N.C. Congressman Walter Jones has called for an overhaul of U.S. Fisheries law enforcement, “The IG has confirmed what North Carolina fishermen have long known to be true: federal fisheries law enforcement is out of control, terribly mismanaged and needs a major overhaul."
Washington, D.C. Jan. 21, 2010– Today U.S. Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC) called for a major overhaul of federal fisheries law enforcement after the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Commerce released the findings of its 7-month investigation into the programs and operations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – the federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S. fishing laws. Today’s IG 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.
Among other things, the Inspector General 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”.
“It is appalling that a federal law enforcement agency is this poorly run,” said Congressman Jones. “Systemic problems as outlined in this report cannot continue to be ignored. This Administration needs to act immediately to overhaul the policies, procedures, and personnel responsible for this mess. I will do everything in my power to see to it that they do just that.”