U.S. Sen. John Kerry told NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco Wednesday he expects her to be sent the scientific proof she's requiring about the harmful impact of catch share management on the groundfishery — and he expects her to issue a "disaster declaration later this month."
The letter builds on Lubchenco's testimony, the often barbed questioning of her by members of the congressional delegation and testimony by fishermen, academic scientists and the state director of marine fisheries at a field hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee organized by Kerry at the State House in Boston on Oct. 3.
Kerry's Wednesday letter also raised a new issue — information that has come to his attention of a NOAA policy that encourages "overzealous enforcement and excessive fines" by linking career advancement to the volume of cases and size of penalties taken from fishermen.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.