The special agent who oversees all Florida officers, Harold Robbins, is facing scrutiny from congressional investigators after being hired in 2004 with apparently no fisheries or natural resources law enforcement experience.
Robbins’ qualifications are being questioned by members of Congress as part of an ongoing investigation into complaints from fishermen who say fisheries agents harassed them and fined them unfairly for years under the leadership of Dale Jones, director of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement since 1999. Jones was removed from that post in early April.
Bill Kelley, acting executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association, said NOAA enforcement agents are mostly fair in their treatment of Keys fishermen and are quick to address their concerns, particularly when it comes to trying to catch spiny lobster poachers.
“Our relationship with National Marine Fisheries Service law enforcement is one we’re pretty proud of,” Kelly said.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Rep. John Tierney, R-Mass. want to know if Robbins, along with at least two other top agents, were hired because of their relationship with Jones. All the men were at one time high-ranking police officers with various agencies in Maryland. Kucinich and Tierney, chairman and member respectively of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s domestic policy subcommittee, questioned Jones in a March 4 letter about whether Robbins and the other agents were qualified for their jobs when they were hired.
“Is it true that none of those individuals had fisheries or other natural resources law enforcement experience at the time of their hiring? Is it true that none of those individuals had federal law enforcement training at the time of their hiring?” the congressmen asked in a letter to Jones before his removal.
Neither Robbins nor an Office of Law Enforcement spokeswoman returned e-mailed requests for comment. A request for Robbins’ professional biography was also unanswered.
Read the complete story at Keys Net.