Daily Archives: November 1, 2012
Date set for rockfish lawsuit hearing – To my Alaska Connection – ABOLISH CATCH SHARES NOW!
U.S. District Court judge Marsha Pechman has announced that a long-awaited hearing on the fate of the new Kodiak rockfish catch share plan will take place Nov. 19. Pechman, the chief judge in the district court for western Washington, will hear the case that pits Trident Seafoods, Ocean Beauty, Westward Seafoods and North Pacific Seafoods against the federal government. The processors contend that the rockfish program, which transitioned to full operation this year after a five-year pilot program, gives fishermen an unfair advantage in price negotiations. The key point of contention is a clause in the rockfish program that allows fishermen to freely shift among cooperatives that each deliver to a single processor. This allows fishermen to shift their deliveries to the processor offering the best price. Under the pilot program, fishermen were locked into a cooperative and could not shift.
Oh, go CRY ME A RIVER!!! Why is it the largest and most global fish corporations hate competition, want the ‘stability’ of restraints of trade, and hate to pay “the rational price” (natural prices) – while being given permanent access to public resources without paying a dime for them, just like the IFQ special interests in the Coops? We all know “why” … winners and losers, rich get richer … labor gets enslaved… (broken record, sing to choir, …yawn). I predict the judge will rule against the processors (and rightfully so) for their “un-American” filing. Next, we have to make sure Sen. Murkowski or some other crooked pol doesn’t slip new end-run language in an appropriations bill.
Court tries to tally money stolen from whaling commission – More Tails of the AFF Travel Fund?
Federal prosecutors said a former director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, who pleaded guilty in May to stealing commission funds, spent some of the more than $420,000 she embezzled on her and her husband’s gambling. “Some of the money is money that was consistent with (the commission’s) purpose but not technically approved by a particular grant,” Fitzgerald said. But Ahmaogak and her husband, former North Slope Borough Mayor George Ahmaogak, spent thousands of dollars gambling at casinos in the Caribbean, New Orleans and Las Vegas, according to Internal Revenue Service Special Agent Clinton Wight, who testified Wednesday. Maggie Ahmaogak made cash withdrawals with the commission’s credit card and received fraudulent reimbursements for hotel rooms or plane tickets during or just after the trips, which were paid for by the commission or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Wight said.
Federal fisheries enforcement and the 2012 election – a purposeful cover-up? By Nils Stolpe
Here are the facts.
Federal fisheries enforcement and the 2012 election – a purposeful cover-up?
Fact: Senator Scott Brown (Republican) and candidate Elizabeth Warren (Democrat) are in a close race for one of the two Massachusetts seats in the United States Senate.
Fact: A majority in the United States Senate, which is now in the hands of the Democratic Party, is considered by many pundits to be “up for grabs” in the rapidly approaching election, and the outcome in Massachusetts will be critical in determining which party controls the Senate – and the United States Congress – starting in 2013.
Fact: Senator Scott Brown has been an ardent supporter of the commercial fishing industry and has been particularly outspoken about an ongoing investigation of corruption at the highest levels of the enforcement branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Fact: New Englanders in general and residents of Massachusetts in particular tend to be extremely supportive of their fishing communities and of the fishing heritage that has played such a significant role in shaping the character of their coastline.
Fact: A 514 page report on the follow-up investigation by Special Master Charles Swartwood of NOAA enforcement abuses of fishermen and fishing associated businesses centered in New England and primarily in Massachusetts was completed and delivered to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce in March of 2012.
Fact: In spite of strong bipartisan Congressional prodding to make the report public, prodding in which Senator Scott Brown has assumed a leadership role, (Acting) Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank has refused to do so. To her credit Elizabeth Warren, his opponent, has been seeking the release of the report as well.
Fact: Massachusetts Senator John Kerry’s brother, Cameron Kerry, is general counsel of the Department of Commerce. READ MORE
BP Oil Spill – Time to Settle?
Should Gulf fishermen settle?
http://www.thevindicator.com/news/article_69f9ccdc-2427-11e2-9656-0019bb2963f4.html
Slidell seafood processor arrested, accused of not reporting purchases from commercial fishers
The owner of a Slidell seafood processing company who was arrested in Baton Rouge on felony charges of failing to report purchases of thousands of pounds of seafood was charged with similar misdemeanors earlier this year in St. Tammany Parish, court records show. Gary Michael Bauer, owner of Pontchartrain Blue Crab, is now facing 18 counts of filing false public records and 18 counts of injuring public records, according to the Wildlife and Fisheries Department.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/slidell_seafood_processor_arre.html
Alaska Editorial: Mind the gaps
This week in Anchorage, the state brought in experts to identify the gaps in the draft plan. They received some useful comments. Reviewers urged that more attention be given to ocean acidification, climate change and the ecological effects of the Bering Sea pollock-fishing industry. They also encouraged research into how wild salmon populations are affected by the annual release of millions of fish from commercial hatcheries.http://juneauempire.com/opinion/2012-11-01/alaska-editorial-mind-gaps
