Local mayors blast NOAA in interview

GLOUCESTER – The mayors of New Bedford and Gloucester voiced their disappointment with top officials based on a 236-page report revealing “miscarriages of justice” by federal fisheries law enforcers, the Gloucester Times reported Wednesday.

Mayor Scott Lang of New Bedford and Mayor Carolyn Kirk of Gloucester said the response by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was superficial, insincere and unlikely to bring about meaningful reform.

The comments were made to the Times during a interview taped for broadcast. Lubchenco was in Gloucester on May 16 to meet with fishermen and apologize for the failing of the law enforcement system, to announce the return of $649,527 in fines levied and to discuss reforms.

A special master’s report documented “countless affronts to the American justice system” by NOAA officials, including: an unauthorized entry to a Gloucester fishing business, intimidation of a potential defense witness in NOAA’s effort to extract fines from a one-time New Bedford fisherman, a knowingly falsified affidavit for a search warrant and selective prosecution.

Kirk said that in “many places” of the report, the special master was highlighting efforts by NOAA agents and lawyers to coerce excessive fines.

“The coercion was remarkable,” said Kirk. “It’s unimaginable that this could be happening in [the United States].”

“I believe people in regulation knew exactly what the law enforcement was doing. There were no fire walls between the tremendous fines and the further consolidating of the industry,” Lang said.

The newspaper said that industry consolidation is the “expressed aim” of NOAA administrator Lubchenco who has pushed a catch share system.

Lang expressed hope for Congress to do “justice.” A U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing has been scheduled for Boston’s Faneuil Hall on June 20.

“Normally, people go to jail, but here they get transferred to a better climate,” Lang said.

Dale J. Jones Jr., director of law enforcement at NOAA from 1999 through March 2010, was reassigned after Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser testified that Jones organized a document shredding during the IG’s investigation. Zinser found gross abuse of the Asset Forfeiture Fund and nearly $50 million to be unaccounted for.