Talks bring no relief for fishermen

A large bipartisan East Coast congressional alliance that has proved a dependable core of the Obama administration's legislative efforts in financial, economic and health areas found itself at an exasperating impasse over fisheries policy Wednesday after a failed search for common ground with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco.

The group — seven senators and six representatives — issued a terse statement after the meeting on Capitol Hill, a get-together to which Locke agreed following a letter drafted and circulated by Congressman Barney Frank and Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.

The statement was issued jointly by Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and by Frank, whose congressional district includes New Bedford.

In a separate statement, Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem, said he also reminded Locke of unresolved reports of law enforcement excesses against the fishing fleet by agents of deposed former oceans police chief Dale J. Jones.

"We again asked the Secretary to respond to inquiries regarding unfair and abusive practices of the NOAA's enforcement office, as cited in the Inspector General's report, pending a complete investigation into the specific cases," Tierney said. "We will continue to demand action from Secretary Locke and Dr. Lubchenco until these issues are resolved."

In all, 23 federal lawmakers signed the letter to Locke that sparked the Wednesday meeting, which produced no policy proposals or offers for emergency additions to the volume of fish New England fishermen are being allowed to catch.

The lawmakers' joint statement expressed "strong disagreement" with the federal fisheries policy for the New England groundfishing industry, which, according to government reports this week had been declining in economic vitality — yet still supported 73,000 full- and part-time jobs even as stocks were recovering, and produced $805 million for the region in 2008.

Sen. Brown said the group was "frustrated."

"Kerry and Snow were very direct," Brown said, "saying there was no sense of urgency (on the part of NOAA), you're dilly dallying around, and people are losing their boats and homes — and what are you going to do about it?"

"People back home should be aware we are trying to deal with the issues, and are aware of their frustration and the criminalization of the fishermen," Brown said.

While Kerry, Frank, Tierney and the majority of the group that signed the letter are Democrats, Sens. Snowe and Brown are Republicans. The New England coalition stretched to New York with places for its two senators as well. Sen. Charles Schumer was at the Wednesday meeting; many in the caucus spoke at the national "United We Fish" rally in February outside the U.S. Capitol.

Since then, pressure for relief to save the industry continued to grow.

A lawsuit on behalf of fishing interests from up and down the coast was filed on Sunday.

New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang said Wednesday he thought the courts were the last available venue for relief.

"This is like a runaway train, let them tell it to a judge," said Lang.

Locke's office did not respond to a request by the Times for a statement.

A number of congressional aides speaking anonymously told the Times a personal appeal to President Obama by the caucus of lawmakers seems inevitable.

"I have made it clear to high-ranking members of the administration, including Secretary Locke, that my relationship with the administration will be affected by how they respond to this absolutely urgent need," Frank told SavingSeafood, the Internet industry news digest.

In a telephone interview with the Times, Frank added that he could not remember a larger or more unified opposition to an administration policy.

The New England groundfishing industry faces hyper-tight catch limits and strong deterrent penalties, along with a shift to an experimental system of catch share management, in which fishermen work in cooperatives called sectors under "shares" of fish stock allocations that can be bought, sold or traded.

Fishermen last week bore witness to allocations for the new system as low as one quarter to one half of what was caught last year, and most said they saw an implosion of the system by mid summer.

Together, the mixture of the changes is expected to generate intense consolidation and limit fishing capacity that could leave fishing communities reeling as small businesses shrink or disappear completely.

Snowe, who together with Frank crafted the letter to Locke that brought the invitation for the meeting in his office, said in a statement that "fishermen deserve more than lip-service when their livelihoods are at stake."

"For too long," Snow said in her release, "NMFS has turned a blind eye to New England's coastal economy, ignoring its mandate to balance ending overfishing and minimizing adverse economic impacts on fishing communities.

"Today, we ensured that the Secretary of Commerce, the administrator of NOAA, and the head of NMFS heard loud and clear the anger of New England fishermen," she added. "Our message was unmistakable: increase catch limits on the 'choke stocks' that are otherwise sure to close down this fishery."

"I find it patently unacceptable," she added, "that, despite NMFS' scientists own admissions that their data was insufficient to make policy recommendations for some stocks, beyond a previously announced commitment to revisit the catch limit for pollock, we did not receive any assurances that other choke stocks would be addressed.

Frank, who has been frustrated in an extended exchange of letters with Lubchenco, said he told Locke that "what administrator Lubchenco is trying to do is unacceptable. It will visit great economic damage on the fishermen and the communities from which they fish."

"I've always been skeptical of Lubchenco," Frank told the Times. "Either she doesn't understand the impact of what she's doing — or she doesn't care."

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

Top Stories

Search Results

Discussion

Northeast lawmakers 'frustrated' after meeting with Locke, others

Site Map

Contact Us