Comments on: American Fishermen Caught in Net of Regulations
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- Since lady Jane tookover NOAA it is clear she still has ties to PEW and as such has a "conflict of interest" in running this agency. They (NOAA) have shut down pretty much all Rec fishing off the Florida coast without any real data to support it. At first they said that Red Snapper where over fished and almost endangered, when it was prooven to them that this was just not true, they changed there song to say that there are not enough 30 lb snappers anymore and that there ages where too young, when we again prooved that they where wrong, they still went ahead and voted (SAFMC) to close Red Snapper fishing, but they didnt have the votes, they needed 2 more votes, so what did they do, they told NC and SC that if they voted with NOAA to close the fishery down, they would not include the waters off of NC and SC in the closer. Seems Illegal to me. The most recent closer of Black Sea bass is funny too, not sure how they get there math but they (NOAA) say we have surpassed our quota of the fish in January 2011, and now we can not harvest them till JUNE 11. But how do they know how many fish where taken?? I Fish alot and can tell ya, no one has ever asked me how many black sea bass I got today, or any other day, I have friends all up and down the coast who fish more often then most and all concer that no one every asked them as well. NOAA is run like the gastopo in my opinion, they say or do what ever they want without concern for facts and impacts on local people. They even deputized the state wildlife officers who them selfs wont support them...idiots...(NOAA that is) now Ill get targeted Im sure...thats the way they operate...
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- What is this world coming to?? $19.000 for 3 cod fish??? I didn't think the price of seafood was that high. What country crisis did they blame that on??? Three years later??? Is there a statute of limitations on three extra cod fish??? This is SUPER STUPID!!!!!!!!
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- (Continued from previous comment, Gloucester Daily Times article):
On Wednesday night, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa was quoted in a report on the administration and law enforcement of the fishing industry by CBS network news chief investigative correspondent as saying, "I want to make sure heads roll."
"You know in a bureaucracy, if heads don't roll, you don't change behavior," added Grassley, an Iowa Republican. Grassley made an apparent reference to the Zinser memo in his interview with CBS News.
The Zinser memo to Lubchenco was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and delivered to the Times Friday. Its contents are certain to further alienate the fishing communities along the Atlantic coast from Lubchenco and the NOAA regulators
In a prepared statement issued Friday, NOAA indicated that the agency "takes its responsibility to preserve records very seriously."
"Dr. Lubchenco sent an e-mail to all NOAA employees reminding them of their duties with respect to the preservation and retention of agency records, and all NOAA Fisheries supervisors were required to complete a training class on records management," the statement indicated. "A review has found that no agency records were inappropriately destroyed.
"We cannot comment on any personnel actions due to the Privacy Act limitations," the report continued. "Certain reports and responses are not publicly released because of these same privacy constraints."
NOAA's stand, however, is not sitting well with fishing industry supporters.
Fishing interests in the southeast and along the Gulf coast have organized a mass rally against NOAA policies set for next Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla. The protesters - like those in the aggrieved fishing communities of Gloucester, New Bedford and other New England and Middle Atlantic ports - see Lubcheocn and her hierarchy at NOAA as representing a basic anti-fishing ideology.
She came to office in 2009 committed to re-engineering the traditional fishing industry management system into one based on creating a commodities market through the buying, selling and trading of fishermen's "shares" of a total allowable catch for each fish stock.
The implementation of catch shares in New England, further complicated by tight, government-set catch limits, has sparked a fierce resistance headed by Gov. Deval Patrick and congressmen Barney Frank and John Tierney, who have joined a lawsuit filed by the cities of Gloucester and New Bedford with co-plaintiffs from Maine to North Carolina.
Frank, Tierney and Rep.Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican, last year called for Obama to replace Lubchenco, though Frank later backed off that demand. Frank, however, has said the response from the White House to the grievances of the fishing industry have place his relationship with the White House in jeopardy.
The CBS news report Wednesday night provided a full executive summary of the issues that have piled on each other since Obama picked Lubchenco to head NOAA. She came committed to imposing catch shares, which have an unbroken history of creating hyperconsolidation, eliminating jobs and concentration equity in the fisheries in the hands of a small number of the biggest operations.
