Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, and U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) today urged the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fund a National Research Council study of the 10-year timeline for rebuilding overfished fish stocks, as mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).

In a letter to NOAA Administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the lawmakers called for an independent study to determine the economic and ecological costs and benefits as well as the scientific underpinnings of the mandate to rebuild all overfished fish stocks within 10 years.  The study would also address the feasibility of rebuilding all fish stocks simultaneously, the impact of non-fishing related factors such as climate change and coastal development and pollution on fish stock recovery, and would probe whether current investment in fisheries science is sufficient to meet the National Standards established in the MSA.

“Fisheries are an economic engine for our coastal communities, and the Magnuson-Stevens Act includes a commitment to achieve optimum yield from our fisheries while minimizing adverse economic impact.  Congressman Frank and I are asking NOAA to fund this study to determine whether the 10-year rebuilding timeline best meets these mandates,” said Senator Snowe.  “We all share the goal of managing our fisheries sustainably to benefit both the fishermen of today and for future generations.  This study would provide a truly independent assessment of the economic and ecological costs and benefits of the current system and ultimately suggest ways to enhance fishery management.”

“I am pleased to join Senator Snowe in calling for NOAA to fund a study by the National Academy of Science’s National Research Council to provide an independent assessment of the 10-year rebuilding timeline, focusing on its ecological and economic costs and benefits,” said Frank.  “The rigid and arbitrary 10 year rebuilding timeline was one of my major objections to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and I believe the time has come for it to be reevaluated.”

Read the letter from Senator Snowe and Congressman Frank.

Thousands of commercial, recreational and party/charter boat fishermen and people in businesses depending on them from Alaska, both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico have united under the banner of the Preserve Fishing Coalition to support federal legislation introduced by New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone and New York Senator Charles Schumer and 26 co-sponsors. The Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2009 (HR 1584 and S 1255) will relieve fishermen from the onerous and totally unnecessary rigidity in stock rebuilding timeframes that have been added to the Magnuson Act by the successful lobbying of activist environmental organizations funded by multi-billion dollar foundations with strong corporate connections.

The Coalition, an ad hoc group started by 14 fishing organization leaders, is coordinating a fishermen's rally on the steps of the Capital starting at noon on February 24th and is collecting signatures on a web-based letter thanking the Act's sponsors for taking the critical first step in returning independent fishermen to their rightful place in the fisheries management process.

The letter will be presented to the legislators at the rally.

Read the complete story at PR Newswire.

Planes, trains and automobiles — and dozens of buses — will be descending on Washington, D.C. beginning next Sunday as a national movement of fishermen gathers in an effort to convince Congress to put more economic opportunity into the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries recovery act.

The rising of the fishermen — an unprecedented fusion of recreational and commercial interests — comes more than 30 years into the nation's commitment to restore the ocean ecosystem. And it's coming at a moment when fishermen and government science agree a remarkable environmental success story is in the making.

Yet rigid deadlines in the Magnuson Act as interpreted by federal fishery regulators are cutting catch limits and sending businesses into bankruptcy and collapse.

"Much progress has been made of the last several years in increasing the sustainability of our stocks," James Balsiger, acting head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, wrote last May in NMFS "2008 Status of the Fisheries."

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

The Obama administration is proposing a grant program that could start zoning marine areas for offshore projects.

The White House released a fiscal 2011 budget proposal this week that includes $20 million in grants for regional ocean partnerships. The competitive grants would support planning for marine zoning.

Advocates of the zoning effort say the proposal — a small part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's $5.55 billion annual budget — would be a big step toward helping improving the marine management.

Read the complete story at The New York Times.

A congressional subcommittee has set the date for its oversight hearing into a U.S. Inspector General's findings that a largely autonomous federal fisheries law enforcement agency has mistreated fishermen as if they were criminals, leading to a "dysfunctional" relationship between regulators and the regulated.

Chairwoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, announced the hearing before the Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife will be March 3 at 2 p.m. in Washington; the hearing will be Webcast live on the committee's Web site.

Members of the staff of Commerce Department IG Todd Zinser and representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency which polices federal waters, are expected to appear.

Although NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco has announced a series of stopgap measures in response to key findings, the investigators have not commented publicly beyond the 26-page report, which noted that additional work and findings would be posted regarding important individual cases.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

The following Gloucester Times story on Mr. Schwaab's appointment, which will appear in the Thursday morning edition, has been made available to Saving Seafood, courtesy of the paper.

by RICHARD GAINES, Gloucester Daily Times

     Special to Saving Seafood

 

Eric C. Schwaab, second in charge at Maryland’s state Department of Natural Resources, was named yesterday to take the reins of the troubled and challenged $1 billion National Marine Fisheries Service.

