In response to the Inspector General’s recent disturbing report on the law enforcement policies of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Congressman John Tierney has requested a hearing on behalf of the City of Gloucester and the fishing community.
On Feb. 3, Tierney asked Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Kucinich to convene an oversight hearing which would focus on the findings of the Inspector General’s (IG) report . The report detailed alleged abuses of power, excessive fines and poor management of NOAA’s law enforcement branch. For years, Gloucester fishermen have complained about NOAA’s policies and the IG’s report supported their complaints.
On the same day of Tierney’s request for a hearing, NOAA’s Administrator, Jane Lubchenco issued a memo to NOAA’s General Consul Lois J Schiffer and James Balsiger, the Acting Assistant Administrator to take immediate and long-term actions to improve the agency’s law enforcement operations and repair its relationship with the fishing community.