Enforcement

A congressional subcommittee will hold an oversight hearing on federal fisheries law enforcement, the committee chairman has announced — and Cape Ann's congressman is pushing for the hearing to be in Gloucester.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee, said he was acting on the request of Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem, who called for the hearing yesterday. Tierney also called for the hearing to be held in Gloucester, perhaps as soon as next month.

At the time the hearing was proposed, federal fisheries administrator Jane Lubchenco had not announced her decision to act on the series of findings made last month by the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General. Lubchenco yesterday called for shifting control of the Asset Forfeiture Fund from NOAA enforcement to the overall NOAA controller. She also reiterated her call for a "summit" to discuss fishing enforcement issues.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has instructed officials to immediately improve enforcement operations and relationships with the fishing community to address issues raised in a federal review.

Jane Lubchenco issued the directive Wednesday, nearly two weeks after a review of how the nation's fisheries are policed found that enforcement often appears arbitrary and Northeast fishermen were penalized at a high rate

She says in a memo that the agency will immediately review proposed enforcement decisions and settlements to ensure consistency and predictability.

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today [subscription site]

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Federal oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco yesterday acted to regain control of fisheries law enforcement whose activities — notably in the Northeast and with the Gloucester fleet — have been criticized in a scathing report by the U.S. Commerce Department's Inspector General.

In her first active response to the report of U.S. Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser — released two weeks ago — Lubchenco acknowledged "longstanding deficiencies" and asserted that fixing the problems would take some time.

But she vowed to fix National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's law enforcement arm, which has tarnished the first year of an administration that began with Lubchenco's admission at her confirmation hearing that the agency's relationship with the fishing industry was "dysfunctional."

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

"But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."  — James Madison, Federalist #51

Guided by a scathing Inspector General's report on a law enforcement system operating with dubious autonomy, federal oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco today announced a suite of immediate changes designed to reign in a force that has cast shadows over her National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In her first firm public reaction to the two-week old preliminary report of US Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser, Lubchenco acknowledged "longstanding deficiencies" and asserted that fixing the problems would take some time.

But in a memo today to Lois J. Schiffer, general counsel for the agency, and James Balsiger, the acting assistant administrator for fisheries, Lubchenco acted in areas cited by Zinser's team.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

Read Jane Lubchenco's full memo on the IG's report.

The top federal official for fisheries law enforcement apparently believes that the best way to respond to a scathing report on his performance is to ignore the substance of it.

Todd Zinser, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Inspector General, issued a 26-page report last month that found "systemic, nationwide issues adversely affecting NOAA's ability to effectively carry out its mission."

The response from Dale Jones, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement?

In a message to his staff leaked to the Times, he said he "concur(red) with the need for us to improve our communications and relationships with the fishing industry."

Yikes.

Look, the only communication problem at this point is that Jane Lubchenco, NOAA's chief administrator, has not clearly communicated to Jones the message that he has to clean out his office and go.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

To the [Gloucester Times] editor:

I am writing to publicly announce that the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association stands by the hard work, unique mission, and essential functions performed by the special agents and officers of NOAA's Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement.

This stand follows the recent release of a U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of the Inspector General review of NOAA Fisheries Service enforcement practices. In addition to a review of the NOAA Office of General Counsel, NOAA and its Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) senior leadership practices, the IG report also reviewed the investigations of the special agents.

FLEOA applauds the Inspector General's recognition that NOAA OLE "has limited resources to cover an increasingly complex and vast jurisdiction" in the critical mission of protecting and conserving living marine resources for the American public.

Read the complete editorial at The Gloucester Daily Times.

The embattled national head of fisheries law enforcement, whose administration is the subject of a scathing set of findings by the inspector general, has sent his staff a memo which emphasizes the need to improve "communication and relationship" with the fishing industry.

Dale J. Jones, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement, made only fleeting reference to the IG's many criticisms of his department, writing "I may disagree with and will refute some of the perspectives."

Both the report to the public by U.S. Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser and Jones' internal memo were issued Jan. 21.

Read the entire Gloucester Times Story.