 

The appointment by NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco — rumored for weeks — fills a position that had been vacant for more than a year. The vacuum was considered by the U.S. Commerce Department Inspector General last month to have been a contributing factor in allowing the federal fisheries police to operate largely without oversight and drift into a variety of improper actions against the fishing industry.

 

The NMFS administrator is responsible for federal fisheries law enforcement. The epicenter of the problem was confirmed to be the office of agents in Gloucester, who hold authority for law enforcement throughout the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions.

 

“Eric is a creative and proven manager, consensus builder and leader,” Lubchenco said in a e-mailed statement.

 

“He has developed and implemented solutions to address challenges in regional habitat restoration, including Chesapeake Bay restoration issues, fish and wildlife conservation, public lands management, natural resources law enforcement, public agency administration, strategic planning and leadership development.

 

Federal offices were closed yesterday because of the snowstorm, and Lubchenco’s office was unable to provide a professional resume, a salary or job description for the 48-year-old Schwaab, who lives in Catonsville, Md.

 

A biographical summary released by NOAA indicates that, previous to his position with the state of Maryland, Schwaab had been resource director for the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, a private organization that represents the interests of state agencies.

 

Earlier, at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, “Eric served in many different capacities, including director of fisheries, forest, wildlife and heritage service, park ranger (and) environmental police officer,” according to the biographic summary.

 

His appointment ends the year-long candidacy for the post Brian Rothschild, the Montgomery Charter Professor of Marine Sciences and Technology at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, who has been the academic and political linchpin of the volatile New England fishing industry.

 

Its alienation from NMFS was a central discussion point during Lubchenco’s confirmation hearing questioning by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Lubchenco, herself a celebrated academic scientist, promised to use science to bridge the chasm between regulators and the fishing industry.

 

Since then, with the top job at NMFS held down in an acting term by James Balsiger, pressure emanating from Gloucester pushed Lubchenco to ask the IG to look into persistent allegations of vindictive actions against fishermen and businesses.

 

Meanwhile, the industry chafed at NMFS policies that were aimed at eliminating what Lubchenco called a “sizable fraction of the fleet” and the pending onset of “catch shares,” an engineered transformation of the industry to a regulatory system that she concedes should “consolidate” the number of small, family-owned fishing boats.

 

In her only known visit to Gloucester as head of NOAA, Lubchenco visited and left the regional offices without detouring to the port or City Hall. A regional fishermen’s protest was held in October at the NMFS Gloucester, and a massive protest is scheduled for the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 24.

 

Her choice to head NMFS does not have the doctorate degrees held by either Balsiger or Rothschild. Schwaab has a master’s in geography and environmental planning.

 

A job description provided to the Times last year lists as essential duties of the NMFS administrator to “establish national standards and operational guidelines for fisheries management programs, and promote … recreational and commercial fishing under sound conversation and management principles.”

 

The NMFS administrator is also required to administer “multi- disciplinary biological and socio-economic research programs” that provide the “scientific base for status of stocks, status of fisheries including both socio-economic and biological aspects, environmental assessment and … impact statements.”

 

Lubchenco never explained why she avoided appointing Rothschild, 75, who once had taught Balsiger in the 1970s while on the faculty of the University of Washington, and in 2003 received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Institute of Fishery Biologists.

 

After he made himself a candidate for the NMFS position last year, leaders of the New England fishing industry and Congressman Barney Frank advocated Rothschild’s appointment.

 

Instead, an Alaskan former fisherman and staffer for the Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski emerged as an alternative, with the endorsement of the Environmental Defense Fund, where Lubchenco had been vice chairwoman. But Arne Fuglvog took himself out of the running when no quick decision was made between the two.

 

Afterward, Frank and Richie Canastra, the industry leader of New Bedford and the co-owner of the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction, marshaled industry forces behind Rothschild, but to no avail.

 

Rothschild helped produce video and scientific disproof of NMFS research showing a weakened scallop industry in the 1990s. With the better science, the industry was saved from what would have been unnecessary conservation controls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The congressman for North Carolina's Outer Banks — an arm-in-arm ally of the New England fishing ports — has formally requested an oversight hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee into the Inspector General's report citing numerous failings and excesses by federal fishery law enforcers.

In a letter last Friday to the Democrat and Republican leaders of the panel, Congressman Walter B. Jones said the body of revelations by the U.S. Commerce Department's Inspector General "cry out for congressional oversight."

Jones wrote that the report "confirmed what I have heard from fishermen for years" about the law enforcement agents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as the programs.

Due to the weekend blizzard, which closed many Washington officers, Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., the ranking Republican, could be reached.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee, said he'll schedule an oversight hearing into the law enforcement problems at NOAA as spotlighted in a report by federal Department of Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser.

