Enforcement

After consulting with Gloucester, Mass., Mayor Carolyn Kirk, NOAA is postponing its Fisheries Enforcement Forum, originally scheduled for April 26, to a date and format to be worked out with her. We expect that the forum will take place in the next 60 to 90 days. This postponement does not affect NOAA's Enforcement Summit, scheduled for the Washington, D.C., area on June 22.

The Fisheries Enforcement Forum is the first in a series of efforts to work on effective means of communication with the fishing industry outside an enforcement context. In addition to explanations of the agents’ and attorneys’ distinct roles in the fishery enforcement process – roles that often are confused – topics will include identifying communication mechanisms for effectively discussing enforcement practices and administrative procedures, and whether NOAA should hold forums in other coastal cities.

This forum is different from NOAA’s significant outreach effort on Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fisheries Management Plan. The plan, which goes into effect May 1, enables the development and implementation of groundfish fishing sectors in the Northeast.

New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang says he’ll urge fishermen from his city to boycott a scheduled meeting with federal fisheries officials.

The forum scheduled for next Monday night in Gloucester was called by Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in the wake of an inspector general’s report that found enforcement of federal fishing rules to be arbitrary and unfair.

The meeting is also planned just five days before the implementation of new regulations that have been sharply criticized by the fishing industry.

Read the complete story at The Boston Herald.

 

 

 

 

 

New Bedford Mayor Scott W. Lang said Tuesday he will urge the city's fishing industry to boycott a meeting intended to repair relationships with federal fisheries law enforcement officials.

Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk  suggested such a boycott last Friday, and was considering organizing an alternative meeting.

The three-hour forum, scheduled for 7-10 p.m. Monday in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office in Gloucester, was called by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco in the wake of a scathing report by the U.S. Commerce Department's inspector general, Todd J. Zinser. The report confirmed what Northeast fishermen have been saying for years: that fisheries law enforcement is uneven, often unfair, sometimes vindictive and especially bad in the Northeast.

Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk told The Standard-Times she started thinking boycott after NOAA announced the meeting without consultation about the agenda or participants, and at the worst possible time: less than a week before the launch of an entirely new regulatory scheme that has roiled the industry.

"The timing is horrible, just five days before implementation on May 1 of the new regime," Kirk said.

She wasn't naming names Tuesday, but many in the industry are particularly upset that Andrew Cohen, agent in charge of the Gloucester office, is first on the agenda for, among other things, "communicating with fishing industry members."

[read the SouthCoastToday story in full]

 

 

 

 

The federal fisheries law enforcement office on Friday announced plans for a "fisheries law enforcement forum" in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The Gloucester Times reported on Saturday that  forum's announcement was immediately derided as an insult to the fishing industry as the agenda indicated that sessions were to be led by local Enforcement office leadership including Agent-in-Charge Andrew Cohen. It was also learned that Charles Juliand, who heads the Office of General Counsel in Gloucester would attend, though he was not mentioned on the agenda.

Gloucester elected officials expressed the view that the event should be led by newly-appointed acting Enforcement chief Alan Risenhoover and NOAA General Counsel Lois Schiffer.  

Late on Sunday, a senior NOAA official told Saving Seafood that in addition to the local officials, acting law enforcement chief Alan Risenhoover and a representative of the General Counsel's Office selected by Lois Schiffer will also attend.

 

"A boycott might be in order," said Mayor Carolyn Kirk, whose city faces a massive surge in unemployment when a new industry model for the groundfishing fleet is launched two weeks from today.

Mayor Kirk told Saving Seafood that she is considering not only a boycott, but an alternative event to be held at the same time. She said having the forum run by the local officials, who were the local face of the leadership of OLE headed by the replaced Dale Jones, suggests that the officials in Washington may not realize how deeply the actions of the previous leadership of OLE have torn her community.

Mayor Kirk also noted that her office was not contacted about the planned event before it was announced. 

Gloucester's state legislative delegation, Sen. Bruce Tarr and Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, also condemned the idea of inviting the fishing industry to discuss reforming the system with agents and lawyers who prosecuted cases and imposed penalties found to be 250-500 percent higher than those levied in the rest of the country.

They said that if local Agent-in-Charge Andrew Cohen and Charles Juliand, who heads the Office of General Counsel in Gloucester, are not removed from the event and replaced by Lois Schiffer, the newly installed chief counsel at NOAA, and Alan Risenhoover, a sustainable fisheries official sitting in temporarily as chief of law enforcement, there is little reason to attend the planned three hour event, set for Monday night, April 26.

Late on Sunday, NOAA officials told Saving Seafood that Alan Risenhoover and a representative of the General Counsel's Office selected by Lois Schiffer will also attend.

The Forum will be facilitated by Dan Dozier, who was selected with the assistance of the Environmental Conflict Resolution Institute.

According to NOAA, local representatives from OLE and GCEL will attend and participate in the Forum. Neither Mr. Juliand nor Mr. Cohen was cited by name.

