NOAA says: We're not looking back

The chief counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, assigned to bringing the rule of law to a tarnished enforcement cadre, has proposed what might be called a "let-bygones-be-bygones" policy as the agency strives to gain the trust of an abused fishing industry.

Lois Schiffer, considered an expert in environmental dispute resolution, submitted her policy proposal Thursday to NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco in a package of documents that updated reforms to gain control of the agents who investigate violation cases — and the litigators who bring cases made by the agents.

The Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Commerce produced a scathing report in January based on a six-month national investigation of claims and complaints by members of the fishing industry and their congressional representatives.

Validating the bulk of many industry accusations, IG Todd Zinser's report painted a picture of a police force that had operated with impunity, little or no direction, system of justice or restraint in treating violators of technical requirements as if they were criminals.

While she acknowledged in her Thursday response that "earning the public's confidence in the fairness of our program is important," Schiffer immediately added that "we are not here re-examining specific cases or data mentioned in the (Inspector General's) report or looking at the history of our offices."

"Thus, we have developed no opinions as to the complaints and case-specific allegations mentioned in the IG's report," she wrote.

Yesterday, Schiffer declined to be interviewed or respond to questions from the Times. Instead, she released a statement through a spokeswoman in which she said only that the memo to Lubchenco "speaks for itself."

Along the coasts, however, fishermen and their advocates have argued that reparations are in order for the many fishermen and businesses that have been laid financially low by the size of fines that Zinser wrote were often disproportionate to the violations.

They point to an $8.4 million Asset Forfeiture Fund, padded with excessive penalties and used as a common kitty for travel and other expenses, apparently with no oversight or policy limitations until last fall, according to the IG's findings.

The embattled Dale J. Jones, the NOAA's director of the 225 law enforcement agents in eight regions, joined his staff in paying for overseas travel with money taken from the fund, fueled by the fines paid by penalized fishermen. The IG's office also found that penalties assessed in the Northeast exceeded those in other parts of the country by 250 percent to 500 percent.

The unsupervised use of the fund was stopped during Zinser's investigation. There were nearly no records for the use of the fund, Zinser announced to a House subcommittee hearing in Gloucester earlier this month.

A source close to the probe told the Times that the forensic audit of the fund — undertaken in conjunction with the auditing firm, KPMG — will take longer than hoped due to the sketchy available evidence.

The same source said agents for the IG were back in Gloucester this week for follow-up work. Zinser said in his written report in January that he would put the most egregious cases under special scrutiny. The only one mentioned by name was the decade-long effort of Jones' agents in Gloucester to, under the leadership of Agent-in-Charge Andrew Cohen, shut down or otherwise disable the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction.

If Schiffer holds to "not re-examining specific cases or data ... or looking at the history of our offices," that will run headlong into the sentiments of a growing chorus of fishermen and their backers.

When NOAA's Lubchenco outlined an initial agency response to the IG's report in February, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, called out "some accountability for anyone who thought it was OK to abuse their office."

Ferrante also said she believes NOAA should acknowledge past is treatments — and compensate those who have been wrongly treated.

That element was also not lost at the time on Gloucester Seafood Display Auction owner and president Larry Ciulla.

"What about the people who were victimized by overzealous prosecutions for small — or even no violations?" Ciulla said. "I feel as though they're getting lost in the wash."

Schiffer provided a motive for the decision to move forward without excessive focus back. "We are in general impressed with the hard work and commitment of the people in our enforcement staffs throughout the country," she wrote.

"We take extremely seriously the need for management approaches and steps to assure that their work results in a fair and effective program with sound environmental results," she wrote.

Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3464, or rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.

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