WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) May 30, 2013 — Northeast fishing industry members delivered a petition to Congress today urging the elimination of funding for the NOAA Northeast Office and the reallocation of "any salvaged funds to relief for the Northeast groundfish fleet"
The petition was addressed to Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski and Ranking Republican Richard Shelby of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. In 2012, when Senator Mikulski chaired the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, that panel voted to eliminate spending on the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northeast Regional Office (NERO) headquarters in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The petitioners argued that by "closing the Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester and redirecting these funds to relief and programs benefiting the Northeast groundfish fleet, the Committee stands to support and advance important scientific research … such as those where fishermen are working together with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary (VIMS), as well as much-needed more frequent assessments of the condition of managed species."
In an article by Steve Urbon, the New Bedford Standard-Times reported on the petition when it was initiated in February.
The text of the petition is reproduced below. The complete text of the petition including the list of signers is available in the PDF linked below.
Petition to close the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office
Also today, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley will hold a press conference scheduled for 1:00 p.m. to announce the filing of a lawsuit against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which seeks to block new regulations that threaten the fishing industry. The lawsuit alleges that NOAA ignored the devastating economic impact of the new regulations and used flawed science to over-restrict the Massachusetts fishing industry.
Bloomberg News reports that Massachusetts' filing in federal court "claimed that new federal rules, called Frameworks 48 and 50, have reduced by 77 percent the amount of certain fish that can be caught in New England." Bloomberg also reported the Commonwealth argued that "regulations are 'threatening the extinction of an industry' and violate the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs fishing management."
State House News Service reported that "Coakley has designated a mortgage advocate in her office to focus on helping fishermen stay in their homes."
Attorney General Coakely has previously argued that NOAA has the authority to enact a one-year measure that would be less detrimental than the new regulations, but NOAA lawyers have insisted that the law prohibits intervening for a second year. Saving Seafood attempted to obtain a copy of the NOAA General Counsel's advice on this matter, but our Freedom of Information Act request was denied, citing attorney-client privilege.
The case is Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Rebecca Blank, 13-cv-11301, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston). Rebecca Blank is the acting Secretary of Commerce. The Commerce Department oversees operations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Text of the Fishermen's Petition:
Hon. Barbara Mikulski, Chairwoman
Hon. Richard Shelby, Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20010
Dear Chairwoman Mikulski and Senator Shelby:
On January 26, 2013, the Associated Press reported that John Bullard, the Northeast Regional Administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), stated, "failures by fishery managers are ultimately to blame for weak stocks that haven't rebounded." The AP went on to quote Mr. Bullard as saying, "we set the rules and clearly the rules have failed. There's no other conclusion."
*We commend Mr. Bullard for his honest, direct and accurate description of the current reality.
Mr. Bullard also commented on changes in the workplace, "A plant shuts down. A person who's worked there for 30 years all of the sudden goes to the factory door and it's closed. You learn a new trade and you adapt…People adapt and they survive." As fishermen, we are owners and employees of small businesses, and we fully understand the difficulties and pain that Mr. Bullard describes.
*We believe that just as there are consequences for failures in business, so too should there be consequences for failures in government.
Therefore, we, the undersigned, petition the Senate Committee on Appropriations to eliminate funding for the NMFS Northeast Regional Office, located at 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and to reallocate any salvaged funds to relief for the Northeast groundfish fleet. Having already been declared to be in a state of emergency last September by acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, those whose livelihoods depend on this fleet deserve relief from circumstances caused by the "failures by fishery managers" that Mr. Bullard described. In the wake of these well-documented failures by NMFS, direct action is needed to atone for these errors and mitigate the struggles that have ensued for Northeast fishermen.
By closing the Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester and redirecting these funds to relief and programs benefiting the Northeast groundfish fleet, the Committee stands to support and advance important scientific research, particularly cooperative research and surveys conducted by non- NMFS scientists – such as those where fishermen are working together with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary (VIMS), as well as much-needed more frequent assessments of the condition of managed species.
We further urge the Committee to reduce and redistribute current Regional Office operations to minimally staffed offices located in port communities such as New Bedford, Gloucester, and Portland so that necessary permits may still be issued as needed.
As a courtesy, we are sending a copy of this correspondence to the Acting Secretary of Commerce, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, the House and Senate representatives of all signers, and the mayors of New England's three largest fishing ports.