And Congressman John Tierney — who called for the hearing, and is pushing for it to be held in Gloucester — said he was considering filing legislation to alter the Magnuson-Stevens Act by barring the agency, which issues fines, from keeping those revenues for its own use.

Tierney said he'd like to see the oversight hearing held in Gloucester.

The call for the IG's investigation began here last year after NOAA law enforcement filed a 59-count complaint against the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction and attempted to close the business for 120 days and impose a $335,500 fine.

After a six-month 2009 investigation that began in Gloucester and other Northeast posts, Zinser last month announced finding that NOAA law enforcement agents were largely unsupervised and operating autonomously, and carried out their tasks as if they were criminal law enforcement agents rather than administrative officers.

Zinser also focused on the Asset Forfeiture Fund, which was holding $8.5 million in penalties and had no apparent oversight or audit. In her response to the IG's report, NOAA chief administrator Jane Lubchenco directed that the fund be transferred to the control of the chief counsel for NOAA.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.

These issues “cry out for congressional oversight.”

Washington, D.C.  Feb 5, 2010 – U.S. Representative Walter B. Jones (NC-3) called on the House Natural Resources Committee to hold a hearing on the fisheries enforcement programs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  The urgent need for congressional oversight of these programs was highlighted by a 27-page report released last month by the Inspector General (IG) of the U.S. Department of Commerce entitled “Review of NOAA Fisheries Enforcement Programs and Operations.” The IG report found “systemic nationwide issues” with NOAA’s law enforcement programs, practices and personnel.  The report came in response to requests made in mid-2009 by Congressman Jones and the majority of the North Carolina congressional delegation, as well as the Massachusetts congressional delegation, for an investigation into allegations of overzealous commercial fisheries enforcement by NOAA.

 The full text of Congressman Jones’ hearing request letter to Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (WV-3) and Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-4) follows:

“I am writing to respectfully request that you schedule an oversight hearing on the fisheries enforcement programs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  The urgent need for this hearing was made clear by a 27-page report released last month by the Inspector General (IG) of the U.S. Department of Commerce entitled “Review of NOAA Fisheries Enforcement Programs and Operations.”  The report confirmed what I have heard from fishermen for years – namely, that there are “systemic nationwide issues” with NOAA’s law enforcement programs, practices and personnel.

The Inspector General report is the product of months of work by a team of IG investigators who thoroughly examined the NOAA fisheries enforcement operation.  As part of that effort, they interviewed over 225 individuals from across the country, including fishermen, conservation officials, Fishery Management Council members and NOAA personnel.  Their findings reveal a number of problems that cry out for congressional oversight.  Among other things, the report found:

·               “. . . systemic nationwide issues adversely affecting NOAA’s ability to effectively carry out its mission of regulating the fishing industry.  These issues have contributed significantly to a highly-charged regulatory climate and dysfunctional relationship between NOAA and the fishing industry”;

·               NOAA’s “civil penalty assessment process is arbitrary and unfair”;

·               NOAA’s workforce composition is dramatically misaligned to its mission – “only about 2 percent of its caseload has been criminal-investigative, yet over 90 percent of its enforcement personnel are criminal investigators – a clear imbalance”; and,

·               NOAA’s Asset Forfeiture Fund – which contains proceeds from civil penalties it collects – has a balance of $8.4 million as of December 31, 2009, but Department officials “are not aware of the fund’s having ever been audited”, and “the account under which they are maintained has weak internal controls” leading the IG to launch a pending “forensic review of the fund”.

I strongly believe the “systemic” issues outlined in this report require further examination by the committee.  I also believe NOAA’s fisheries enforcement programs need significant reform.  To that end, I would appreciate your assistance in scheduling a hearing to receive testimony from the Inspector General, from personnel responsible for the NOAA enforcement programs and from fishermen so that Congress can better understand these issues and how to resolve them.”

The full text of the report can be found here.

 

 

 

Under duress from intensifying fishing restrictions, and facing a new national policy that would essentially privatize the historically public ocean fisheries, commercial and recreational fishermen from ports on three coasts are preparing to braid themselves together later this month in a mass appeal for congressional relief.

What is billed as the United We Fish March on Washington is expected to draw 2,000 to 3,000 fishermen, primarily from Atlantic ports, as well as a contingent from Gulf ports and a sprinkling from the West Coast, organizers say.

They will travel by train, plane, many buses and private vehicles and meet at noon Wednesday, Feb. 24, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for three hours of speeches about a cause that has never before been pushed in such numbers at the heart of the federal government.

Before and afterward, as an integral part of a carefully planned event, the visitor-advocates are also scheduling meetings with senators and congressmen to lobby for action on the primary vehicles for addressing their grievances — bills to substitute some flexibility for the hard deadlines for the rebuilding of weakened stocks.

Gloucester, Massachusetts Mayor Carolyn Kirk has been invited to speak.

Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times.