Tag Archives: dysfunction of the law enforcement
Lubchenco leaves NOAA, ‘disaster’ behind
Jane Lubchenco’s provocative tenure as NOAA administrator ended Thursday, three years, 11 months and nine days after it began, with the groundfishery she promised to save in an apparent death spiral – Read more here
Probe cites wrongs by NOAA prosecutors
In reviewing the case against Riley and Saludi, Swartwood wrote that, in seeking a $4.74 million penalty, Juliand and MacDonald intervened with a prospective buyer of their businesses; they also charged Riley and Saludi a penalty 17 times for a single allegation of “interference” with law enforcement — a charge that Swartwood dismissed as false. Once they learned of the potential sale, they immediately wrote up the huge penalty and contacted the buyer, actions Swartwood concluded involved “an intention to intimidate.” Underpinning the actions of NOAA’s agents and litigators was a long history and widespread knowledge that the U.S. Coast Guard administrative law judges would side with NOAA. Read more here
NOAA administrator to step down; some actions sparked controversy. hee hee yeah!
![environmental-watchdog[1]](https://fisherynation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/environmental-watchdog1.jpg)
“Under her leadership, NOAA has focused on restoring fisheries to sustainability and profitability, restoring oceans and coasts to a healthy state, ensuring continuity of the nation’s weather and other environmental satellites, developing a weather-ready nation, promoting climate science and delivering quality climate products, strengthening science and ensuring scientific integrity at NOAA and delivering the highest quality science, services and stewardship possible,” the administration said. “Healthy oceans and coasts and a nation prepared for sever weather, disasters and climate change are keys to economic recovery and prosperity.” Wow, just, wow. Read more!
Remember this guy? “Gloucester, New Bedford Mayors foolishly endorsing crazies in New England” a few fisheries malcontents??
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton (Editorial Comment) – June 15, 2011 A
Here is our editorial today, and a video.
Gloucester, New Bedford Mayors foolishly endorsing crazies in New England while the industry thrives, sickness has descended on the political class in New England that has so tied themselves to a few fisheries malcontents that they have lost sight of how they might really support their industry. Read and watch the video
Editorial: Feds cannot allow exiting NOAA chief any transition role
There c
an be no celebration, only a sense of profound relief over the resignation and coming exit of Jane Lubchenco as chief administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And that sense of relief should not allow either commercial fishermen or our federal lawmakers to relax their guards between now and the February date when Lubchenco will formally bow out of her role. Indeed, the downside of Lubchenco’s plan to leave her six-figure post is that the Department of Commerce is essentially allowing her to do so on her own terms as if she should have had any choice after her policies reduced one of America’s oldest and most noble small-business industries to an admitted state of “economic disaster” in New England during her four short years at the helm. Read More
Commerce secretary: Return $544K in fish fines – Bloomberg
BOSTON (AP) — The acting U.S. Commerce Secretary on Friday ordered federal regulators to return about $544,000 in unjust fines collected from 14 fishermen or fishing businesses, most of whom worked Northeast waters. New Bedford fishing boat owner Carlos Rafael, who will receive $17,500 back after Blank’s order, said he’s pleased to get anything, given the industry’s ongoing struggles. But he said the bigger victory is accountability for fisheries’ officers. “Even if I didn’t get any money, the world is watching them,” he said. “Before nobody was watching them. … Before they were like the Gestapo. Before you were (automatically) guilty, the party was over.” http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-12-14/commerce-secretary-return-544k-in-fish-fines
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE SPECIAL MASTER CONCERNING APPLICATIONS FOR REVIEW OF NOAA ENFORCEMENT ACTION
Click for The Report
Update: Lubchenco leaving NOAA, says she ‘returned fishing to profitability’
Her departure from the Obama administration will end a four-year regimen that promised revitalization of the fisheries via a new economic system based on privatization known as catch shares but instead produced a declared fisheries disaster in the Northeast and a spontaneous resistance by industry all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x2120615228/Breaking-Lubchenco-leaving-NOAA
Lubchenco departure fuels hope for change in fishing rules
I’m happy for everyone here that this has transpired. It was but a few short weeks ago that Lubchenco wanted another four years as head of NOAA.
“There is so much more yet to do, and I want to do everything possible to make [it] happen,” she tells ScienceInsider. ScienceInsider traveled to Monterey, California, last week to attend a scientific conference on ocean acidification, where this wide-ranging interview with Lubchenco took place.” http://news.sciencemag.org/sci…
This tells me she was cut loose, and the “Singing My Own Praise Song” that includes twenty verses of success malarkey was sung by NOAA’s Milli Vanilli.
