September 28, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The New England Fishery Management Council voted 13-1 to ask NOAA to immediately enforce regulations governing fish quota allocations to sectors in New England. The move reflected growing frustration with NOAA’s lack of enforcement for Carlos Rafael’s overfishing.
Separate from the criminal trial and the issues of vessel forfeiture, Rafael’s Sector IX Co-op is in direct violation of Co-op requirements to correctly report catch, and to not exceed their quota.
Sector IX has mis-reported and exceeded its quota by nearly 783,000 lbs during a four year period.
NOAA regulations require that when Sectors have overages, they either purchase the quota required, or have that amount deducted from their future allocations. Any overages also expose the sector to civil penalties and permit sanctions. So far Sector IX has been allowed to continue fishing with none of these penalties months after Rafael pled guilty to 26 separate counts of falsifying fishing records.
Until now, NOAA, through administrator John Bullard, has said that any actions would await the conclusion of the criminal prosecution of Rafael. But many have objected that the blatant violations by Sector IX, which was set up primarily for Rafael’s vessels, have not resulted in anything except business as usual for the sector, despite Rafael’s guilty plea in April of this year.
The Council’s first thought was again to avoid the issue until NOAA has addressed the permit violations and vessel seizures. But the council reversed course when asked directly to take a position on the lack of enforcement of sector regulations.
Maine DMR commissioner Patrick Keliher made a motion to request immediate enforcement action against Sector IX.
“If we don’t enforce these regulations, how can the public trust us to manage a public resource? “ asked Matthew McKenzie, a member of the NEFMC who seconded the motion.
The motion passed 12-2.
This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.