March 19, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Jim Kendall chuckled as he attempted to grasp the words to describe a letter crafted by the Environmental Defense Fund, which it sent to NOAA on Thursday.
When the words finally came to him, the former fisherman and current executive director of New Bedford Seafood Consulting disagreed with most of the three pages of content.
“They go and paint Carlos (Rafael’s) whole fleet with a scarlet letter, really,” Kendall said.
The letter pitches two strategies to NOAA in handling the permits and punishment linked to Rafael, who is serving a 46-month sentence in federal prison for falsely labeling fishing quota.
EDF suggests that NOAA should require multiple buyers of Rafael’s assets and require monitoring of his vessels while also establishing funding for the monitoring.
Kendall disagrees and said requiring monitoring works against EDF’s first request of stipulating multiple buyers.
“Who’s going to pay for it? If you were to buy one of these boots, now you’re saddled with this additional obligation?” Kendall said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times