Two congressional House subcommittees have now scheduled back-to-back hearings into an Inspector General's findings that the federal fisheries law enforcement office in Gloucester had established a record of questionable actions against the fishing industry — including fines in the Northeast that far exceed those levied in other parts of the country.
And one of them will be in Kyrouz Auditorium at Gloucester's City Hall.
The hearing in Gloucester, announced by Congressman John Tierney, will be held on March 2 — the same day the government and the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction will go to trial on a 59-count allegation against the top broker for Gulf of Maine groundfish.
Announced a year ago this week, the government alleges that the auction had taken illegal fish from dozens of boats over many months, based on dealer reports made by the auction to NOAA.
For the most part, related claims against the boats that allegedly brought illegal fish to the auction have been settled for a small fraction of the penalties sought. But NOAA enforcement is trying to penalize the auction as requiring a 120-day closing and a fine of $335,200.
Tierney's subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, is the House Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee.
The next day — on March 3, in Washington — the House Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, led by Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, will hold an oversight hearing on "Setting the Bar for Accountability: Improving NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement Programs and Operations."
Neither panel has announced a list of witnesses, but each has published notice that representatives of the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of the Inspector General and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are expected to answer questions.
The Gloucester hearing, in addition, will hear from "Gloucester fishing industry experts."
The case against the auction, which was constructed over more than two years — yet built almost entirely on self-reporting of transactions with fishing boats — sparked the anger of the community and eventually led to a request by members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation for the Inspector General to investigate complaints of selective and vindicative prosecution.
Fishermen for years had complained they were made to feel like criminals by heavy handed enforcement.
Inspector General Todd Zinser and his team of investigators spent six months on a national study of NOAA law enforcement practices and validated the claims that the way the federal fishery enforcement system worked, fishermen and industry figures had reason to complain about being treated like criminals.
The most extreme excesses were found in the Gloucester office, where Andy Cohen has been the agent in charge.
Cohen became the center of attention last summer when he attempted to orchestrate a media campaign to spread the belief that the auction was about to be temporarily shut down for 10 days over a disputed claim that was on appeal in U.S. District Court.
The Boston Globe was told of the 10-day "shutdown" before the auction itself was informed. But the business has never been closed by NOAA, and the federal judge hearing the appeal chastised NOAA law enforcement for the episode.
The IG also found that NOAA Law Enforcement had an $8.5 million Forfeiture Fund for the penalties paid by the industry that was essentially unmonitored.
The Times reported last month that in October, during the IG's investigation, NOAA law enforcement circulated a memo ending the practice of unmonitored use of the fund for purchases and travel.
Among the stopgap measures announced by NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco in response to the IG's report was an order transferring control of the Forfeiture Fund from NOAA Law Enforcement to the office of NOAA counsel Lois Schiffer.
Among other findings, the IG's office reported that NOAA law enforcement was being carried out without meaningful supervision, and that a cadre of mostly criminal investigators was mismatched to the mostly civil and administrative cases in the federal fishery.
The IG also announced that his investigation will now focus on specific claims of abusive treatment by NOAA enforcers raised by fishermen and industry businesses.
While it's not clear it's one of the incidents the IG is targeting, a 2006 Gloucester police report also shows that NOAA enforcement agents forcibly entered the auction after hours without authorization while in the process of collecting alleged evidence against the facility.
Richard Gaines can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3464, or via e-mail at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.
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