The question for fishermen and industry is, do we let them push another destructive leader into the slot, or do we for once push for someone trustworthy and credible, as one united front?
Whom would be the one person known to this industry that would fit this criteria?
I, like many of you have read damn near everything printed, anywhere I could find it, and of all the names that meet the criteria may not, for a multitude of reasons be interested, but I’m going to throw it out there and gauge the response.
Dr.Brian Rothschild.
This man is more than qualified, and could assemble a nucleus of trustworthy team members that could restore the trust destroyed by decades of mismanagement.
Magnuson will be reauthorized in 2016.
Who do YOU want in charge.
Jane Lubchenco to leave NOAA in Feburary – Jellyfish Jane’s Heady Top Twenty List (to be discected)
We’ve ta
ckled some big challenges together. Through an emphasis on transparency,
integrity, innovation, team work and communication, we have made significant
progress on multiple fronts. As you know, NOAA’s breadth is one of our greatest
challenges, but it’s also our great strength. Both are in evidence below. Our
notable progress includes (in no particular order!):
Salt of the Sea Video Trailer
Filmed aboard several independently owned/operated commercial fishing boats in the Northeast, Salt of the Sea juxtaposes the working fishermen’s perspective on regulations with key players in Federal fishery management. Topics include NOAA’s lost $48 million scandal, inaccurate Cod fish quotas, and overzealous enforcement. http://www.saltofthesea.tv/salt-of-the-sea-trailer.html www.facebook.com/saltofthesea
IG cites NOAA for lack of response – implies clearly that NOAA officials are showing insufficient interest in resolving these problems.
“We are 
currently reviewing NOAA’s controls and processes surrounding fisheries rulemaking as the first phase of our assessment of transparency and the rule of fishery councils in rulemaking,” the Zinser report states. “An effective regulatory environment requires a fair and transparent rulemaking process. Our review will consider the interactions among federal officials, fishing industry members, and non-government organizations in the development of fishing regulations.”
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x520558903/IG-cites-NOAA-for-lack-of-response
Subcommittee Pushes DOC to Release Judge’s Review of NOAA Fishery Enforcement Cases
Dec 6, 2012 Washington DC – Today in a letter to the Department of Commerce (DOC), Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Paul Broun, M.D. (R-GA) requested the release of two unredacted reports, authored by Judge Charles B. Swartwood, reviewing potential abuses by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) personnel toward individuals in the fishing industry. http://science.house.gov/press-release/subcommittee-pushes-doc-release-judge%E2%80%99s-review-noaa-fishery-enforcement-cases
‘What is NOAA trying to hide?’
In the latest letter, which the Times obtained, Broun wrote that “by law, NOAA must comply with citizen requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act within 20 working days. I shouldn’t have to remind you that a congressional committee with jurisdiction over NOAA is afforded greater access than that of citizens under FOIA.” Lubchenco’s spokeman Scott Smullen emailed the Times that “we will soon provide an answer to the congressman.”
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x2120610000/What-is-NOAA-trying-to-hide
Editorial: What does it take for criminal probe of NOAA actions? It has reached the point at which it must be considered a criminal obstruction of justice.
For Buckso
n and NOAA in general to spend even a dime on this kind of bogus PR when they and the Commerce Department continue to refuse release of the so-called Swartwood II report – a 550-page follow-up report delving deeper into 66 additional cases of excessive NOAA enforcement — is beyond hypocritical. It has reached the point at which it must be considered a criminal obstruction of justice. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x2120604507/Editorial-What-does-it-take-for-criminal-probe-of-NOAA-actions
Election alters fishing’s landscape GDT.- Barney’s Gone. Scott’s Gone. Huge Ramification’s, and they ain’t good.
“Elizabeth Warren will be the champion of the fishing industry,” Ferrante predicted in an interview Wednesday. “She has experience up against Wall Street, big oil, and lost the chance to open the consumer financial protection bureau because of her feuding with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner when Obama refused to submit her name for Senate confirmation.http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x1499661062/Election-alters-fishings-landscape
millionaires and billionaires…beep…..millionaires and billionaires…beep…..
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
The Report that has not been released, and won’t be until after the election. THE FREE PRESS
The Swartwood II Report Justice that is deserved, will continue to be denied until after the election, but why? The investigation has been completed, but not released, in spite of the demands of many elected officials from both parties. There is something about this report that is keeping (Acting) Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank from releasing the514 page report on the follow-up investigation by Special Master Charles Swartwood of NOAA enforcement abuses of fishermen and fishing associated businesses. Swartwood II was completed in March, 2012 and delivered to the Commerce Department. A spokesman for Commerce explained this is “to gather more information regarding issues identified in the second Swartwood report.” I’m curious to understand the need for Commerce to gather “more information” that won’t be added to Swartwood II.http://bore-head007.newsvine.com/_news/2012/10/31/14809392-the-report-that-has-not-been-released-and-wont-be-until-after-the-election-the-free-press
Outdoors: Politicians friendly to fisherman sometimes do them no favors. Do me a favor. Stick with writing about moose, will ya?
