Of the 13 sets of rights so severely trampled by NOAA fisheries law enforcement agents and litigators that their actions drew cabinet-level apologies and some remittals of fines last week, none matched the length, intensity, creativity and ultimate futility of the federal government's campaign against the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction.
Now, that campaigned is outlined extensively in the report of a retired U.S. District Court judge.
Retained as a special master by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Judge Charles B. Swartwood III delivered a 236-page, redacted review of the worst behavior by the cadre of NOAA agents and litigators based in the Northeast regional office here in Gloucester, and concluded that โ despite a Herculean effort over many years, amounting to "selective enforcement," โ "NOAA had no credible evidence that the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction was willfully violating fisheries regulations."
The government's empty net was not for the lack of trying.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.