The first nine months of catch shares in New England have followed that pattern, bringing denunciation from the ports and their elected representatives, who see the policies as destroying small businesses.
Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000, or at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com. - Reply to this comment
- For those who would like to know a bit more, check out this article from the Gloucester Daily Times:
February 18, 2011
Documents: NOAA chief was told of shredding
By Richard Gaines Staff Writer The Gloucester Daily Times Fri Feb 18, 2011, 10:37 PM EST
The document shredding undertaken by the then-national director of law enforcement for federal fisheries - previously described by officials as a routine cleanup of paperwork - included evidence related to an investigation of law enforcement practices then underway by the Inspector General's office, according to an internal memo from the investigating officer.
And the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been aware for 10 months of the Inspector General's finding that the effort was designed to conceal evidence from the IG's probe, according to documents obtained by the Times.
Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser wrote to NOAA chief administrator Jane Lubchenco on April 2, 2010, that the document-shredding in October 2010 involved the destruction of "75-80 percent of the files in the office of Dale J. Jones Jr.," then the director of NOAA law enforcement.
The IG wrote that "the shredding implicates that it was done to conceal information from the (inspector general)."
According to Zinser's report, "about six of law enforcement headquarters' 40 employees" contributed files for shredding.
"Such office-wide shredding was not a routine function for the Office of Law Enforcement; rather, the director and deputy director (Mark Spurrier) told us this was the first such an exercise in their 10-plus years with OLE," Zinser wrote.
At the time of the mass shredding, Zinser was four months into a six-month investigation into allegations of "heavy-handed and unfair enforcement activities" against the fishing industry, in Zinser's words.
These complaints, which centered on a decade-long effort to find violations at and close down the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction, were forwarded to Lubchenco by the Massachusetts congressional delegation headed by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry, and including Congressman Barney Frank and John Tierney.
Zinser told Lubchenco that the shredding "occurred in the face of (his) ongoing review of the Office of Law Enforcement.
"... As such, the shredding implicates the appearance of impeding both the review and (ongoing) litigation," Zinser wrote.
However, he added, "we did not find sufficient evidence to establish that the shredding was intended to obstruct our ongoing review of OLE, although it posed an adverse impact to our ongoing review."
Zinser's initial report on his investigation in January found that law enforcement activities emanating from NOAA's Northeast regional office in Gloucester were, at times "unbecoming" a federal government attorney, and gave evidence of vindictive motives through assessing exorbitant fines, up top 500 percent higher than in other regions.
A later report, based on an exhaustive but incomplete forensic audit of the Asset Forfeiture Fund concluded that the fund was used as a group debit account without controls or oversight to purchase a fleet of vehicles larger than the entire force or agents, a luxury speed boat and overseas travel to exotic destinations for conferences.
Since the findings, however, neither Jones nor any of the officials involved in the wrongdoing described in the report have been fired or sanctioned, according to NOAA.
Jones was shifted out of his position as head of law enforcement and assigned to work on the Gulf oil cleanup, while the lawyer cited for unbecoming actions was also reassigned.
The agent in charge of the Gloucester office resigned late last year while NOAA was purportedly investigating whether he broke any rules by using his government issue cell phone to field calls from prospective buyers of his merchandise on eBay.
Repeated calls by members of the Massachusetts congressional investigation for a report on the internal response to the scandal have been rebuffed by Lubchenco and her hierarchy, who have cited the Privacy Act as barring any public reporting."........... (To be continued) - Reply to this comment
- I have fallen vitim to NOAA. I agree with the report, and I also know all the facts. Everyone on here sticking up for NOAA should have thier heads examined. The are power hungry melonheads. Hopefully something will come out of all this, instead of being swept under the rug like the rest of the shenanigans that they have pulled off.