According to NOAA, one of the reasons for holding the Forum is to build rapport between the local OLE and GCEL staff members and the fishing community.  "We believe it is vital to have two way communications between the local NOAA employees and the fishing community.  We hope that the fishing community will view this as an opportunity to better understand how OLE and GCEL operate and to provide their perspectives on the enforcement process."

NOAA also told Saving Seafood that after the Forum occurs, the agency will evaluate it to determine whether to replicate it in other locations/regions.  The Forum was one of the outreach programs set forth in NOAA's response to the IG's report.

 

Read the original story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

 

Read the event announcement and agenda 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOAA plans to hold a Fisheries Enforcement Forum at 7 p.m. April 26, 2010, at NOAA's Northeast Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA.

The purpose of the forum is to provide an opportunity for the fishing industry, NOAA's Office of General Counsel and Office of Law Enforcement to discuss NOAA’s fishery enforcement proceedings and practices and to start an ongoing dialogue outside of an enforcement context.

The agenda includes the questions "Was this meeting useful? Should we hold more meetings here or in other coastal cities? Should these meetings be held annually, bi-annually, or semi-annually?"

 

 

The agenda may be downloaded from NOAA here.  

 

More information is available from NOAA here.

 

 

 

 

A letter sent yesterday by Dennis Kucinich, Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform disclosed that "the large amounts of documents" shredded at NOAA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) headquarters included "75-80% of the files of [former] Director Dale Jones."

The letter also raised serious concerns about the role and motivations of Mark Spurrier, formerly the No. 2 official at OLE.

The destruction of documents took place in November during the closing phase of the Inspector General's investigation into widespread claims of miscarriages of justice visited upon the commercial fishing industry.

Writing to Lois Schiffer, the general counsel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Barbara Fredericks, the assistant general counsel for the Commerce Department, Kucinich said Mark Spurrier — formerly the No. 2 official at OLE, an attorney, may have given legal advice improperly — for lack of authority to do so and lack of training in the field of law enforcement law — to agents in the department.

The letter also said Spurrier "may have maintained an outside legal practice during his employment" without permission, and described his statements to the Inspector General as "conflicting rationalizations".

Read the letter from Chairman Kucinich.

Read the article about the letter in the Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Federal lawmakers worked yesterday, without immediate success, to obtain a U.S. Commerce Department inspector general's report on a government document-shredding incident that apparently cost Dale Jones, the government's police chief for the oceans, his job.

Congressional sources said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration required a formal, written congressional inquiry in response to telephone requests for a copy of the report that was recently delivered to Jane Lubchenco, head of NOAA, by IG Todd Zinser.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, all Massachusetts Democrats, were all pressing for information regarding Jones' Thursday ouster. A letter to satisfy NOAA requirements was being drafted in Tierney's office late yesterday.

"Sen. Kerry will work with his colleagues in the Massachusetts delegation to obtain this report and make it public if possible," said Kerry spokeswoman Brigid O'Rourke.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Top federal fisheries law enforcer Dale Jones has been removed as chief of law enforcement for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a casualty of a NOAA inspector general's report and complaints that Jones destroyed documents during the inquiry and mishandled funds from enforcement fines.

NOAA assistant adminstrator Eric Schwaab said Thursday that Jones would be replaced in the interim by Alan Risenhoover, who has been running the agency's Office of Sustainable Fisheries, until a permanent law enforcement chief can be found.

Jones had been a Maryland city police chief before coming to the fisheries agency, and some industry advocates complained he played a role in making enforcers too aggressive and worsening relations between NOAA and fishermen, especially in the Northeast. Those pressures erupted in early 2009 when NOAA sought a 60-day shutdown of the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction over charges the dock had brokered illegal catches, based on agents' analysis of landing documents.

Read the complete story at The Ashbury Park Press.

 

 

 

 

 

Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) issued the following statement on the removal of Mr. Dale Jones from office.

“I would like to thank NOAA for taking action on this very serious matter.  It is a necessary action, but far from sufficient.  The public, and particularly my fishing constituents, demand transparency and accountability from their government.  If Dale Jones has been fired for shredding documents, as appears to be the case, the agency needs to disclose the circumstances surrounding Mr. Jones’ dismissal and whether or not criminal charges will be filed.  Today’s announcement makes it even more imperative that the agency immediately suspend all active prosecutions against America’s fisherman.”

 

 

 

 

 

His professional reputation in tatters, the nation's longtime chief police officer for the oceans was replaced yesterday.

After 11 years as director of law enforcement for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dale J. Jones' federal policing career came to an apparent end, according to multiple congressional sources, after an Inspector General's report on a document shredding episode was filed in recent days with Jones' superiors.

Eric Schwaab, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service, released a statement announcing that a career NOAA official, Alan Risenhoover, had been appointed interim director of law enforcement, pending the selection of a permanent successor to Jones.

In avoiding the mention of Jones' name or any explanation of his status, Schwaab cited "advice of departmental counsel" and … Privacy Act requirements." Questions aimed at clarifying whether Jones was fired, suspended or allowed to resign went unanswered.

Reaction to Jones' exit from the director's office in Silver Spring, Md., was more illuminating, pointed and, in some cases, dissatisfied.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.