It's good to hear that Ohio Congressman and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has committed to having his federal House oversight and reform subcommittee delve into how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's law enforcement wing has blatantly overstepped its bounds in dealing with America's fishermen, especially in the Northeast.
It's even better to hear local Congressman John Tierney — a member of that same subcommittee — push to have the panel's hearing in Gloucester, perhaps as early as next month.
After all, considering the recent report of Department of Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser, that would give the committee members the chance to address first hand the plight of Gloucester and New England fishermen who — according to the Inspector General's report, and a preliminary version of it at that — have been:
Treated like criminals by a rogue branch of their own government that, with seemingly no oversight, has agents apparently paid and directed as if they were part of some kind of criminal SWAT team, not civil enforcers of administrative regulations.
Been socked with assessment fines at least 250 percent higher than those meted out in other parts of the country.
Been hit with Notices of Violation for not having a controversial yellowtail flounder accessibility letter when landing fish at the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction — even though fishermen landing in New Bedford and other ports without the same letter were not penalized.
And while they're at it, perhaps the subcommittee members can find answers as to how these jack-booted NOAA enforcers can justify their wrongful, unauthorized, after-hours 2006 entry into the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction — an action documented by a Gloucester Police report, and hopefully being targeted as the Inspector General continues to look into specific examples of NOAA's "abusive treatment."
Last week, NOAA chief administrator Jane Lubchenco took some baby steps toward addressing the IG's report — most notably in seizing overall NOAA control of the law enforcement gang's "asset forfeiture fund" the enforcers had previously been allowed to keep and control.
But those are indeed very small steps. And it's important that the Hosue oversight panel — and, at the request of North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones, the House Natural Resources Committee — take new steps aimed at getting to the bottom of NOAA enforcement's agregious offenses.
If Kucinich, Tierney and their oversight colleagues want to show fishermen they're serious about fixing the problem, their hearing(s) should not be in the U.S. Capitol, but right here in Gloucester as a capital of Ocean Nation.
If justice can ever be restored to America's fisheries, let it start here.