The Senate race in Massachusetts could affect our region’s fish resources. In televised messages, Sen. Scott Brown tells us that our commercial fishermen (my son is one of them) need more help, that they’ve been over-regulated, excessively fined and unfairly punished. Brown is essentially echoing the same message against commercial fishing regulations that Mitt Romney earlier expressed at a campaign event in April in Portsmouth, N.H., trying to convince voters that protective policies choke small business growth. The two Republican politicians’ solution to deregulate the fishing industry could actually hurt it. Commercial fishermen like Adam Smith, who was forced out of the industry, confides he couldn’t make a living with current regulations. But the real reason he and others like him are out of business is that there aren’t enough fish. Read more.http://www.telegram.com/article/20121026/COLUMN10/110269768/1009/SPORTS#.UIqUoIXGDxQ
Fish report release unlikely before elections By Richard Gaines Staff Writer Gloucester Daily Times
The Obama administration, through its Commerce Department and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has declined to respond to inquiries as to whether it would release before the Nov. 6 election a special investigator’s set of case studies into allegations of abuse and excesses against American fishermen by federal law enforcers still insulated and protected by top Commerce and NOAA officials. Numerous telephone and email questions over the past month to the acting commerce secretary, Rebecca Blank, General Counsel Cameron Kerry, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and her chief counsel, Lois Schiffer, have been ignored. Read More.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1133190572/Fish-report-release-unlikely-before-elections
Why would US Commerce hold back Swartwood II until after the election? Are they complicit?
Why will this administration continue to obstruct justice and not release this report? It is complicit. The Obama Administrations Commerce Department has chosen to involve itself in this perverse abomination.
We are all aware of the gooey details of Administrative Law Judge Joseph Ingolia, pressing Special Master Swartwood to alter his report to cover up details that have shown theUSCG ALJ was involved in a despicable kangaroo court cash grab, all but guaranteeing that Dale Jones’ All Star cast of “Special Agents” and Chuck Juliand would build up a $100 million dollar slush fund, and rifle through half of that on cars planes, and video games, while Andy sold merchandise on E-Bay with his GI phone. Andy should be re scrutinized.
When Lubchenco requested the investigation, she had the chance to fix, but she chose not to.
“The notes and emails to Swartwood coordinating the meeting reflect the active involvement of Cam Kerry, chief counsel for the Commerce Department, and his deputy Geovette Washington, as well as Monica Medina, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco’s principal deputy. Their initiative was aimed at clearing the reputation of the Coast Guard judges via the secret meeting.”
She chose to manipulate, and her Gulf BP oil dripping hands are all over this. Cover up. Secret meetings. Business as usual. Don’t rock the NOAA boat. Blow it out of the water. It’s beyond time for a full dismantling of this agency and Jane Lubchenco’s firing. As always,
ABOLISH CATCH SHARES NOW!
Editorial: Affront to justice on fishing report demands criminal probe Gloucester Daily Times
Congressman John Tierney is certainly right to continue to step up the push urging Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank to release the extended special investigator’s report citing 66 case studies of likely
enforcement abuses by NOAA officials on the fishing industry, as he did in a letter last week.
Yet he, Senators Scott Brown and John Kerry and other Massachusetts federal lawmakers should be well aware by now that neither Blank, NOAA chief administrator Jane Lubchenco, or — therefore, by extension — the Obama White House gives two hoots what any lawmaker says or does regarding the second report culled and filed seven months ago now by retired judge and former Massachusetts Ethics Commission chief Charles B. Swartwood III. And it’s clear that Blank and the ever-defiant Lubchenco have no intention of releasing a report without doctoring it,,,,,,,,,,Read More http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x1684127207/Editorial-Affront-to-justice-on-fishing-report-demands-criminal-probe
Fisherynation thanks Ray Lamont, Editor, Gloucester Daily Times
Ray, thank you for keeping this obscene issue in the mainstream in the persuit of justice.
