Tag Archives: lubchenco-s-job-killing-agenda

Gov. gets deaf ear from White House on fisheries as Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama Dummies Up!

gdt iconValerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama, has declined to explain why the White House turned a deaf ear to the pleas of Gov. Deval Patrick for relief from what Patrick told her were “impending drastic cuts” in landings allowed the groundfishing fleet concentrated in his state. continued

Can the small family-owned boats survive or will the remaining fishermen wind up as sharecroppers for someone else’s fleet?

By Rich Eldred – BREWSTER —  Just as big eat the little fish in the sea, Cape Cod’s fishing fleet is being  swallowed by larger pockets that are buying the available quota of cod and other  catch. continued

 

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 here10172769-large

NOAA administrator to step down; some actions sparked controversy. hee hee yeah!

environmental-watchdog[1]“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!

Closed Areas need fed’s OK to open

warrenThe New England Fishery Management Council has voted to recommend giving commercial groundfishermen access to parts of five areas that have been closed to them for many years. The request to open closed areas to commercial fishing came days before the NOAA Science Center issued a report on the 2011 fishing year that contained the revelation that only 41 percent of allocated fish were landed in 2011.  Read More

NOAA study shows shrinking fleet – a perpetual struggle that will only be amplified in Fishing Year 2013,”

Keiley said she believes people are “frustrated” with the report because “they want to know two things:” “Are people making money … and how many people are working,” she said, “and those are two questions the report does not, and Salazar+MMS+Director+Testify+House+Hearing+enFuUMv-6cEcreally cannot answer directly.” She said she did not blame the Science Center because “they have presented everything they can.” “This is a situation where data is insufficient to provide the analysis people want,” she said. Keiley also pointed out that “revenue is not evenly distributed. The top 50 percent of vessels earned 90 percent of the total revenue, leaving the bottom 50 percent of vessels earning only 10 percent of the total revenue. Read More

Upbeat NOAA fishery report challenged

liars-all-arounds

NEW BEDFORD — To say that Richard Canastra didn’t quite believe an upbeat NOAA report on the state of the Northeast groundfish industry is to understate it.

“It’s a crock,” said Canastra, who co-owns the BASE seafood display auction. Only a few days ago he was telling regulators that this year might be the fleet’s “last hurrah.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration painted a sunny picture in a Dec. 26 report, saying that even with a smaller fleet, the catch was up, profits were up and total catch was up.

Canastra replied: “The headline looks great but when you look at it it’s just like the science. Everything NOAA does they try to cover up.”

There was also unanimous suspicion about the timing of the report, which was released the morning after Christmas, usually not a big news day. Read More

Flotsam and Jetsam – Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet USA December 19, 2012

According to Wikipedia“Flotsam is floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo. Jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is purposefully cast overboard or jettisoned to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore.”

They are used together to indicate potentially valuable materials floating on the seas’ surface.,This seems an apt title for periodic FishNets in which I address several issues that should be of value to anyone with an interest in oceans and fisheries in a somewhat abbreviated manner.

The forage fish fake out

Peter Baker gets a spanking.

And the Conservation Law Foundation is always there for the fishermen – just ask ‘em(Or better yet, ask a fisherman.)

Peter Shelley gets a spanking.

But then hope springs eternal

John Bullard steps up.

Jane Lubchenco – soon to be gone but not soon forgotten head of NOAA

So long, Dr Jane.

  http://www.fishnet-usa.com/Flotsam_Jetsam_2012.pdf   http://fishnet-usa.com/

The Big Green Money Machine – how anti-fishing activists are taking over NOAA  http://www.fishtruth.net/

Editorial: Feds cannot allow exiting NOAA chief any transition role

There cSalazar+MMS+Director+Testify+House+Hearing+enFuUMv-6cEcan 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

U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee-$64 billion disaster assistance bill-includes $150 million-Northeast groundfishery and three other states

The bill’s impetus was relief for the superstorm Sandy disaster, but lawmakers have added a variety of other disaster relief measures, including farm drought relief. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x1839366712/Some-Sandy-relief-for-fishermen

Update: Lubchenco leaving NOAA, says she ‘returned fishing to profitability’

Salazar+MMS+Director+Testify+House+Hearing+enFuUMv-6cEcStory PhotoStory PhotoHer 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

Seeded on Thu May 31, 2012 1:01 PM EDT (CNN)
“This is a really critical time for our fishermen’s economic situation, and I hope it’ll also be the moment when we begin a new era for our fishing communities in terms of their relationships and their dealing with NOAA,” he said in an email. “The next NOAA administrator can set a tone on Day One by proactively offering a seat at the table for our fishermen in the decision-making … .”

