June 19, 2012 – Sen. Charles Schumer (D, NY) has scheduled a new Congressional oversight hearing on the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
June 19, 2012 – Sen. Charles Schumer (D, NY) has scheduled a new Congressional oversight hearing on the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
June 19, 2012 – The following was released by Senator Kerry's office:
WASHINGTON, DC – As world leaders meet this week for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a major floor speech today urging U.S. action to combat the threat of global climate change.
The conference, which takes place June 20 – 22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, marks the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio, which Senator Kerry attended along with almost every other conference held.
“Twenty years ago this month, a Republican President of the United States helped bring together all the world’s largest economies in Rio to confront the issue of global climate change. The President was unequivocal about the mission. George Herbert Walker Bush said simply, ‘The United States fully intends to be the world’s preeminent leader in protecting the global environment,’” said Sen. Kerry. “How dramatic and sad it is that twenty years later, shockingly, we find ourselves in a strange and dangerous place on this issue—a place this former President wouldn’t even recognize. When it comes to the challenge of climate change, the falsehood of today’s naysayers is only matched by the complacency of our political system…We should be compelled to fight today’s insidious conspiracy of silence on climate change—a silence that empowers misinformation and mythology to grow where science and truth should prevail. It is a conspiracy that has not just stalled, but demonized any constructive effort to put America in a position to lead the world on this issue, as President Bush promised we would and as Americans have a right to expect we will.”
Senator Kerry is the leading advocate in the United States Senate for action to address international climate change. In 2010, he formed a tri-partisan climate effort with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to produce the “American Power Act,” comprehensive climate change legislation in the Senate. In 2009, the Senator traveled to China to urge leaders to join the upcoming “cap and trade” negotiations ahead of the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, where he helped forge a political agreement on global greenhouse gas reduction. He has also represented U.S. at international climate negotiations for two decades: Rio,’92, Kyoto, ’97, Buenos Aires, ’98, The Hague, ’00, Bali, ’07, Poznan, ’08, and Copenhagen, ’09.
View the video of Sen. Kerry’s floor statement here.
June 16, 2012 – In an effort to improve communication between Congress, the fishing industry and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which manages federal fisheries, Rep. William Keating has put together a fishing advisory panel that he says will seek to promote greater transparency and cooperation among those involved.
"It became clear to me after the hearings in Boston with NOAA about a year ago that it was a three-legged stool and there were no strong lines of communication," he said. "It doesn't have to be like that."
Keating is currently running against Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter for the Democratic nomination in the new 9th Congressional District.
The advisory group is an informal one, according to Dr. Brian Rothschild of UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology. "But we hope it's the beginning of a new way of doing things," he said.
The panel met for the first time in Plymouth this week and fishermen from along the Massachusetts coast met with representatives from the state and congressional delegations and fishery scientists to share ideas and information.
"It's always helpful to meet outside of the fishery council process and see where people can agree," said Tom Dempsey, policy director for the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association, who also serves on the New England Fishery Management Council.
The meeting provided an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the difficulties facing the fishing industry, according to Keating.
Cooperative research for stock assessment, more industry involvement in surveys and more frequent assessments were among the topics of greatest concern. The group will meet periodically as needs arise, he said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times.
June 14, 2012 – Sen. John Kerry on Thursday proposed an amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill that would make commercial fishermen in Massachusetts and elsewhere eligible for emergency disaster loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Fishing in Massachusetts means tens of thousands of jobs and our fishermen are literally the farmers of the ocean,” Kerry said in a news release. “Fishermen across the nation risk their lives every day to put food on America’s kitchen table.”
Commercial fishermen should be treated in the same way as other farmers, he said.
The Kerry proposal is just one of a number of amendments attached to the Farm Bill, now being debated on the Senate floor. Amendments to the bill, officially known as the Agriculture Reform Food and Jobs Act of 2012, will be voted on before its final passage.
