December 14, 2012 — The removal of an extreme environmentalist from this position — and one has to assume Lubchenco was removed, since just a few weeks ago it seemed she was gunning for another four years at NOAA — is a good sign for our long-suffering fishing industry.
"Ding Dong! The Witch is dead!"
Area fishermen — those few that are left, that is — must be dancing around like the Munchkins in "The Wizard of Oz" after finding out that the hated Jane Lubchenco would finally be leaving as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Her four-year reign as chief administrator of the department that regulates commercial fishing was marked by scandal over law enforcement and by lawsuits over fishery management and ended with a national fishery disaster declaration by the U.S. Commerce Department in September.
An investigation of NOAA by the Commerce Department revealed systemic abuses of authority that created a "dysfunctional relationship" between NOAA and the fishing industry. Citing reports of "booze cruise" excursions by NOAA fisheries agents aboard a pleasure boat bought with fishermen's fine money and allegations that the agency's chief of law enforcement had shredded documents amid the probe, an exasperated Sen. Scott Brown demanded back in February: "What does it take to get fired from NOAA?"
Apparently, it takes a lot.
Lubchenco survived the "booze cruise" scandal, the heart of which took place before she took the wheel at NOAA. She survived the Dale Jones shredding scandal, never taking any substantive, punitive action against the fisheries law enforcement director. She survived her attack on New England's groundfishing fleet through her imposition of catch shares and so-called sector cooperative management. And she survived repeated calls from the state's congressional delegation over the last 2½ years that she step down or be fired.
Defiant to the end, she thumbed her nose at the fishermen she put out of business with a departing comment that listed her so-called achievements, including "returning fishing to profitability."
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times