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- As a former NOAA Special Agent, I take umbrage at the CBS News Report. While I recognize that every agency (including the media, Doctors, Lawyers, and Nurses, and law enforcement) has its bad apples, I have found NOAA to be a professional organization in my 30 years of military, police, deputy sheriff, and prior NPS Ranger law enforcement career. Now I know why I watch CNN to get the most accurate news reporting. CBS News could have viewed the follow up independent law enforcement investigation report that showed that almost all of the original 27 charges filed by commercial fishermen in the NE could not be substantiated. Further, while I don't deny that Dale Jones and NOAA Administrators made some errors (and should be held culpable if so found), the American public has a responsibility to check the information, and not be spoon fed by incomplete media reports. For instance, did CBS News investigate the background of the fishermen in the video? Did CBS News investigate just what NOAA agents do beyond domestic fisheries? CBS News mentioned the $300,000 boat used for fishing. Can they substantiate that with facts? Has CBS News reported on such cases as the Panhandle Case, Virginia Star, or Sterling Seafood cases, where hundreds of millions (a very small amount of a pervasive nationwide problem)of illegal seafood, often contaminated by carcinogens, was smuggled into the US? And was successfully prosecuted by NOAA OLE? NOAA agents protected the American public and consumer in no less than six (6) of these international investigations. NOAA investigates corrupt importes as well as irresponsive fishermen.
There is no question in my mind that if we had enought agents, we could reduce the national deficit (NOAA is a part of the Commerce Department) by half with the illegal smuggling of shrimp alone, probably the most significant fishery imported into the US.
Did CBS News report on the issue of the huge black market sale of endangered species of Sperm Whale teeth being sold in the US and other western countries. A case broken up by the same east coast NOAA Agents? Has CBS News investigated the Pillar Point California Fishermen, who in the 19802 and early 1990s, routinely smuggled marijuana into California on their fishing boats? The subject was docuemented in a book written by one of the fishermen! You can locate it on the internet.
In my seven years as a NOAA agent, I have found most fishermen to be hard working, honest, law abiding individuals earning a dangerous livelihood. All of the agents I have ever worked with, on both coasts, have demonstrated a high degree of professionalism and dedication. For CBS News to suggest a high degree of corruption and reckless aggression is irresponsible and unprofessional, especially when they do not do their homework, such as CNN (who is not perfect, but more professional in my estimation).
I would encourage all Americans who view NOAA Agents to be "corrupt" should review how many agents and officers there are in the US, view the thousands of miles of in the lower 48, and Alaska, the thousands of little bays, fishing villages, and tens of thousands of fishing boats of all sizes, and the potential for smuggling of not only fish, but illegal aliens, weapons, and potential for terrorism. Then remember that Agents mostly work alone, on call 24/7, and how much they do for the American people.
I think CBS News, and a few ill-advised politicians, owes NOAA Law Enforcement an apology.
Norm Simons
Ex-NOAA Agent - Reply to this comment
- Check out page 5 of this letter sent to Kucinich.
http://www.savingseafood.org/images/documents/enforcement/kucinich%20letter.pdf
It appears that cbs' representation of Mr. Burgess' problems are not exactly correct. He actually made more money off of his ocean pillaging than he was fined! Tell me if you worked in a bank and embezzled $30,000 that you did not have a right to and then were caught and fined $25,000, how is that overzealous? The facts of these cases might be a bit more surprising then the edited sound bytes the media manufactures. These facts are not good for the story i'm afraid...so they vanish.
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"As detailed in that timeline, NOAA informed Mr. Burgess on November 20 that he had a
negative days-at-sea balance of 5.23 days. Nonetheless, Mr. Burgess continued to fish during
this time. On November 29, Mr. Burgess was contacted by NOAA and informed that he had
exceeded his days-at-sea allocation and advised him not to fish until the matter was resolved.
Three days later, Mr. Burgess's attorney contacted the Agency seeking to resolve the matter.
Mr. Burgess settled the case with NOAA by admitting liability for the violation and agreeing to
forfeit 10.58 days at sea from his days-at-sea allocation. In addition, Mr. Burgess agreed to pay
a civil monetary penalty of $25,000, an amount that was less than the value of fish he harvested
during the unauthorized fishing trips that he conducted without a days-at-sea balance. At Mr.
