Tag Archives: inspector general
NOAA audit questions Wespac’s grant award for DLNR
An audit by the Inspector General of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found questionable expenditures of $1.23 million by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, and includes the citation of a sole-source contract of $344,525 by the CNMI’s Department of Lands and Natural Resources for a fishing vessel and training services. In addition to the $1,237,671 in questioned costs, the audit, which was released last week,,, In its comments to the audit, the council disagreed that it did not follow the competitive procurement requirements for the contracts where sole-source justification were provided. >click to read< 08:57
Connecticut lawmakers call on inspector general to investigate fishing regulations
U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., along with U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Second District, on Tuesday called on the inspector general of the Department of Commerce to investigate what they call an inequity in regulations that puts New England fishermen at a disadvantage. “We write to raise a growing concern of our constituents in the fishing industry who are facing extreme economic hardship related to the structure of fisheries management across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic,” wrote Blumenthal, Murphy and Courtney. “On several occasions during town halls and meetings in Connecticut with many of the fishermen who operate in the state, we have repeatedly heard concerns that black sea bass, summer flounder, and scup have migrated northward, but the state-by-state allocations for these species still reflect historical numbers when they were in greater abundance in the mid-Atlantic,” the lawmakers wrote. Read the rest here 18:53
Fed probe of NOAA rules due in November – By Richard Gaines GloucesterTimes.com
The U.S. Commerce Department’s inspector general expects to make public in November a procedural review of how NOAA and its regional fishery management councils make rules governing the fishing industry. 
The review of procedures that go into the setting rules and regulations for fisheries was undertaken in January at the request of Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, and amid concerns that non-governmental environmental organizations were given undue influence over fisheries mandates and limits.
“Our review of fishery management councils and rulemaking will be conducted in phases and result in interim reports produced at several intervals,” said Ann C. Eilers, the principal assistant inspector general for audit and evaluation, in a release dated Jan. 10. “In this phase of the review, we will evaluate the role of NOAA and the fishery management councils in the fishery rulemaking process and the transparency of the rulemaking process.”
”We are anticipating having a report ready for the public in November,” Clark Reed, spokesman for the inspector general, said Friday in a telephone interview.
The impetus for the request by Tierney and Frank, they said in a letter to Inspector General Todd Zinser dated Aug. 17, 2011, was the “high degree of mistrust” that existed in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its subsidiary agencies by the fishing industry. Read more http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1709876008/Fed-probe-of-NOAA-rules-due-in-November
