Tag Archives: Eileen Sobeck
Playing Politics? NOAA: Red snapper data can’t be shared with states
A letter written late last month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicates that if red snapper are ultimately removed from federal oversight to be managed by the five Gulf states, much of the data currently collected on the species by NOAA — including stock assessments — would not be shared with the states. The letter dated Sept. 22 from Eileen Sobeck to Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Charlie Melancon contradicts what Rep. Garret Graves — the author of H.R. 3094 that would strip red snapper from federal oversight and award it to the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority — has said about how potential costs associated with stock assessments and data collection for snapper will be covered if his legislation becomes law. But Graves said the letter is just another in a long list of allegations brought by the LDWF in an attempt to derail the bill. “The reality is this: NOAA is going to go out there and do fish surveys, and they don’t have any idea what type of fish is going to come up in that net or on that long line, so for them to suggest that they’re going to pretend that some fish isn’t there and another fish is there is completely bogus,” Graves said. “And if NOAA is going to jump in and play these political games with Charlie (Melancon), have at it. Y’all enjoy your next two and a half months of playing games because y’all are gone. It’s just continued silliness and obviously has no merit.” Read the story here 17:28
Is Environmental Defense Fund Controlling Louisiana’s Department Of Wildlife And Fisheries?
By now our readers are surely familiar with the very strange behavior of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries secretary Charlie Melancon with respect to his opposition to a bill brought by most of Louisiana’s congressional delegation that would put individual Gulf states, rather than the federal government, in control of the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. If you’re not up to speed on Melancon’s antics and escalating feud with a key member of the delegation, Baton Rouge congressman Garret Graves, we offered a primer here. Most of the speculation you may have seen involves the idea that several of the larger commercial fishing concerns along the Gulf coast, who benefit from a crony-capitalist scheme wherein shares of the red snapper market have been allocated based on incumbency – the owners of those concerns have been given the moniker “Sea Lords” since the red snapper catch largely resembles a feudal system of sorts – have essentially bought Melancon and his opposition to the bill Graves is proposing is a product of that purchase. Graves’ idea to put the state in charge of the red snapper fishery would break up the current allocation scheme and put the Sea Lords out of commission in Louisiana, or at least make their incumbency a matter which would be up for grabs. Read the story here 08:10
Bipartisan Congressional Push for Summer Flounder Assessment
In a bipartisan letter submitted to Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eileen Sobeck on Thursday, members of the 
stressed the importance of scheduling a benchmark assessment for summer flounder in 2017. Citing the socioeconomic value of the commercial and recreational summer flounder fishery and the looming quota reductions proposed for 2017 and 2018 due in part to a lack of data, Rep. Tom MacArthur and 4 other representatives indicate that any delay in the assessment of summer flounder “would be a major mistake and threaten the health of the summer flounder population as well as the economy of the communities the fishery supports.” Read the story here 11:56
Top fisheries regulator blends into the crowd at Working Waterfront Festival
In the closing hours of a picture-perfect day for the New Bedford Waterfront Festival, about 15 pretty important people were meeting in a stuffy, windowless third-floor conference room up three flights of stairs at the State Pier building. NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eileen Sobeck. She was here at the invitation of Mayor Mitchell, and the arrangements were done pretty quietly. Former Mayor John Bullard was there because, as he is now regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries in the Northeast, Sobek is his boss. He deferred all questions to her. Read the rest here 07:16