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 ta10172769-largeckled 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!):

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=b5nrgsdab&v=001FWOIEyOKRSIMH3wMajhwcmATzD9pu_8vt9sdLOd_XEbdXH79_i9ZsBzu8cqyycy1zTod_qzTc8SBqIM5kYZ6Q_j4u2EK6nDMpddnb9m48Ijmw1PL1r63zA%3D%3D

Reps seek to tie fishing boost to Sandy aid , Patrick blames the catch shares, Blank draws a blank blames “undetermined causes”

Congressman John Tierney and two colleagues today asked the House Appropriations Committee not to forget the Northeast groundfishing industry in the drafting of any disaster relief legislation for the Atlantic states ravaged in late October by superstorm Sandy. Patrick blamed the catch share system for the disaster, but Blank described it resulting from “undetermined causes” and diminishing stocks rather than government policies designed to remove a “sizable fraction” of the fleet, as NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco had,,,,,,http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1839363389/Reps-seek-to-tie-fishing-boost-to-Sandy-aid

Editorial: Federal quota caps needed to protect small-boat fishermen Gloucester Daily Times

Over a longer haul, that should mean the abolition and abandonment of the catch share system as we know it. But in the short term, that must mean clamping accumulation limits on the amount of quota any company can control, or taking other steps to ensure that smaller, independent fishermen are not driven out of business by their own government.

EDF’s Deputy regional director, N.E. Oceans program, Matt Mullin – Perveyor of Catch Share Porn

The Deputy Director writes a letter to the editor at the Gloucester Daily Times. In his letter he tries diverting the attention from the destruction Catch Shares has had on the New England fishing fleet, them proceeds to lecture about known issues that should be addressed, but I’ve heard nothing about rectification of these issues from EDF Letter: Catch shares are not behind fishery ‘disaster’ http://www.gloucestertimes.com/letters/x179000274/Letter-Catch-shares-are-not-behind-fishery-disaster

FLASHBACK! John Kerry – “Lubchenco is your friend,” February 2010 To leave the Fish Wars as Secretary of Defense?

Kerry released the following statement to the Times yesterday in response to a request about his position on Magnuson. “The status quo isn’t working, and I say that as someone who is passionate about the environment, but who can see plainly that people are hurting and there are legitimate issues that have to be fixed. “I’m going to be talking with fishing and environmental experts at the state and federal level to develop sustainable fisheries in New England and work with the New England delegation, as I always have, to keep federal assistance flowing into Massachusetts for our fishing families and to rebuild the fisheries.” http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x966804462/Kerry-to-fishermen-Lubchenco-your-friend

No offense Senator,,,,,,,,,,screw it, Senator Kerry, you thought then, as you do now, that its all about frittering out a few bucks to to the victims of President Obama’s US Commerce Department, the New England Fishing Industry. You have been ineffective Senator, and I’m done beating the drum for you. You have not delivered, Senator.

Please, John Kerry, just go away! http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1061174640

 

Editorial: Lack of fishing ‘disaster’ aid paints telling picture Gloucester Daily Times

That shouldn’t come as a surprise. This “disaster,” after all, is hardly due to natural causes or “dwindling stocks,” as Blank’s declaration tried to push off on fishermen, lawmakers and taxpayers. It is chiefly due to NOAA’s chief administrator Jane Lubchenco’s job-killing catch share management system, which has enabled a relatively few large-scale fishing operations to gobble up more and more shares of the allowable catch. That change alone drove more than 20 percent of Gloucester’s smaller, family-owned boats to the sidelines in catch shares’ first year, an economic disaster in its own right, and verified through NOAA’s own figures. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x121545279/Editorial-Lack-of-fishing-disaster-aid-paints-telling-picture

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…..

Presidential race radar never hit fishing crises

The crisis threatening the survival of Gloucester and other East Coast fishing communities — which have declined into officially declared disaster during the last four years — has not registered a blip during the 2012 national election campaign, even as voters go to the polls today. Neither Mitt Romney nor President Obama has paid a whit’s attention to an $331 million industry, though Obama has given silent support to his team at NOAA Fisheries, headed by Jane Lubchenco, over calls for her ouster from several fedral lawmakers. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x121541642/Presidential-race-radar-never-hit-fishing-crises

Untransparent NOAA want’s to erect a lead barrior to shield observer data. WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE???? AGAIN AND STILL????

Fisheries Rule Could Limit Scientific Access to Data.   What are these slimeballs up to?

By RACHEL NUWER   A draft rule proposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may limit public access to fisheries data collected by independent observers on fishing vessels. The agency cites protection of confidential personal and business information as the reason, but some scientists and advocates fear that such a rule will limit their ability to examine and evaluate fisheries data for research purposes.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/fisheries-rule-could-limit-scientific-access-to-data/

Economic relief needed for fishermen – US Senator Jeanne Shaheen

In recent years, New Hampshire fishermen have seen their incomes decline as federal regulations designed to end overfishing have limited the amount of fish they can catch. To make matters worse, these often-onerous regulations haven’t helped the cod population rebound as expected. In fact, a 2011 scientific study by the National Marine Fisheries Service found so few codfish in the Gulf of Maine that the quota for the upcoming fishing year must be set extremely low — so low that it jeopardizes the survival of New Hampshire’s fishing industry.             The Survey SUCKS!BH

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121021-OPINION-210210309

Editorial: Inshore cod assault cries out for catch share reforms GDT

The grim ineffectiveness of NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco’s catch share fishery management system as presently carried out in New England may never have been more apparent than this week, when even NOAA’s new regional administrator and the Environmental Defense Fund, which pushed this system from the start, came out in favor of making key reforms to it. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/opinion/x1684125865/Editorial-Inshore-cod-assault-cries-out-for-catch-share-reforms

Cod war returns to Middle Bank – The Big Boys are Pounding the SNOT Out of it. ABOLISH CATCH SHARE RIGHT F* CKING NOW!