If approved, Kerry’s amendment would expand the existing Emergency Disaster Loan program to include commercial fishermen.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times.
June 13, 2012 — Facing possible felony hit-and-run charges for a chain of traffic mishaps ending with him unconscious behind the wheel of his car in the Los Angeles area near his home, Commerce Secretary John Bryson has taken a medical leave of absence.
Bryson notified President Obama of his decision late Monday. Bryson was hospitalized late Saturday, but was released within hours and he was back in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank assumed authority at the department and, at least for now, has sign-off authority on a number of important fisheries decisions directly affecting Gloucester and other New England ports.
These include a long pending disaster declaration request filed by Gov. Deval Patrick for the Massachusetts groundfishery, which has been hemorrhaging jobs under a new management regimen and hard catch limits mandated by Congress.
In addition, the secretary is believed to have on his desk the second major report on case studies of fishermen wronged by NOAA law enforcement. As many as 60 cases were under investigation by a special judicial master appointed by Bryson's predecessor, Gary Locke, now ambassador to China.
After the May 2011 release of the first master's report, Locke issued an apology and reparations to eight victims of justice miscarried.
The Secretary of Commerce is the official of record on matters covered by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the superstructure for the nation's fisheries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric and Administration and its subdivision, the National Marine Fisheries Service, both fall under the wing of the Department of Commerce.
June 12, 2012 – U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson, who was involved in a potential felony hit-and-run traffic incident Saturday night and found unconscious behind the wheel of his car in the Los Angeles area, has been no more than a virtual presence for the hard-pressed New England fishing industry in his brief tenure in the Obama Cabinet.
In October, soon after he was confirmed by the Senate and praised by Sen. John Kerry as the ideal candidate, Bryson promised Kerry to visit Massachusetts to get a firsthand view of the industry, struggling under regulations authorized by the secretary. But that visit never came off, nor was it ever rescheduled.
A former utility executive and adviser to the global private equity firm, Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co., Bryson made streamlined regulation, job creation and exports his priorities in confirmation hearing testimony, but his early involvement with the Natural Resources Defense Council, drew opposition from Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank.
In November, Gov. Deval Patrick filed a set of socioeconomic scientific studies to make the necessary legal case for Bryson to declare that federal fisheries policies had created a job-destroying economic disaster for the state and region.
But Bryson has taken no action on the request which was upgraded from an earlier filing that was deemed to lack the necessary "new" scientific proof of a fisheries failure.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.
June 11, 2012 — Last week we told you about how sugar growers and food manufacturers were fighting over the farm bill's sugar policies. Now, it's the catfish farmers versus a seafood trade association and agricultural groups clashing over a catfish inspection program.
Catfish farmers say the changes would improve food safety. Critics argue that it's protectionism masquerading as food safety.
The program in question would shift catfish inspection and oversight to the U.S. Department of Agriculture from the Food and Drug Administration. The change was part of the last farm bill and is set to be implemented next year and critics are trying to undo the change in this year's farm bill.
"For U.S. catfish farmers, food safety is our highest priority and we welcome stricter USDA oversight of both our domestic and imported catfish," Butch Wilson, the president of the Catfish Farmers of America, said in an email. "Whether a food safety incident results from domestic or foreign fish, the impact is the same: consumer confidence in all catfish plummets."
The Catfish Farmers of America spent $200,000 on lobbying in 2010 and $320,000 in 2011.
But critics say catfish farmers are supporting the program because it would essentially halt similar imports from Vietnam, which, they warn, could prompt retaliatory trade restrictions on American products.
"This is at heart a trade issue," said Gavin Gibbons, a spokesman for the National Fisheries Institute. "The domestic catfish folks aren't interested in a new regulator. They're actually interested in a new trade barrier."
June 11, 2012 – Commerce Secretary John Bryson said Monday night that he is taking an indefinite leave of absence to deal with health problems, after officials said the Cabinet member had a seizure while driving Saturday and was involved in three traffic collisions.
