Tag Archives: Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank
Senator Murkowski Grills acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank on Observer Policy
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski questioned acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank on several ocean policy issues facing Alaskan coastal communities during a Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Subcommittee hearing last week. Topics ranged from the federal fisheries observer program to Japanese tsunami debris clean up, among other things. continued – audio
Frank backs White House fishery push
Recently retired Congressman Barney Frank said Thursday he would “absolutely” be willing to go to the White House as an advisor to and friend of Sen. Elizabeth Warren to seek President Obama’s support for executive orders and congressional appropriations to relieve the Northeast groundfishery disaster.
Frank, a staunch critic of Lubchenco’s policies almost from the start of her NOAA reign, described her in a telephone interview as an intellectually dishonest environmental zealot and enemy of the fishing industry. Read more
Senators press for fish disaster aid – Northeast groundfishery, blue crab and oyster fishery of Mississippi, Chinnock salmon fishery of Alaska
”We believe that it is the responsibility of the administration, after declaring these disasters, to request the funding to respond to them,” the senators wrote. “Until funding is made available for these declarations, the affected fishermen will continue to struggle during a critical time of need. For those that are suffering and the fishing communities they live in, time is of the essence. They simply cannot wait for another funding cycle for help to arrive.”
Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Charles Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand of New York, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Mark Begich of Alaska,Elizabeth Warren and William Cowan, Susan Collins of Maine, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska., Independent Angus King.
In the House, Congressman John Tierney, whose district includes all of Cape Ann, announced Friday an agreement with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on a different solution the same problem. Joining him in the initiative were Congressmen Ed Markey, William Keating, and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican, and David Cicilline and Jim Langevin, Rhode Island Democrats.
Read more here
BREAKING NEWS Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank To Release Swartwood II Today Updates as they arrive.
Senator John Kerry stated “The release of this second report is an important step. I’d heard so many horror stories from our fishermen which is why I requested this investigation three years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an investigatory process like this go back eighteen years to right wrongs and dig into the history of multiple Administrations. Obviously it’s again confirmed and exposed the stories so many fishermen brought to me in the first place, and while it can’t undo the damage that was done to peoples’ livelihoods, I still believe that getting the truth out and providing economic relief and reparations is key to repairing the damage in the relationship between our fishermen and enforcement authorities.
“Special Master Swartwood has done a great service by shedding light on what happened in a very dark chapter in New England. It would’ve been inexcusable to just sweep it under the carpet. Secretary Blank’s ongoing efforts to provide reparations to fishermen who were abused is very important, as is her determination to make sure that the culture at NOAA has changed and never, ever reverts back to the ugliness of this period.”
Editorial: Any fishery aid should come from NOAA, Commerce – mad science and built-to-fail catch share management policies
Lumping in fishermen’s economic disaster aid with money going to recovery from a true natural disaster would miscast the fishery disaster as some sort of natural catastrophe as well, and it’s not. The New England and Northeast fishery disaster is a man-made, intentional economic collapse that was not just caused, but truly engineered by NOAA and administrator Jane Lubchenco, who, still propped up by the White House, have driven Gloucester’s, New England’s and America’s own fishermen right out of their jobs and their way of life while the president himself hypocritically proclaims he wants “jobs, jobs, jobs” for American working families.http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x2120610726/Editorial-Any-fishery-aid-should-come-from-NOAA-Commerce