 

 

 

The complete text of Mr. Jones' memo is reproduced here:

THE DIRECTOR’S MINUTE
January 21, 2010

MEMORANDUM FOR:   All NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement Employees

FROM:                 Dale J. Jones, Director of Enforcement

SUBJECT:                      Release of the Office of Inspector General’s Review

We have recently learned that the Office of the Inspector General has released the report on the review requested last June by the NOAA Administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco.  The report is online and can be viewed on the Commerce Department’s OIG web site.  Rather than reiterate the content of that report to you, I would simply recommend that you read the report.    http://www.oig.doc.gov/oig/reports/2010/OIG-19887.pdf

Our National Leadership Team and I will be working closely with the NMFS Assistant Administrator’s Office and the NOAA Administration in follow up to the report findings and recommendations.  In response to the report, the NOAA Administrator has re-asserted her commitment to NOAA’s goal to rebuild our fisheries while sustaining the jobs and fishing communities that depend on them.  She suggests that we can and must do a better job in keeping the fishing industry informed of our enforcement actions and the reasons behind them.  To that end and in response to the report she has committed NOAA to convene a national summit on enforcement policies and practices in order to hear from constituents and experts in the field.  It will include representatives from the commercial fishing industry, the recreational fishing community, environmental groups, academic institutions, outside experts from law enforcement, as well as significant participation by the OLE and GCEL. The details of the summit have not yet been formulated.  Dr. Lubchenco has praised your professionalism and integrity during this review and it is clear that she stands behind you in the work that we do.

I personally concur with the need for us to improve our communications and relationships with the fishing industry. Though outreach is not our mission alone and others within NMFS must also be involved in this effort, we must always work toward improving our efforts and results in this area.  Though I may disagree with and will refute some of the perspectives and original allegations in the report, we will work with NOAA to determine how we can improve.  To that end, it is my hope and my advice to all that we position ourselves to view this report and the ensuing responses as opportunities for improvement and growth.  We remain committed to working constructively with NOAA Leadership and the many other stakeholders involved in this process to improve upon what we do.

As you read through the report and have thoughts, questions or comments, please feel free to forward those to me through your chain of command and I will respond as is appropriate.  Once again, I give my compliments and thanks to you all.  You are an incredible group of talented and dedicated people.

Thank you!

NOAA Fisheries Service
Office of Law Enforcement

 

 

 

 

Top law enforcers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put a special focus for years on building up the agency's Asset Forfeiture Fund — a fund that recently held $8.4 million — even after officers had been drawing from it for "travel and purchases" without needing approval of higher-ups.

But last October, while investigators from the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General were examining the fund and finding it with weak "internal controls" as part of a larger probe of NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement, unregulated charges to the fund were abruptly canceled.

And a high-level management official said any future requests for use of the fund — built from the violation "fines" paid by fishermen — would be screened and submitted to headquarters for approval "on a case-by-case basis."

The history of meticulous attention to the growth of the fund and the belated creation of controls over its use are spotlighted through internal memos obtained by the Times.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The referenced files were also obtained by Saving Seafood.  Click here to view a PDF of NOAA's Oct 2, 2009 cancellation of purchases of travel and expenses from the Asset Forfeiture Fund.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times

 

 

It's been seven days now since the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General issued a blistering report on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's enforcement actions against the fishing industry.

That's seven days since IG Todd Zinser found, "systemic, nationwide issues adversely affecting NOAA's ability to effectively carry out its mission." Among those "issues" were inconsistent, heavy-handed enforcement by rogue agents who were essentially accountable to no one.

Yet nobody has apparently been fired, demoted, reassigned or suspended. Nobody has been disciplined or even rebuked publicly. The only expressions of outrage or vindication have been very justified outcries from political leaders, fishermen and others close to the industry.

The only real response from NOAA head Jane Lubchenco — who promised last year to fix the "dysfunctional" relationship between her agency and the industry — has been to call for a national "summit" on enforcement policies and practices, where presumably environmental and academic groups will join hands with commercial and recreational fishermen and walk together into some glowing new era of mutual understanding.

That's worse than wishful thinking. It's a shameful refusal to confront or even acknowledge an obvious problem. And it's one that even raises new questions — as in, why should the environmental and academic groups have a seat at any such summit? Yes, Lubchenco's background is as an academic, and she's a former vice president with the Environmental Defense Fund. But what in the world do they have to do with fisheries law enforcement?

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

The results of the Inspector General's investigation confirms concerns that many members of the fishing community have raised for 10 years with congressional delegations — the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an agency out of step, if not outright adversarial with the industry it is supposed to be working to preserve and protect.

The abuses in law enforcement are but one, serious manifestation of the problem.

The IG's reports and NOAA's promise of a fix offer little satisfaction to those who have left or been forced from the industry by action of, or fear of action by, NOAA law enforcement and its Office of the General Counsel.

While NOAA has promised to review the law enforcement issue, this should not cloud the larger picture — the hostile atmosphere within the agency that allowed these abuses to occur for over a decade, and which threatens the viability of the entire commercial fishing industry and fishing communities.

Read the complete editorial at The Gloucester Daily Times.