range.” Even more troubling are findings that NOAA staff was using AFF funds for purchases such as a luxury boat and international travel. Given the extreme nature of these findings, I urge you to immediately halt use of AFF funds until NOAA is able to enforce appropriate use of these funds and implements a system of oversight that is accountable and transparent. In addition, NOAA must refund the AFF for any wrongly-spent funds, including staff travel, and sell any assets, such as boats or cars, that were inappropriately purchased with AFF money.
 
This most recent audit is particularity troubling in light of a January report on NOAA enforcement operations. That IG report found that NOAA’s process for determining civil penalties is characterized by “significant discretion on the part of individual enforcement attorneys” making it “difficult to argue with those who view the process as arbitrary and in need of reform.” Further, the IG points out that fines in the Northeast region were significantly higher than any other region. I urge NOAA to immediately conduct an analysis of the Northeast region’s fines to determine why fines in Northeast were substantially higher than the rest of the country and what actions should be taken to rectify this problem. It is encouraging that the IG committed in his testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee in March to examine individual complaints from fisherman who believe they were treated unfairly or subject to overzealous enforcement. If it is determined that fishermen in the Northeast were over-fined, NOAA must return the excess money to the fishermen in order to serve justice and regain public trust. Moreover, monies not needed for law enforcement purposes or to reimburse excess fines should be used as economic aid or re-training programs for displaced fishermen burdened by catch restrictions.
 
NOAA has taken initial steps to correct some of the issues raised by the IG but much work remains to be done. It is imperative that you work expeditiously to overhaul the AFF, investigate and resolve cases of abuse, and regain the public trust. Thank you for your attention to this urgent request.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
 
Charles E. Schumer

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Four days after the head of NOAA issued a sweeping order to overhaul and repair the Asset Forfeiture Fund, a New York senator demanded on Monday that NOAA cease using the fund and start making plans to return money to aggrieved fishermen.

Meanwhile, it was revealed Monday that NOAA has been using the fund for years to pay 60 percent of the costs of the administrative law judges it hires from the Coast Guard, a payment that has been ended.

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., held a press conference Monday calling on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to sell off the things it bought without authorization and prepare to return that money to fishermen who were unjustly prosecuted. Those items include hundreds of cars and a $300,000 boat. Fifteen NOAA staffers also used the forfeiture fund to travel to Norway for a conference, the Commerce Department's inspector general disclosed in a scathing report last week.

"It appears that we had an out-of-control regional (Northeast) fisheries office that used excess fines and forfeitures as a slush fund for excess," Schumer said. "The fact that the very people charged with enforcing the rules related to fishing have done so in an arbitrary and capricious way throws NOAA's entire enforcement program into doubt. I am calling on NOAA to hold people responsible, sell off the cars, boats and other unauthorized purchases and fund fishermen who were unjustly or excessively fined and whose fishing seasons have been shortened."

In a letter to NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Schumer also demanded that NOAA stop using the fund until it can be reorganized and is within the law. Lubchenco has moved the fund to the control of the comptroller of her agency, but the fund can still be used by the law enforcement office as long as it gets a sign-off on purchases over $1,000.

Schumer called on NOAA to do something it has resisted since the inspector general's preliminary report in January: revisit past cases and make restitution where called for.

He said NOAA should immediately analyze individual excess fines, recalculate an appropriate fine, and return the excess to Northeast fishermen. Schumer said that money not needed to reimburse excess fines be used as economic aid or re-training programs for displaced fishermen burdened by catch restrictions.

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today [subscription site]

NOTE: The Standard-Times is a subscription site.  Unregistered visitors are able to read three stories per month, and registered visitors may view ten.  For unlimited access, please follow the subscription instructions on the site. 

 

 

 

 

 

Congressman Barney Frank said White House officials told him his call Thursday for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration boss Jane Lubchenco's resignation was "much too drastic," and his problems with how the fishermen have been treated could be solved.

"I have said, 'OK, you tell me that I'm wrong and this is not the best way to accomplish what I want,' and I say fine, I hope that's true," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "I'm ready to be proven wrong, on the methods, not on the goals."

Frank's call for Lubchenco's resignation was echoed by Democrat Rep. John Tierney of Massachusetts on Thursday and Republican Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina on Friday.

A Tierney spokeswoman, Kathryn Prael, said Friday that Tierney was pleased White House officials were "pledging to hold Dr. Lubchenco accountable, but he is not yet convinced the current NOAA leadership is committed to making the changes that are necessary at the agency."

In an interview, Jones said "there should have been some heads to roll" at NOAA after the Inspector General's revelations. But he said the same lawyers and enforcement officers who've been treating fisherman poorly are still in place, which showed an insensitivity to the fishing industry.

"In my humble opinion, it's all about perception of this agency, and the perception among those who are commercial and recreational fishing … is that it is an agency that is need of revision, quite frankly," Jones said.

On Friday, Frank noted he and a dozen other lawmakers from Northeast states met in May with Lubchenco and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to talk about emergency increases in fish catch limits, and said he hoped those talks would quickly resume.

"There have been conversations going on, I've been somewhat frustrated by the pace," Frank said.

Asked how patient he would be, Frank said, "Don't know."

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

PROVIDENCE — The researchers called themselves “The Insomniacs,” because they would take boats out on Narragansett Bay after midnight to measure oxygen levels in the water when they were at their lowest.

