Editorial: Call for stepped-up probe of NOAA is long overdue


In some ways, the letter by New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang to federal Inspector General Todd Zinser, calling for an independent federal investigation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's overall process for setting policies and fishing allocation limits, may seem a bit redundant.

After all, the cities of New Bedford and Gloucester have already joined a federal lawsuit challenging Amendment 16, the regulatory framework that includes NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco's beloved catch share management system. And Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has vowed to grant emergency allocation hikes if states and communities like Gloucester and New Bedford can document the need and viability for doing so.

But Lang's letter — backed by Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk — is indeed an important step forward. It pulls together the multiple issues at the core of this embattled agency and system.

In his message, Lang targets not only the tight allocations and the issues raised by NOAA enforcement, already the target of a scathing report from Zinser's office outlining a wide variety of enforcement excesses and abuses.

It also notes the role of the NOAA's Office of General Counsel, which pays many of its operational costs and covers the costs of administrative judges from a fund built on fines and other penalties paid by overcharged fishermen. And it raises legitimate questions about the role of the policy-making New England Fishery Management Council, which is ripe with conflicts of interest starting with its chairman, John Pappalardo. Pappalardo just happens to be CEO of the Cape Cod Hook Fishermen's organization, whose own favored catch allocation is at the core of the Amendment 16 lawsuit.

Zinser's office, through its investigation and findings of the many wrongs carried out by NOAA law enforcement, has done an excellent job in bringing these abuses to light.

But Lubchenco and her NOAA Fisheries caddy, Eric Schwaab, have not truly addressed any of those findings. And Lubchenco and Schwaab showed the lack of respect they have for the IG's office, Congress and the industry last week when they announced — two days after the elections, of course — that they were sticking to their commitment to making catch shares a nationwide policy.

Zinser should indeed carry this new call to Congress to finally launch the full, independent prosecutor's probe of this corrupt system that is, in fact, long overdue. And Kirk and Lang should keep the heat on our newly re-elected representatives to give this rogue agency and its rigged process the investigative priority it needs.