Brown ad target's NOAA's fishery injustice

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE CHANGES IN POLICY: Commenters are required to have a username with a valid and verified email address. Gloucestertimes.com reserves the right to ban the IP address of any commenter (person) found using multiple aliases under multiple e-mail addresses in a deceptive manner. Posts that do not meet site standards, which can be found here, will be removed.

If you are experiencing problems logging in or posting comments, please contact Disqus' help center by clicking here.

comments powered by Disqus

May 9, 2012

Brown ad target's NOAA's fishery injustice

By Richard Gaines Staff Writer The Gloucester Daily Times Wed May 09, 2012, 05:57 AM EDT

Scott Brown's U.S. Senate campaign Tuesday introduced a 30-second radio spot that synthesizes multiple complaints he and others in Congress have registered regarding perceived injustices to and federal mismanagement of the commercial fishing industry.

Since January, as part of the Republican's effort to win a full six-year term for the seat he took in a special election in 2010 after the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Brown's campaign has been running weekly radio spots on topics as varied as "Americans First," "military jobs," "tax," "jobs" and "the Red Sox."

Brown and the presumed Democratic nominee, Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren, have been locked in a tight and high visibility race since the start of the year, when Warren became a national favorite of party activists and donors.

The gist of the Brown ad that began running Tuesday implicitly flails the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reprising and broadening a kicker Brown first enunciated last June 20 during a field hearing he organized in Faneuil Hall of a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee.

After he questioned the top appointee of NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco about the Commerce Inspector General's findings that the federal fisheries law enforcement system had been corrupt, Brown asked whether any NOAA officials had been subject to discipline; instead, key figures leaders had been transferred.

"What does it take to actually get fired at NOAA?" Brown asked at the hearing.

In his radio ad, which refers to NOAA only as "the agency," Brown's question is: "What does it take to get fired in Washington?"

The theme of the Brown radio ad asserts that "our fishing industry is dying, and Washington is to blame. Fishermen have been hit with crushing fines, unrealistic catch limits, and arbitrary enforcement.

"As a result, people have lost their jobs, their homes, and their way of life. The agency responsible for this crisis is completely out of touch and unresponsive."

The Warren campaign did not have an immediate response to the ad Tuesday.

NOAA administrator Lubchenco came to office carrying the agenda of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Walton Family Foundation to transform the largely mom-and-pop industry into an investor-friendly commodity market based on fishermen's catch shares.

The system has earned the enmity of elected officials of both parties and the repeated requests or demands of Brown as well as Democratic Congressmen John Tierney, who represents Cape Ann, and Barney Frank whose district includes New Bedford, that Lubchenco be fired.

Since she assumed office, the New England groundfishery, based here in Gloucester, has come under sharp consolidation, losing some 21 of its then 96 boats during the first year of catch shares, according to NOAA figures. Yet, a request for a fisheries economic disaster declaration filed in November by Gov. Deval Patrick has gone unanswered by Commerce Secretary John Bryson.

The Brown ad contains one inaccuracy. After noting that the agency was "out of touch and unresponsive," Brown adds, "Just recently, they bought a $300,000 party boat using funds meant to help fishermen. To this day, no one has been held accountable for these abuses."

The boat was actually acquired in 2008.

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