September 24, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Jim Kendall sees fingerprints on NOAA’s most recent allegations that go beyond Carlos Rafael and loop 22 of his captains into the agency’s non-criminal civil action.
“I’ll tell you right now, you can print it or not, but I think John Bullard still has his thumb on the scale,” the former fishing captain and executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting said.
Kendall backed up his claims by saying, “because I know John. He’s a vindictive SOB.”
Bullard is the former mayor of New Bedford, but in this case more importantly acted as the regional administrator for NOAA when Rafael was criminally indicted, pled guilty and was sentenced. Bullard also imposed a groundfishing ban on Rafael-owned vessels.
Except Bullard retired Jan. 19, about nine months before NOAA filed the updated charging documents on Sept. 10.
“A comment like that is insulting to all the people who do very important and hard work in the enforcement arena,” Bullard said. “They just follow the facts and where the facts lead. The only scales are the scales of justice. Nobody’s influencing. The only thing they are following is the facts.”
Bullard was at the helm when NOAA first filed charging documents on Jan. 10.
Read the full story at The New Bedford Standard-Times