Burgess's request, the case was expedited to allow him to return to fishing." - Reply to this comment
- Everyone commenting should read the recently released information from the Inspector General's report. It is truly unbelievable that fishermen can be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for accidental paperwork violations, while NOAA can shred documents while under investigation- illegally and in breach of NOAA code- but receive no penalty. The IG actually says that!!!!!:
From the findings of the Inspector General:
"We determined that in October 2009, Director Jones approved the shredding of OLE headquarters documents, office-wide, which was carried out when a truck from a mobile document destruction company arrived on November 20, 2009, and spent an hour shredding multiple large bags of documents on the street outside OLE headquarters. From what we were able to determine, about six of OLE headquarters' 40 employees participated, with Director Jones contributing the majority of documents shredded, consisting of the contents of 140-plus files from his office, which he estimated to be 75-80% of his total files. Such office-wid edocument destruction was not a routine function for OLE; rather, the Director and Deputy Director told us this was the first such exercise in their ten-plus years with OLE."
"We found that Director Jones, along with certain senior and administrative staff, undertook this document destruction without regard to the careful, deliberate management of records required by federal regulation and Department of Commerce (DOC) policy. Such non-compliance is particularly troubling given OLE's obligation to ensure the proper management of its own nScords-especially as a federal law enforcement agency that enforces recordkeeping violations by the fishing industry it regulates. Moreover, the shredding occurred in the face of OIG's ongoing review of OLE, which required OLE to provide us with numerous records, and also during ongoing litigation. As such, the shredding implicates an appearance of impeding both the OIG review and the litigation. OLE's senior management had an obligation to ensure retention of the agency's records while under OIG review,2 as well as during the pendency of litigation. We note that we did not find sufficient evidence to establish that the shredding was intended to obstruct our ongoing review of OLE, although it posed an adverse impact to our ongoing review."
"The shredding was done without the responsible OLE officials vetting it with their superiors in NMFS and NOAA, consulting NMFS' designated Records Management Official or NOAA's Office of General Counsel, or informing OIG in advance. Any or all of these would have been prudent steps that could have prevented the shredding. In hindsight, Director Jones and Assistant director DuBois expressed regret for not recognizing the problems with the shredding before it was carried out Deputy Director Spurrier admitted that a reason he chose not to shred anything was because he recognized it posed an appearance issue given OIG's ongoing review of OLE; however, he said he did not think to alert the Director to this risk, which he now regrets."
"Assistant Director Paternii, while advising in retrospect that such shredding would not occur again given the same set of circumstances, refused to answer the question of whether he should have recognized at the time that the shredding was problematic, commenting that records management was not his area of responsibility. The Director, Deputy Director, and Assistant Director DuBois each answered this question in the affirmative. Assistant Director Paterni's refusal was made despite a Department of Commerce (DOC) directive requiring employees to be fully cooperative and forthcoming with the OIG."
Read the complete OIG report on Dale Jones' document shredding
Sign up for daily news updates from Saving Seafood. - Reply to this comment
- FLEOA Response to CBS News Report on NOAA/OLE
On behalf of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), I object to the CBS News report on NOAA Fisheries Service Law Enforcement. The news segment provided a one-sided perspective, and failed to consider the meaningful standpoint of those who carry out the formidable NOAA mission. On behalf of the 147 NOAA member agents that we represent, the piece focused on issues that were identified in the Department of Commerce, Inspector General's reports being addressed by NOAA leadership. The interview with Administrator Eric Schwabb failed to give Mr. Schwabb the opportunity to articulate the changes being implemented to improve the Office for Law Enforcement.
FLEOA represents over 26,000 federal agents and officers from 65 agencies, and our membership does not support behavior or practices that compromise the integrity of the federal law enforcement community. With that said, any federal law enforcement agency periodically has internal issues that need to be addressed in order to have the respect and support of their respective constituencies. NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement is no exception.
The vast majority of federal agents and officers go to work every day to protect the life and property of the citizens of the United States. NOAA agents and their colleagues in the federal natural resource agencies have a unique mission in that they are charged with protecting and conserving our nation's living marine resources in perpetuity. For many NOAA Fisheries agents, they view their occupation as more than a job, "it's a passion". They believe in their mission and their willing to risk their lives in support of it.
