Hooked Up!!! Sea lords and the secret votes that made them rich
The votes helped create the system that now allows 50 businesses and fishermen to control 81 percent of the nation’s commercial red snapper allocation. Those fishermen can make a total of $23 million every year. And the government gets nothing in return from the fishermen. “This is a public asset,” Congressman Garret Graves says. “You and I own this. The public owns this. You know, people always talk about [how] government needs to run like a business. Could you ever imagine a business saying, ‘Oh, here’s our inventory, and it’s free! You come in a grocery store, you take whatever you want.’ The vote predates Graves’ term in Washington. But last decade, Congress helped orchestrate it. The feds wanted to start what’s called an IFQ program, short for “individual fishing quota”. Fishermen would get an allocation to fish the entire year. Congress required three votes – first by a little-known public body called the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, an 11-member body that’s primarily appointed by the five Gulf states. After the Gulf Council vote, Congress also required two votes by the commercial fishermen who already were permitted to fish for red snapper in the Gulf. And those are the votes that the federal government won’t let us see. Video, read the story here 11:09
Surprise,Surprise,Surprise !! Environmental Defense Fund and all of their back room, Greedy maggot puppies still have a hold on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
I’m just an angry white man that wants to work hard and make an honest living. My lively-hood was stolen from me and hundreds of other fishermen in New England.
Time,money, patience and lies (poor stock conditions, over fishing,economic efficiency, safety etc) wins over owner operator and common sense every time.
Dose anyone really think small independent fishermen want to destroy their only way to provide for their families?
Environmental Defense Fund is the real anti American in the Catch Share, Individual Fishing Quota SCAM.
EDF and the scum fishermen who are within their ranks should be drawn and quartered. What they represent is absolute greed and absolute corruption. Any fishermen who claims to be with them should be blackballed at the least. At the most?……………..
David Festa
Referring to fishermen in the West coast halibut fishery prior to catch shares at the Milken Institute’s conference in early 2010, he said “…that’s not a full time job. All you have is essentially itinerant labor, that bounces around from job to job, it’s unskilled, it’s unprofessional, it’s low-paid, there’s high drug use, it’s a rough life. It’s romantic, um, you get great bar scenes in, um, you know the Perfect Storm, and George Clooney looks really sexy but, it’s uh, well, speaking, well, anyway, my wife says that. But the problem is it’s not a full time stable job.” Then, in talking about the same fishery after catch shares were instituted, “now you got a job, now you have professional fishermen, who many of them start to get degrees, go to college, advanced degrees in fishery biology and business (Mr. Festa has an advanced degree from Harvard), that begin to work on different various business plans…. they make good jobs they are full time, they live in the community they become, they stabilize the community.” (link)
At the Milken conference above, Mr. Festa advised attendees that investments in catch shares could realize up to a 400% return.
Environmental Defense Vice President for the West Coast and apparently lead EDF salesman for Jane Lubchenco’s catch shares program (link).
Member of President Obama’s Department of Commerce transition team.
Mr. Festa has taught with Jane Lubchenco (link) and Andrew Rosenberg (link) at Oregon State University.
http://www.fishtruth.net/Festa.htm
Someone was paying attention to the 400% thing!
John Bullard told groundfishermen in NE that no one is guaranteed a job forever, but these ITQs last forever! And you won’t even have to fish! This is in American. Like EDF.
Un American, Like EDF. As for the cheap shot artist Bullard, don’t even get me started.