The insults to local fishermen, their advocates and even to members of Congress just keep on coming from the federal agencies that oversee the industry.
And they will keep coming indefinitely unless the region's congressional delegation demands some accountability.
While there has been plenty of heated rhetoric during the past year regarding those agencies' punitive regulations, vindictive enforcement and blatant misconduct, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is the first to call for what is long overdue — an independent investigation into agents and enforcers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That, Brown said, may be the only way "to right the many wrongs our fishermen have suffered."
His colleague, Sen. John Kerry, along with Congressmen John Tierney and Barney Frank, should join his call to action. It should be clear to them by now that talking isn't going to accomplish anything.
The misdeeds of NOAA — ranging from ranging from wildly disproportionate treatment of New England fishermen to the misuse of millions of dollars in forfeiture funds — were documented more than a year ago, in an audit by U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser. And for a while, it seemed that Commerce Secretary Gary Locke would pursue justice for fishermen, both by relaxing some of the most draconian federal limits on fishing and halting the unjust prosecution of fishermen.
But, in recent weeks, Locke has been backing off. A few weeks ago, he refused to relax the limits, even after the recently retired chief scientist at NOAA, Steve Murawski, said this year will be a "milestone" because it will mark the end of overfishing by the U.S. commercial fleet.
Locke has also put new limits on an investigation into the suspect prosecutions by Special Master Charles Swartwood III and rejected requests from members of Congress and from Gov. Deval Patrick to allow fishermen more time to file new complaints and freeze pending sanctions against fishermen until Swartwood completes his work.
The condemnation from the governor and Congress was swift and unanimous.
Patrick said Locke had rejected what should have been "a simple act of fairness."
Tierney said, "A culture of 'no' has taken hold of the Department of Commerce," and vowed to take the matter to the White House.
But Brown was the only one who called for an independent investigation of NOAA practices and policies.
Members of Congress who claim to support fishermen must complain together to the White House. They should demand that Locke and top fishing regulators be forced to testify under oath, instead of being allowed to cloak the regulatory process and their oversight of fishermen in secrecy.
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