A large number of big commercial trawlers — 70 feet or more in length — from Gloucester and Boston have been drawn this week to the nearby inshore grounds of Middle Bank in pursuit of the season’s first pulse of cod, combing areas that are the usual domain of smaller, independent day boats from multiple ports, several sources told the Times Wednesday…….But since the advent in May 2010 of catch share fishing, predicated on the trading of allocated fishing rights between gear types and boat sizes — allowed to members of sectors or fishing cooperatives — the taking of inshore cod by offshore boats has been a persistent theme and complaint by dayboat fishermen that the only available source of their harvest and income has been subject to plunder by boats of a much larger scale…….A critical element in the pulse fishing for cod on Stellwagen was the elimination of daily catch limits for boats which entered sectors; these boats were given allocations and encouraged to catch as much as they were allowed at any time. The efficiency of the new system was one of its prime selling points.http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x674144460/Cod-war-returns-to-Middle-Bank

NOAA regional chief, EDF back catch quota caps

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1618664521/NOAA-regional-chief-EDF-back-catch-quota-caps

Once again, the cart before the horse.

This should have been addressed before amendment 16 was rammed through. The EDF goal of Herr Lubchenco.

Yes, consolidation was occuring pre a-16, but then it really was free market driven consolidation.

Of course, the NSC syndicate likes it the way it is now, and why would’t they?

As far as “crossing the border” skirting the referendum vote, that has already taken place, the reason for the lawsuit.

For the syndicate to be concerned, is like Walmart saying they care about their employees, and they are looking out for their best interests! Why the parallel?

There are a whole bunch of fishermen not represented by the syndicate, that work within the syndicate. Crewmen that rely on the owners to do the right thing for them, as they share the expenses in the free enterprise lay/share arraingement of compensation, along with the owners. Crewmen now pay for leased quota with no representation, along with the regular expenses. They have become poorer and marginalized.

Only now is there a half assed effort to understand the system of compensation through a “socio economic survey” that should have been considered pre a-16.

I’m sure Johanna Thompson is a nice lady, but to read about EDFs concerns about fishermen? I find them amusing, and diingenuous following the history of EDFs actions, and knowing they recieve multi millions year in, year out from the Walton Foundation to privatize the resource.

Funny thing about the “socio” survey. All the current data collected already includes people like Johanna, regulators, and “stakeholders”  involved in fishery issues.

Everyone except the fishermen!

ABOLISH CATCH SHARES NOW!

Socio Economic Studies and the Piss Poor Science of Fishery Mismanagement.

Listening to the NEFMC meeting over the past three days, I’ve noticed some blatant flaws of connectivity on a number of issues. Where to begin? Thats as confusing as the information was.

I’m just going to ramble my way into it with something that has me scratching my thin haired head. The socio economic information issue. NOAA has decided that there must be a socio economic study, and they apparently decided the survey was important, but not so much important enough to include the fishermen. For clarity, I will be using that term for the guys that actually go to sea http://bore-head007.newsvine.com/_news/2012/09/28/14127887-socio-economic-studies-and-the-piss-poor-science-of-fishery-mismanagement

Fishing aid letter ignores catch share impact

A draft letter to congressional leaders from the office of Sen. John Kerry, circulating within the New England delegation in connection with a proposed and controversial fisheries aid package, blames the decline of the groundfishery on weakened fish stocks — and nothing else.

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x1011133727/Fishing-aid-letter-ignores-catch-share-impact

http://bore-head007.newsvine.com/

Sometimes the mask slips

When Jane Lubchenco was appointed as the head of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in 2009, I believe that it enabled an important part of a decades long plan to transform America into just another member of the global community, from the inside. This has enabled these “Fabian Socialists” to accelerate the process of destroying the commercial fishing industry in the USA, to further their long-term vision of sustainable  international fisheries.

Dr. Lubchenco has demonstrated a total disinterest in the economic crisis that she has created in places like Gloucester Mass, and all along the coasts of New England and across this great country. She has gone to great lengths to completely avoid addressing the issues that are important to our fishermen.

In 2011, she declined to testify at a U.S. Senate subcommittee invitation in Boston called “How is NOAA managing funds to protect the domestic fishing industry”. Makes sense if you look at the facts (as we have), and find that she isn’t interested in protecting the domestic fishing industry at all. Dr. Lubchenco has always been looking at a bigger picture.

I’d like to highlight some recent comments that she made at a RFMO (Regional Fisheries Management Organizations) conference in Belgium on June 1st, 2012. This doesn’t happen often, as she tends to avoid the spotlight, but on this day it seems that her mask slipped. She made numerous comments that represent (what I believe to be) her true motivation for the decisions that she makes at NOAA.