April 13, 2012 – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced its priorities for enforcing the nation's fishery laws in the coming year.
In the Northeast region, top priority is assigned to monitoring fish landings, enforcing reporting requirements and preventing harassment of fishery observers.
The document outlining the priorities was released this week. It is the culmination of a process that began with a National Enforcement Summit held in August 2010 in an effort to improve its enforcement program, according to NOAA.
"We have conducted a number of outreach and education events in order to help industry better understand regulations and to ensure we understand the issues they are facing and concerns they have," said Logan Gregory, a NOAA special agent, in an email to The Standard-Times.
NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement was criticized in an audit conducted by Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser in January 2010.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times.