Call for an oversight hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee into the Inspector General’s report citing numerous failings and excesses by federal fishery law enforcers. Congressman Walter B. Jones said in his letter that the body of revelations by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Inspector General cries out for congressional oversight.
According to him the report confirmed about the law enforcement agents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as the programs. But the request from Jones comes during a tumultuous time for NOAA law enforcement.
Last week NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco took stopgap measures in one of Zinser’s main areas of concern — shifting control of the asset forfeiture fund — the money and property taken as fines from fishermen — from law enforcement’s own tills to the overall NOAA Controller. Inspector General Todd Zinser made it clear a further report was forthcoming into specific cases of “abusive treatment” of fishermen and the industry by NOAA enforcement personnel, who carry out their roles up and down the East Coast from regional headquarters in Gloucester Blackburn Industrial Park.
In his letter to Rahall and Hastings, Tim Jones cited the conclusion in Zinser’s report of “a highly charged regulatory climate and dysfunctional relationship between NOAA and the fishing industry. He also noted that the IG found the “civil penalty assessment process is arbitrary and unfair” and the workforce composition is misaligned with its mission — heavy in criminal agents who handle mostly civil cases while making fishermen feel like criminals.