Bryson’s leave was announced after 10 p.m. Monday. It followed a day of confusion about his medical condition and about the crashes that led to Bryson being cited for felony hit-and-run in California. In a memo released to reporters, Bryson said his leave would last “during the period of my illness.”
“I notified President Obama this evening that effective immediately I am taking a medical leave of absence so I can focus all of my attention on resolving the health issues that arose over the weekend,” Bryson wrote. He said his second in command, Rebecca Blank, would be the acting secretary in his absence. Blank has already served in that capacity, filling in after former secretary Gary Locke left to be ambassador to China.
Bryson did not say more about the nature of his health issues. Neither did the White House, which said that “President Obama’s thoughts are with Secretary Bryson and his family during this time.”
The length of Bryson’s leave is undetermined, and a Commerce official said late Monday that he is undergoing tests and will consult with doctors before making a final decision about whether to return to work.
Bryson, 68, is the newest permanent member of Obama’s 21-person Cabinet, taking his post in October. His leave ended a tumultuous day in which White House officials conceded that they had not learned of Bryson’s accidents until a full day after they occurred. They acknowledged that, even two days afterward, they did not fully understand what had happened.
Bryson was driving alone when his Lexus ran into two other cars shortly after 5 p.m. Pacific time Saturday — hitting one of the vehicles twice. Nobody in the other cars was seriously hurt. After the third crash, Bryson was found unconscious behind the wheel. He was treated overnight at a Los Angeles area hospital.
On Monday, Commerce Department spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman said the secretary had suffered a seizure — his first — at some point during the incident. She said toxicology tests confirmed that neither alcohol nor drugs played a role in the crashes. A spokesman from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the tests.
Read the full story at the Washington Post.
June 11, 2012 – June 11, 2012 – Commerce Secretary John Bryson, who police said had two car accidents within minutes of each other in San Gabriel, Calif., on Saturday afternoon, suffered a seizure, a Commerce spokeswoman said Monday.
“Secretary Bryson was involved in a traffic accident in Los Angeles over the weekend. He suffered a seizure. He was taken to the hospital for examination and remained overnight for observation. He was released and has returned to Washington,” spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman said in an email.
A Commerce official said the secretary was on personal time with no security detail, driving his own vehicle, and that he was given medication to treat the seizure.
After the second accident, Bryson was found unconscious behind the wheel of his Lexus and had seemed “confused” after the first crash, authorities said on Monday.
Authorities are treating one of the accidents as a felony hit and run.
“On Saturday, June 9, 2012 at about 5:05 p.m. [local time] a hit and run traffic collision occurred in the 400 block of South San Gabriel Boulevard in the City of San Gabriel,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the San Gabriel Police Department said in a joint statement. “Preliminary investigation indicates the collision was caused by Suspect John Bryson, who is the United States Secretary of Commerce.”
Bryson, 68, was driving a Lexus on San Gabriel Boulevard when he hit the back of a Buick that was waiting for a train to pass. There were three men in the Buick. The commerce secretary spoke to the men after hitting the car the first time and then, while leaving the scene, again hit the vehicle. The men in the Buick followed Bryson’s car while they called 911, according to the written statement.
Read the full story at Politico.
June 5, 2012 – U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced Monday congressional oversight hearings have been scheduled that will include testimony from Long Island fishermen concerned that federal fishing regulations are overly strict.
The senator joined local fishing industry advocates at the Freeport Boatmen’s Association to argue that summer fluke, or flounder—a fish that was big business off the shores of LI—has rebounded from prior overfishing that the regulations were meant to correct.
“Long Island fishing industry is the life-blood of communities,” Schumer said. “We must do everything we can to make sure federal fishing rules allow it to grow and thrive, not wither and die.”
The oversight hearings will come this fall once Congress considers the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act, which established fishing limits the senator and industry argue are based on flawed scientific data.
Read the full story at the Long Island Press.