Tag Archives: conflict of interest
Wallop Breaux funding: the rest of the story!
Folks – I’ve been yammering on and on about the Wallop-Breaux program, an excise tax on boating and fishing gear and non-commercial marine use fuel sales. At the same time I’ve been focusing on a potential conflict of interest because 1/3 of the votes on the eight regional fishery management councils and 1/3 of the total votes on the three marine fisheries commissions (Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific) are cast by each of the states’ senior marine fisheries administrator. Why a potential conflict? Because, as the attached table demonstrates, the various state fisheries programs receive a major part of their funding each year from Wallop-Breaux. >click to read< By Nils Stolpe, FishnetUSA 19:12
Looking Back: Nov.7, 1998 – “Conflict of interest, and fishery management”, By Nils Stolpe
This Looking Back features Nil’s insightful research into the funding source of fishery management bodies in the USA. This article was written in 1998, and the funding sources are still the same, although the monetary amounts are certainly different now. In light of the recent ASMFC /MAFMC allocation steal, covered in dec 20th posting on Fisherynation by Jim Lovgren, [who mistakenly stated that the management funding was by SK money, which is an import-based tax, it is actually Wallop-Breaux funding which is the tax on recreational gear and fuel]. This issue needs to see the light of day again, the conflict is clear, and now they’re using bad science against us. >click to read< 18:35
Retraction of flawed MPA study implicates larger problems in MPA science
A retraction is a Big Deal in science, especially from a prominent journal. What’s strange in this story is how the conflict of interest intersects with the science. The conflict of interest was apparent immediately upon publication, but it wasn’t until major problems in the underlying science were revealed that an investigation was launched, and the paper eventually retracted. But with increased press comes increased scrutiny. The critiques pointed out errors and impossible assumptions that strongly suggested the paper was inadequately peer reviewed. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) later determined that the person responsible for assigning Cabral et al.’s peer reviewers, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, had a conflict of interest. >click to read< 10:36
FISH-NL repeats call for FFAW-Unifor to disclose money paid by oil industry; potential union conflict ‘taints’ seismic research
“The question of conflict of interest taints everything the FFAW touches — including DFO’s recent research into the impact of seismic blasting on snow crab — for as long as the union refuses to open its books,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. A 2018 DFO paper — Effects of 2D seismic on the snow crab fishery — concluded seismic activity does not have a “significant” impact on commercially caught snow crab. The paper used data the FFAW-Unifor helped collect, a contribution acknowledged in the report. At the same time, the FFAW has refused to reveal details of its financial arrangements with the offshore oil and gas industry to address questions of conflict of interest in also representing inshore fish harvesters.>click to read<14:11
Tories ask ethics commissioner to probe fishery bid they say favours Liberal insiders
A Conservative MP is asking the federal ethics commissioner to investigate the bidding process that awarded a lucrative Arctic surf clam license to a group with Liberal links. In his letter to Mario Dion, the newly appointed ethics watchdog, Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty alleges the government’s effort to diversify ownership in the fishery — by clawing back part of an existing quota held by Clearwater Foods and handing it to a group with Indigenous representation — violates the Commons conflict of interest code because it enriches the brother of a sitting Liberal MP and a former Liberal MP.>click to read< 12:57
Fish and Wildlife Service official reportedly violated conflict of interest rules
Richard Ruggiero, chief of the Division of International Conservation at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, may have violated federal ethics rules by his involvement in agency grants that provided monetary benefit to a family member, according to a Feb. 20, 2018, Department of Interior Inspector General report. “We found that Ruggiero violated federal laws and regulations by participating in an FWS cooperative agreement that financially benefited his family member, and neither Ruggiero nor his family member disclosed their relationship in writing to the FWS,” the report said. >click to read< 17:22
A conflict of interest and possible corruption
Benguela Global, the fund manager that raised concerns about Capitec’s loan policies at the same time as Viceroy published a critical report on the bank, has made public its objection to recent developments at fishing company Oceana, suggesting the developments are a “related party transaction entailing a massive conflict of interest and potentially even laced with corruption”.,, In a nutshell, Oceana acquired 100% of US fishmeal producer Daybrook Fisheries in July 2015 for $382.3 million as part of its bid to diversify its operations and grow globally as there were few options remaining in South Africa. >click to read< 13:14
FFAW denies allegation of conflict of interest in relation to Hebron tow-out
The province’s fisheries union is scoffing at an allegation from a rival that it rewarded an influential enterprise owner by giving him a contract to escort the Hebron platform to sea. The Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ union is also defending its relationship with the oil and gas industry.,, The latest flare-up in tension between the FFAW and the Federation of Independent Seafood Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) relates to the recent tow-out from Trinity Bay of the Hebron platform. The two groups are locked in a bitter feud, with FISH-NL fighting to replace the FFAW as the official bargaining agent for inshore harvesters. click here to read the story 12:38:
FISH-NL: Snow-crab cuts another body blow to fishery; special allocation with links to FFAW should be cut immediately
The Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) says the province’s fishing industry took yet another body blow today with news that the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans cut the overall snow crab quota by 22 per cent. “Today’s news on snow crab, combined with last week’s almost 63 per cent cut to northern shrimp, spells disaster for the inshore fishery,” says Ryan Cleary, President of FISH-NL. “The very first cut in the total allowable catch (TAC) for snow crab on the tail of the Grand Banks in fishing zone 3N outside the 200-mile limit should be to the special interest allocation caught by the Katrina Charlene, the so-called ‘union boat,’ a quota whose origins are directly linked to the FFAW,” says Cleary. “First things first, the time has come for that conflict of interest to be acknowledged and the quota cancelled and added back to the allocations of independent harvesters.” Read the Press Release here 16:20
Call for overhaul of fish catch limits in wake of Geelong Star factory trawler controversy
On Friday it was revealed that the head of an advisory group on fishing quotas resigned because of concerns that a fellow member of the group had an “unacceptable” conflict of interest. Documents supplied to the ABC show the former committee chair, scientist Kirsten Davies, wanted the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to reconsider who can sit on panels that advise on fishing quotas for the Geelong Star. Part owner of the trawler, Gerry Geen, was an industry representative on the advisory panel. Read the rest here 11:39