The late-night work — a collaboration by Brown University, Save The Bay and other groups to track conditions that are crucial to the health of native fish and mollusks — started in 1999 with a group of volunteers. It continues now (mostly during daylight hours) with the help of federal grants, but a key funding stream from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is due to expire at the end of this year.

“Either we just don’t do it anymore, or we do it through volunteers again,” said David Murray, a senior research associate at Brown University in geology and environmental studies.

Read the complete story from The Providence Journal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm writing to thank New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg for supporting the Coastal Jobs Creation Act of 2010 that was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate.

I believe this is an extremely important bill that will help to end overfishing in the Atlantic Ocean.

According to independent data, 40 of the assessed commercially and recreationally important ocean fish stocks (about 20 percent) are subject to overfishing, and 42 stocks are at unsustainably low levels. We simply cannot continue to catch more fish than the ocean can reproduce.

Existing federal laws and regulations, including the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), are currently in place to prevent overfishing and to rebuild America's depleted commercial and recreational fish populations. Unfortunately, the MSA law is under siege by current flexibility legislation pending in Congress that will work to weaken MSA overfishing standards.

Read the complete story from The Asbury Park Press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovery Channel is throwing its weight behind Senator John Kerry's Shark Bill, and has released a letter sent to Senator Kerry in a July 7, 2010 press release. Discovery Channel endorses The Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (S. 850), according to the letter release. The network references their hit special Shark Week, which airs during the first week of August, 2010.

The 23rd Annual Shark Week premieres on Discovery Channel on August 1, 2010. The popular non-fiction special is more than entertainment, it educates the public about the plight of this often vilified and misunderstood creature.

Read the letter The Discovery Channel sent to Senator Kerry at The Examiner.

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Walter B. Jones called for the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – Assistant Administrator Jane Lubchenco – to step down.  Citing the systemic issues identified by the Department of Commerce Inspector General’s (IG) recent investigation into NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement, and the unsatisfactory agency response to that investigation, Congressman Jones expressed the need for “new faces across the top of NOAA Fisheries.”

“The IG’s work makes it quite clear that NOAA Fisheries has been mismanaged for some time,” stated Jones.  “While Dr. Lubchenco has taken steps in the right direction, thus far they are insufficient to bring about the reform necessary to restore the taxpayer’s trust in this agency.  For example, it is very troubling that repeated requests from multiple members of Congress for a review of pending fisheries enforcement cases continue to be denied.  The agency also continues to keep the Congress and the public in the dark as to the disposition of Dale Jones, the former Director of Fisheries Law Enforcement.  Furthermore, the agency appears to be taking the position that the management personnel who created these problems should, for the most part, be in charge of attempting to fix them.  I fundamentally disagree with that.  The public is demanding accountability, and to this point the agency has not delivered it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the latest "bombshell casts NOAA's entire enforcement program into doubt," adding, "There needs to be an immediate halt on the use of forfeiture money until we get to the bottom of this."

In a memo released last week NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said she would not freeze the use of forfeiture money saying "Actions already taken … have corrected some of the fundamental problems … As a consequence, I do not believe freesing the use of the AFF is warranted."

An audit of federal fisheries police that found they misspent millions of dollars collected in fines from fishermen on unauthorized cars, boats and travel evoked outrage from Northport fisherman Tom Kokell Friday.

"It's devastating what they've done to me," said Kokell, who was hit with $65,000 in fines for holding 600 pounds of unauthorized fluke in 2007. In May, he asked that the fine be reduced, to no avail. "You just sit back and say, 'Who are these people?' They're like criminals. Nobody oversees what they do."

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department 's inspector general released a report saying the fund run by law enforcement officers of the National Marine Fisheries Agency was administered "in a manner that is neither transparent nor conducive to accountability, thus rendering it susceptible to both error and abuse." Among the findings:

The fund was used to buy 202 cars between 2005 and 2009 at a cost of $4.6 million, though rules banned car purchases and there were only 176 officers in the agency.

There was no policy for take-home vehicles, yet an agency director frequently left his car (a Chrysler Pacifica ) at a commuter rail station, and took a train to work free.

Boat purchases also weren't authorized, yet the fund was used to buy 22 vessels at a cost of $2.7 million, including a "luxurious" $300,000 boat with a "beautifully appointed cabin."

Nearly $580,000 was spent on travel by officers to 40 destinations primarily to attend unauthorized conferences, despite a rule that limits travel to enforcement actions.

Read the complete story from Newsday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GLOUCESTER – July 10, 2010 – In a call to the Gloucester Times on Friday, Frank said he's not in any way backing off his demands for the administration — including Lubchenco — to tackle the fishing industry's concerns, notably low catch limits, the conversion to a catch-share economic regulatory format, and now widespread wrongdoing on the part of NOAA law enforcement agents documented in a new and expanded Inspector General's report issued last week.

"They're telling me they can get this done without (ousting Lubchenco)," Frank said in the Times call. "I hope they can show me that, but if they can, and they say they can take care of this without that step, I'm willing to work with them on what I think now is a higher level."

Frank's Thursday call for Lubchenco's replacement was echoed that day by Congressman John Tierney — the Salem attorney who represents Gloucester, all of Cape Ann and much of the North Shore in the U.S. House — and Friday morning by North Carolina Republican Congressman Walter Jones, whose district includes the fishing communities of the Outer Banks.

There was no word from Tierney's nor Jones' offices Friday on whether they had reconsidered their calls. Both have, like Frank, stood behind fishermen and other industry businesses in their push for regulatory and other changes.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.