October 13, 2012
Why Did My Newspaper Do That? Keeping up pressure — and coverage — of overdue report
Why Did My Newspaper Do That? Ray LamontGloucester Daily TimesThe Gloucester Daily TimesSat Oct 13, 2012, 12:00 AM EDT
Our front page today includes a story about the latest update regarding the so-called second Swartwood report — essentially the findings of an in-depth look by a special investigator into some 66 cases of alleged abuse and excessive enforcement by NOAA policing personnel against New England and other Northeast fishermen. By my count, and according to our archives, this is the 16th news story on the report, which was completed and submitted to the Department of Commerce in March. And there have been a handful of editorials about its status as well. Yet the basic core nugget of news is the same – that Commerce officials still have not released the report, and will not provide a time frame for when they will. So is it really news? If there is, on the most basic level, no hard news to update, is it even worth updating? Why, you might ask, would your community’s newspaper keep doing that?,,,,,,,,,,,,Read More
Tierney pushes for shielded NOAA report- Kerry said he “has been assured” the administration is working to bring out Swartwood II. Yeah, right.
Congressman John Tierney Friday pressed Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank to release what is widely believed within industry and legal circles to be an explosive set of 66 case studies into possible law enforcement abuses of the fishing industry completed and delivered by a special judicial master nearly seven months ago……..A week ago, a spokeswoman for Sen. John Kerry said he “has been assured” the administration is working to bring out Swartwood II out at the earliest possible date” after making sure it is “comprehensive.”http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1684126211/Tierney-pushes-for-shielded-NOAA-report
Editorial: Feds cannot allow altering of NOAA abuse report Gloucester Daily Times – Another Shameful Obama Administration Blunder
After sitting more than six months on a second, in-depth probe report from special investigator Robert B. Swartwood III, the word that Acting Commerce Secretary Roberta Blank has asked her staff “to gather more information regarding issues” spotlighted in Swartwood’s report on 66 cases of alleged abuse by NOAA enforcement personnel against the commercial fishing industry at least shows some long-overdue movement. Yet, it’s also troubling to learn that Blank expects to “use that information to finalize her decision memorandum,” as Blank’s press secretary, Marni Goldberg, reported in an email to the Times last week. While Blank may indeed be “completing her analysis” of the second Swartwood report,,,,,,,Read More
Second NOAA abuse report remains tabled
US Commerce. The Armpit of the Obama Administration
Approximately six months have passed since Special Master Charles B. Swartwood III’s second volume of case studies into alleged violations of fishermen’s rights by NOAA law enforcement was completed and submitted to the Department of Commerce for redacting non-public information, deciding on reparations and making the document public…..But there would never have been a Swartwood I if administrator Jane Lubchenco and her chief counsel Lois Schiffer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had had their way in 2010…..Schiffer, who joined Lubchenco’s senior staff, had written a memo to her describing an approach, which Lubchenco quietly adopted, to ignore fixable miscarriages of justice and build a reformed enforcement system without looking back. An environmental activist, Schiffer’s reputation for executive privilege dates from her time with the Justice Department in the Clinton administration.
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x240468846/Second-NOAA-abuse-report-remains-tabled
Sometimes all it takes is a comment to remind me of why I started doing this. Activism.
An article in the Washinton Examiner was posted. “A fisherman sues the feds for acting like crooks” August 16, 2012 by Ron Arnold. From the article: As raw December 1998 swept over the Atlantic off New Bedford, Mass., scallop fisherman Larry Yacubian brought around his boat, Independence, hailed by the Coast Guard. The officers who boarded his fishing vessel didn’t tell Yacubian it was a setup to coerce out of him a ruinous fine and to destroy his life so thoroughly he could never get it back…… Two weeks ago, Captain Yacubian filed the lawsuit that may well restore his money and his life after nearly 15 years of gut-wrenching bludgeoning by the NOAA.
I was going through my emails and saw this [email protected] , Kligo, First: How is the government responsible for a case 15 years ago. Second: Do you think once a government changes that everybody is fired and every position refilled with “conforming” ones? Third: Illegal presidency?
I did respond and linked some articles that he needed to read.
http://www.fishnet-usa.com/NOAA_OLE_GCEL%20Shakedown.htm
http://www.fishnet-usa.com/Decade_of_law_enforcement.pdf
http://washingtonexaminer.com/a-fisherman-sues-the-feds-for-acting-like-crooks/article/2505139
Activism. Live it. Be it.
STEVE URBON: Fisherman calls his enforcement options “starting a payment plan with the anti-Christ.”
September 14, 2012 — Fisherman Stephen Morris still recalls when the Coast Guard “ruined Christmas” in 2005. He was captain of the dragger Jessica and Susan on the way home after a long December trip when the Coast Guard radioed that it wanted to board the boat for an inspection. If you have been paying any amount of attention at all to what has been going on in recent years, you know what’s coming.,,,,,,,,,