These are very difficult economic times for the American public, and the fishing industry is no exception.
Why is it that the media fails to cover recent examples of NOAA agents working with the fishing industry to resolve conflicts between fishing gear types. Recently NOAA agents played a pivotal role in designing a system to reduce gear conflicts in the Gulf of Maine between the inshore fixed gear lobster and mid water trawl herring fleet. Collaborative efforts between NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement, the US Coast Guard - Sector Northern New England, the states of Maine and New Hampshire and the competing fishers resulted in a marked decrease in gear conflict incidents. This saved thousands of dollars in potentially lost or damaged gear and corresponding investigations.
The media also failed to report on the history of public outreach efforts conducted by NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement, such as educating fishers on existing or proposed regulations affecting both the commercial and recreational fishers.
FLEOA maintains that this form of partnership is essential for law enforcement to effectively safeguard the public and our nation's natural resources. Additionally, FLEOA understands the paramount importance of sustaining public confidence that our brave men and women are dutifully carrying out their formidable mission.
However, It is essential that reporting by the news media be fair and balanced. With the multitude of social networking venues available to the public, the news media can greatly influence the public attitude and opinions in any given issue. Therefore, it is imperative that the news media maintain professional objectivity and provide an unbiased accounting of news events.
Sincerely,
Jon Adler
Jon Adler
National President
Chris Schoppmeyer
Chris Schoppmeyer
VP for Agency Affairs - Reply to this comment
- FLEOA Response to NBC News Report on NOAA/OLE
On behalf of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), I object to the CBS News report on NOAA Fisheries Service Law Enforcement. The news segment provided a one-sided perspective, and failed to consider the meaningful standpoint of those who carry out the formidable NOAA mission. On behalf of the 147 NOAA member agents that we represent, the piece focused on issues that were identified in the Department of Commerce, Inspector General's reports being addressed by NOAA leadership. The interview with Administrator Eric Schwabb failed to give Mr. Schwabb the opportunity to articulate the changes being implemented to improve the Office for Law Enforcement.
FLEOA represents over 26,000 federal agents and officers from 65 agencies, and our membership does not support behavior or practices that compromise the integrity of the federal law enforcement community. With that said, any federal law enforcement agency periodically has internal issues that need to be addressed in order to have the respect and support of their respective constituencies. NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement is no exception.
The vast majority of federal agents and officers go to work every day to protect the life and property of the citizens of the United States. NOAA agents and their colleagues in the federal natural resource agencies have a unique mission in that they are charged with protecting and conserving our nation's living marine resources in perpetuity. For many NOAA Fisheries agents, they view their occupation as more than a job, "it's a passion". They believe in their mission and their willing to risk their lives in support of it.
These are very difficult economic times for the American public, and the fishing industry is no exception.
Why is it that the media fails to cover recent examples of NOAA agents working with the fishing industry to resolve conflicts between fishing gear types. Recently NOAA agents played a pivotal role in designing a system to reduce gear conflicts in the Gulf of Maine between the inshore fixed gear lobster and mid water trawl herring fleet. Collaborative efforts between NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement, the US Coast Guard - Sector Northern New England, the states of Maine and New Hampshire and the competing fishers resulted in a marked decrease in gear conflict incidents. This saved thousands of dollars in potentially lost or damaged gear and corresponding investigations.
The media also failed to report on the history of public outreach efforts conducted by NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement, such as educating fishers on existing or proposed regulations affecting both the commercial and recreational fishers.
FLEOA maintains that this form of partnership is essential for law enforcement to effectively safeguard the public and our nation's natural resources. Additionally, FLEOA understands the paramount importance of sustaining public confidence that our brave men and women are dutifully carrying out their formidable mission.
However, It is essential that reporting by the news media be fair and balanced. With the multitude of social networking venues available to the public, the news media can greatly influence the public attitude and opinions in any given issue. Therefore, it is imperative that the news media maintain professional objectivity and provide an unbiased accounting of news events.
Sincerely,
Jon Adler
Jon Adler
National President
Chris Schoppmeyer
Chris Schoppmeyer
VP for Agency Affairs - Reply to this comment
