Tag Archives: U.S. District Judge William G. Young
Mass. Lobstmen Win Case Fighting Feds’ Fishing Closure
A Massachusetts federal judge ruled Thursday that the National Marine Fisheries Service illegally closed a 200-square-mile swath of ocean to protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whales, backing a legal challenge by a lobster fishing industry group. In a ruling from the bench, U.S. District Judge William G. Young said the agency’s permanent seasonal closure of the so-called wedge area to lobster fishing in February 2023 to avoid whale entanglements with fishing gear was contrary to a federal budget law passed the previous December that hit pause on new regulations for the lobster industry until the end of 2028. “This court is convinced that the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 is clear on its face, and it clearly applies to bar the final wedge closure rule,” Judge Young said. more, >>click to read<< 12:35
Our view: ‘Codfather’ case highlights failings of regulatory system
Rafael, the 65-year-old New Bedford-based fishing magnate, admitted to a judge earlier this year that he had lied to federal fishing regulators about the nature and size of his groundfish landings and bulk smuggling. At sentencing last week, U.S. District Judge William G. Young rejected the argument from the man who liked to call himself “The Codfather” that the fraud was necessary to protect the jobs of his workers. “This was stupid,” Young told Rafael. “This was a corrupt course of action from start to finish. It’s a course of action of extensive corruption designed to benefit you, to line your pockets. That’s what it is and that’s why the court has sentenced you as it has.” Good for Young for handing down a stiff sentence (Rafael was seeking probation). The Codfather’s story, however, does not end here. His arrest and prosecution laid bare a broken regulatory and monitoring system. click here to read the op-ed 09:37
