WASHINGTON — December 6, 2012 — Sen. John Kerry is asking that the most recent report of the investigation into the alleged unfair treatment of fishermen by the attorneys and officers who enforce the nation's fishery laws be released "immediately or, at the very least, no later than the end of this year."
"In light of a declared fishery disaster, we must do all that we can to assist our fishermen," Kerry wrote to Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank Wednesday. "It is more important now than ever that our government agencies work cooperatively and rationally with our fishermen to ensure the success of new management systems.
The perceived delay in releasing the report has resulted in further eroding of public trust in the agency."
An original investigation of the Office of Law Enforcement at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration by Special Master Charles B. Swartwood prompted former Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke to award nearly $650,000 in reparations for 11 legal cases involving Massachusetts fishermen or shoreside processors who suffered from excessive federal penalties.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times