Today’s action completes review of past cases dating back to 1994 to address complaints about conduct of NOAA enforcement program In another step to reinforce the Commerce Department’s commitment to fair and effective enforcement of U.S. fisheries, Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank announced today that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will return fines to some fishermen based on the recommendations of an independent review. This review was conducted by a special master, Judge Charles B. Swartwood III (ret.), appointed by former Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in 2010 following on complaints about actions dating back to 1994. Acting Secretary Blank’s decision memo and the special master’s 554-page report closes the investigation of past cases involving complaints about the conduct of NOAA’s enforcement program.
Acting Secretary Blank’s decision memo directs NOAA to return a total of $543,500 to 14 complainants and to forgive the outstanding $151,266.66 in debt for two additional complainants. These individuals or businesses will receive their remittances within 30 days of receipt of payment information. The special master’s report she also released today found that NOAA personnel had in some instances “overstepped the bounds of propriety and fairness.” However, the report reaffirms that the agency has taken significant steps to reform the enforcement program by bringing in new leadership and establishing policies and procedures to ensure fairness and transparency.
Special Master Swartwood released the findings from his first investigation on May 17, 2011, recommending remittance totaling $649,527 for 11 complainants. Over the course of this investigation, other fishermen whose cases were not already under review came forward requesting consideration. Former Secretary Locke subsequently announced another special master’s investigation in March 2011 to ensure all of these cases were also reviewed. The results of this second investigation were released today. In addition, upon taking office, Acting Secretary Blank asked her staff to gather more information regarding NOAA’s response to the issues identified in Special Master Swartwood’s 554-page report and used this information to finalize her decision memorandum for today’s announcement. In doing so, Acting Secretary Blank sought assurances that NOAA had put changes into place to prevent future actions similar to those dating back to 1994.
During the past two years, Special Master Swartwood has reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, conducted over 100 interviews, and produced two reports totaling over 700 pages of text with over 7,000 pages of exhibits. As a result of the two reports under the direction of Secretaries Locke and Blank, the Commerce Department has directed NOAA to remit a total of over $1.1 million in penalties and forgive over $150,000 in outstanding debt. Of the 93 total cases reviewed, 27 were remitted or forgiven. 23 of these 27 cases originated in the Northeast Region.
For a full timeline of NOAA enforcement program improvements implemented over the course of this process, visit: http://www.noaa.gov/lawenforcementupdates/timeline.html
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
