Tag Archives: noaa-chief-jane-lubchenco
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
Frank backs White House fishery push
Recently retired Congressman Barney Frank said Thursday he would “absolutely” be willing to go to the White House as an advisor to and friend of Sen. Elizabeth Warren to seek President Obama’s support for executive orders and congressional appropriations to relieve the Northeast groundfishery disaster.
Frank, a staunch critic of Lubchenco’s policies almost from the start of her NOAA reign, described her in a telephone interview as an intellectually dishonest environmental zealot and enemy of the fishing industry. 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
Report: Dispersants Used After Blowout Had Few Ill Effects
Lead author of the report, Doctor Jane Lubchenko, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was a key advisor to Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson when she made the decision, shortly after the blowout, to allow them to use dispersants underwater. “It was our judgment that use of dispersants would help the oil be naturally biodegraded more naturally, and that certainly seems to have been the case” Lubchenko said. http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/12/12/report-dispersants-used-after-blowout-had-few-ill-effects/
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
A Rising Tide of Noise Is Now Easy to See – new york times
“What quiet, what silence, what peace!” Captain Nemo That was 1870. Today — to the dismay of whale lovers and friends of marine mammals, if not divers and submarine captains — the ocean depths have become a noisy place. The causes are human: the sonar blasts of military exercises, the booms from air guns used in oil and gas exploration, and the whine from fleets of commercial ships that relentlessly crisscross the global seas. Nature has its own undersea noises. But the new ones are loud and ubiquitous. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/science/project-seeks-to-map-and-reduce-ocean-noise-pollution.html?ref=science
‘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
Learning lessons from BP oil spill-On the surface the damage seems limited, but the seabed is covered with a thick layer of gunk.
The idea was that dispersants would dissolve the oil and that what was left would be strongly diluted in the sea water. This would cause very little environmental damage. But it appears that a lot of dirt has sunk in flakes to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, forming a thick layer gunk on the seafloor.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-lessons-bp-oil.html#jCp
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
BP caps, plugs equipment believed to be source of recent sheen in Gulf near site of 2010 spill
NEW ORLEANS — BP PLC said Thursday it has capped and plugged an abandoned piece of equipment that is believed to be the source of a sheen spotted near the site of its massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Read More
My comment at the article. Thank you Nils Stolpe.
The liberal left and their Environ faction have forgotten and have chosen to overlook, the Obama Administrations complete folly and manipulation by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.
Lubchenco’s/NOAA’s role in the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2010-2015
“In her September 21, 2009 twenty-six page response to Lisa Birnbaum, Director of the Mineral Management Service on the Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2010-2015. Ms. Lubchenco precedes her comments with a rundown of the federal laws that Read More.
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!
Current Fisheries Management Jeopardizes Marine Ecosystems Source:Stony Brook University dedicated to advancing ocean conservation through science
TRADITIONAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT APPROACH JEOPARDIZES MARINE ECOSYSTEMS WORLDWIDE Fisheries expert and executive director of Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University presents assessment of current fisheries management in the journal Science Newswise — STONY BROOK, NY– In a Perspectives article, “The Risks of Overfishing,” published online today in the October 26 issue of the journal Science, Dr. Ellen K. Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science and professor at Stony
Taking over the fishing regulations of a nation involves vanity and corruption – Part 1. In 1975, Jane Lubchenco, a young zoology student from,,,,,Coincidentally, during that period (1983-1987), Dr. Ellen Pikitch also worked as an Asst Professor Dept of Fisheries and Wildlife at,,,,,Read More. Lots More. http://fishery.about.com/b/2011/04/24/united-states-fishing-regulations-a-coup-detat.htm
BP settlement could remove local control – negotiations are secret
Because the negotiations are secret, it’s hard for anyone to know how serious or legitimate the suggestions are that the settlement might favor the Natural Resources Damage Assessment. “This was the single largest act of pollution we’ve seen in our country, and those responsible should pay for it,” Moore said. “Eleven people died, and record oil washed up on the shores of the Gulf Coast. If that’s not gross negligence, I don’t know what is.”
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20121017/ARTICLES/121019700?p=1&tc=pg
How ’bout this? Lubchenco’s/NOAA’s role in the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2010-2015
In her September 21, 2009 twenty-six page response to Lisa Birnbaum, Director of the Mineral Management Service on the Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2010-2015. Ms. Lubchenco precedes her comments with a rundown of the federal laws that give her and NOAA specific responsibility in the areas covered by the draft proposal. These are “the Coastal Zone Management Act, the National Maine Sanctuaries Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and the Coral Reef Conservation Act as well as NOAA’s statutory roles under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act, and the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act.”
Ms. Lubchenco then brings up a series of issues that were not adequately or accurately addressed in the proposal. Clearly she and NOAA had the ability, the foreknowledge and the duty to intercede in those issues. But did they? Anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico -we still don’t know how much – every day attest to how effective that intercession was.http://www.fishnet-usa.com/NOAA_Inaction.htm
UNCLOS: Senate ratification is optional?
I’ve always believed that UN treaties could not be implemented in the USA without Senate ratification? What’s up with this?
Apparently NOAA disagrees with waiting for US Senate ratification of the UNCLOS (aka the law of the sea treaty):
As a matter of national and economic security and international leadership, the U.S. follows the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. This law establishes claims of territorial waters and universal legal controls for the management of marine natural resources and the control of pollution.
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
Ripples from disruptions in the fishing industry will reach a long way By DON CUDDY
They say bad news comes in threes, and that seems to be the case in the New Bedford fishing industry these days. On top of a recent declaration from the secretary of commerce that the groundifsh industry in New England is a national disaster, the scallop fleet is looking at catch reductions of 30 percent for the next two years. And groudfishermen are resigned to more drastic cuts to their quota for the next fishing year, which begins on May 1.
Frustration over the cuts is mounting on the waterfront because fishermen have their doubts about the accuracy of NOAA’s stock assessments.
“There’s more yellowtail now than there were in the ’60s,” said Reidar Bendiksen of Reidar’s Manufacturing in Fairhaven, a family business that makes trawl gear. “But the fishermen can’t go where they are, and they are not allowed to catch them.”
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121014/NEWS/210140346
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
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!
Despite Tumult, NOAA’s Lubchenco Would Like 4 More Years
It’s been a tumultuous few years for marine biologist Jane Lubchenco, the head of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She’s confronted an unprecedented and politically sensitive
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, struggled to keep expensive satellite programs on track, and butted heads with Congress, which sank her efforts to reorganize NOAA’s climate science programs and appoint the agency’s first chief scientist in nearly 2 decades. Still, Lubchenco says she’d like to keep her job if President Barack Obama is reelected in November.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/10/despite-tumult-noaas-lubchenco-w.html?ref=hp
Louisiana seeking temporary exemption from TEDs – Shrimpers are fighting the impact of debris left by Hurricane Isaac
In two letters sent to Dr Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of NOAA, the Washington delegation is asking her for a “temporary exemption from 
federal TED requirements for inland and offshore shrimp trawlers.” The letters were signed by members including Senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, as well as House Members Cedric Richmond,
Jeff Landry and John Fleming, MD.,,,,,,,,“This impact will last approximately three months until the winter storms can help dissipate the debris,” said Gerica. “Right now, shrimpers cannot work at all. They’ve been dropping test nets which have been coming up completely full of debris.” Remarkably, openings in the TEDs are getting jammed so quickly that bycatch are unable to escape
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
