WASHINGTON – April 15, 2011 — Massachusetts Congressmen Barney Frank, John Tierney and Bill Keating together with Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) released a letter they sent jointly on Thursday to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, asking Commerce to exercise its jurisdiction over growing private markets in Allowable Catch Entitlements.
Recently, a private market for catch share allocations, ACExchange has mailed advertisements to fishermen to promote its service, which facilitates the online sale, purchase or transfer of fishing rights. This novel marketplace for scarce catch share allocations currently seems to be unregulated.
In their letter, the legislators express their concern that an unregulated market for catch shares could take advantage of buyers and sellers, and that without proper rules in place fishermen would have no mechanism for voicing complaint or gaining restitution. They ask Secretary Locke to move quickly to investigate such markets in order to prevent abuse.
The letter also calls into question the Commerce Department’s overall vision for the catch share program and how it would ultimately function. The authors ask the Secretary, “Did the Department envision such a marketplace when it created the catch share system in the Northeast fishery?”
Read the letter from the Congressmen to Secretary Locke.
View the postcard solicitation from ACE Exchange to fishermen (Front)
View the postcard solicitation from ACE Exchange to fishermen (Reverse)