Congressmen report meeting with NOAA Administrator "did not go well."
Subpoena threatened before NOAA revealed ousted enforcement chief is still on the payroll.
WASHINGTON – August 6, 2010 – Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who last month called for NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco to leave office, and later retracted that demand, agreeing to try to work with her after urging from the White House, is now working to arrange a White House meeting with NOAA after a failed meeting with the NOAA chief last week.
Congressman Frank and Congressmen John Tierney (D-Mass.), who represent the fishing ports of New Bedford and Gloucester, respectively, met with Dr. Lubchenco last week in Washington. Both congressmen report the meeting did not go well. They both "were extremely frustrated with how NOAA is handling these critical issues," a spokeswoman for Tierney told the Gloucester Times in an e-mail Thursday.
Congressman Frank, through a spokesperson, confirmed to Saving Seafood that — having attempted to work with Dr. Lubchenco and having obtained less than satisfactory results — he is now proceeding to arrange a White House meeting with NOAA, and he expects such a meeting to occur in September, after the August recess.
In last week's meeting, when NOAA, citing legal concerns, refused to discuss the status of ousted NOAA Enforcement Director Dale Jones, Congressman Tierney threatened to subpoena the information and both congressmen raised the possibility of congressional hearings. NOAA then confirmed that Mr. Jones is on administrative leave awaiting reassignment and remains on the Federal payroll.
As noted in a Gloucester Times story by Patrick Anderson, why Jones is still on the federal payroll, what he is doing now and what an "appropriate position" is for the former head of a scandalized police force whose job performance was criticized by the Inspector General, NOAA still won't say.
"The result was very unsatisfactory," Frank said of Lubchenco's response to his long-standing push for NOAA to address past law enforcement abuses against fishermen, as well as provide relief from lowered catch limits for choke stocks under sector fisheries management.
In an interview during the WBSM/Saving Seafood radio program yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick stated that he does not understand Dr. Lubchenco's position against increased allocations for choke species, since his request, made directly to the Commerce Secretary, was to increase limits to the upper end of NOAA's own safe range, not to exceed acceptable ranges.
Last month, Congressman Tierney and Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) joined Congressman Frank's call for Dr. Lubchenco's replacement. Neither has retracted that demand.
Read the story by Patrick Anderson in the Gloucester Times
Listen to the interview with Governor Patrick on WBSM radio