Law

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Times, NOAA refused to explicitly clarify the status of Dale J. Jones, the longtime oceans police chief who became the galvanizing figure in the scandal as it broke in phases in January, then again in March before two House oversight subcommittees.

The agency said it had received a completed report on document shredding by Jones from the Commerce Department inspector general but was withholding it because of its possible relevance in an "enforcement" action.

The agency also deflected a series of questions filed in the Times' Freedom of Information Act request, which sought a copy of the IG's findings, Jones' status — including whether he is still on a government payroll — the status of Jones' top assistant and "any other personnel moves" within the Office of Law Enforcement.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

 

 

 

 

 

The New England fishing industry's struggle with Obama administration fisheries policy shifted focus Wednesday from the political to the legal arena.

Gloucester and New Bedford — the nation's legendary fishing ports which are represented by core members of the Obama congressional majority — together with a broad coalition of business interests from New Hampshire to North Carolina have filed suit against the federal government.

At a briefing Wednesday for about 30 industry representatives in New Bedford, co-litigators Stephen Ouellette of Gloucester and Pamela LaFreniere for New Bedford announced that U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel had been assigned the case filed earlier this month; they said the case will be proposed for fast-tracking.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Representatives of some of the nation’s largest fishing ports, fishermen and businesses – including plaintiffs from Rhode Island – have filed suit in a Massachusetts United States District Court against the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The plaintiffs claim they have been adversely affected by Amendment 16 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, which became effective on May 1.

Those filing suit in a complaint filed on Sunday include the city of New Bedford, considered to be the country’s largest port in terms of the value of fish caught.

The following day, the city of Gloucester joined the suit. Another complainant, the American Alliance of Fishermen and their Communities, (AAFC), represents the interest of local commercial fishermen and their communities.  The Rhode Island based organization is named as a plaintiff. The AAFC is a non-profit organization representing all who are a part of the fishing industry  It was created to challenge Amendment 16.

Read the complete story at The Narragansett Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four and a half months after filing a Freedom of Information Act request for all communications that led to the controversial and later reversed decision to sharply reduce scallop allocations, New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang was informed that Federal administrators would not fully comply with the request.

The New Bedford Standard Times reports that four boxes containing almost 11,000 pages of documentation from NOAA arrived at New Bedford City Hall, but Mayor Scott Lang feels the Feds may be withholding the most revealing and crucial information.

In a cover letter accompanying the documents, Eric Schwaab, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said that 2,880 pages were withheld pursuant to federal laws that protect agency memorandums or letters that would "not be available to a party in litigation with the agency." Another 80 pages are specifically protected under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the letter said.

But Lang said that such a decision is typically made by a judge, not by one of the parties in a dispute, and that Commerce is overstepping by denying them to the city.

Mayor Lang described the Department's response as containing "everything they want us to see and nothing they don't." He said Commerce is treating those documents like top secret information about nuclear weapons or CIA operatives when they are about shellfish.     

Read the story in the Standard-Times 

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As the wheels of litigation begin to turn, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Tuesday he plans to file an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court," brief supporting the city's federal lawsuit to revise implementation of severe new commercial fishing restrictions and allocate more fish to the fleet to keep it alive.

On Monday, Gov. Deval Patrick said that he supports the state joining the suit, as Gloucester and many other industry interests have already done. Attorney General Martha Coakley said she is looking into the matter before making a decision.

Frank's decision to jump into the fray follows a frustrating meeting between 13 members of Congress from the New England coastal states and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Frank has been especially frustrated with Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who hasn't conceded anything to the industry at any time during the process.

"The fact that the Obama administration has so far refused our request to increase allocations for this fishing season makes the catch share program completely unworkable. Catch shares is a controversial and radical change, and to institute this new system while also drastically reducing catch allocations guarantees that it would be devastating to the fishing industry. For this reason, I will support the cities' lawsuit."

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

NOTE: The Standard-Times is a subscription site.  Unregistered visitors are able to read three stories per month, and registered visitors may view ten.  For unlimited access, please follow the subscription instructions on the site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Gov. Deval Patrick was back in town Monday, this time to tour the New Bedford seafood display auction, offer another pledge of solidarity with the beleaguered groundfish fleet and confirm the possibility that the state will join the city's lawsuit against federal fishing regulators.

As a crew of lumpers offloaded haddock from the Jason & Danielle, out of Montauk, N.Y., Patrick clambered to the deck of the dragger for a guided tour.

But the governor had no fresh news either way for the local fishermen, who have been working under Amendment 16 restructuring since May 1.

Asked whether he would like the state to join in the city's federal lawsuit against National Oceanic and Atmoshpheric Administration, Patrick told The Standard-Times, "That's (Attorney General) Martha Coakley's decision."

He said that he has discussed it with her, and that "I think it's a good idea."

Read the complete story at The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

A green group filed a third lawsuit last Friday claiming a new experimental management plan for the New England groundfishery contains legal flaws. The fishing industry is meanwhile suing federal fisheries managers over shifts in policy that may harm the industry.

Oceana’s suit differs from the other two because it alleges the plan's fishing limits and conservation measures are dramatically insufficient.

Oceana is arguing that the federal government lacks a suitable way to limit by-catch and is requesting the federal courts take measures to fix this.

The suit was filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia and pushes for superior controls and stronger conservation. Conversely, the two fishing industry suits filed in the last week asked for relief from fishing limits.

Read the complete story at FIS World News.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some local fishermen have joined the Massachusetts towns of New Bedford and Gloucester in a lawsuit against the federal government, filed as a response to the new fishing regulations that were effective May 1.

"If we're going to go down, we're going to go down swinging," said plaintiff Dick Grachek, who fishes out of Stonington and Narragansett. "It's like our last resort."

The lawsuit, filed Sunday in the United States District Court, District of Massachusetts, names Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and Gary W. Locke, secretary of commerce, as defendants.

Read the Westerly Sun story in full

 

 

With any luck, the lawsuit filed Sunday against federal fishing regulators will put some objective eyes on the issue at last. The he-said she-said on Amendment 16, the new rules that went into effect May 1, has been a nightmare for any objective observer to wade through.

My fear, honestly, is that we won’t know who is right until it’s too late. Will half the fishing fleet be out of business in six months, as fishing interests have warned? That’s a serious doomsday prediction. Will most of the belly-up boats belong to small operators? Worse still.

On the flip side — the environmental side – will failure to implement the new rules leave some seafood species on a crash course with extinction?

Read this SouthCoastToday blog in full

 

 

A third lawsuit, alleging a new experimental management plan for the New England groundfishery has legal flaws, has been filed by an environmental group — but this suit, unlike the other two, says the plan's fishing limits and conservation measures fall too short.

The suit by Oceana complains that the federal government has no good way to limit the waste of fish caught and discarded as bycatch, and asks the federal courts to plug the alleged loopholes.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 7, the suit pushes for greater controls and more rigorous conservation — a push in the opposite direction of those taken in two fishing industry suits filed in the last week, which petitioned for relief from fishing limits said to be ruinous.

Read the Gloucester Times story in full