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| Bolinas fishermen denied exemption |
Andrew DeFeo
2009-10-15 |
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A request by Bolinas fishermen for an immediate exemption from a costly monitoring device requirement has been denied by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).
The requirement for the on-board Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) was extended to hook-and-line fisherman last year, placing further strains on small commercial fishermen already beset by a slew of regulations.
“People are terrified just to go out fishing, just to continue with a business that some of us have been in for 20 or 30 years,” said Josh Churchman of Bolinas.
A committee of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which operates under NOAA’s jurisdiction, stated last week that a decision on the exemption would be delayed until 2011. Meanwhile, Churchman, Jeremy Dierks and Andrew Kleinberg risk hefty fines associated with the device, which is intended to police marine protected areas.
The Inspector General of the Department of Commerce began an investigation in July of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement office after complaints of overzealous enforcement and penalties that were disproportionate to violations.
Churchman was invited last week to Portland to attend the first meeting of the council committee set up to review the management of the VMS. Along with members of NOAA and the council, fisherman from Washington, Oregon, and California were present.
Many testified about fines they received for passing through protected groundfish areas. Some citations were issued several years after the reported incidents, others were so large that one fisherman said he would need to sell his boat and mortgage his home in order to pay it.
Citing cost, complications and the impracticality of maintaining the device, Bolinas fishermen say they can no longer afford to run their operations. In order to reach the Farallon Islands, where the three men fish in state waters, they cross 12 miles of federal ocean. In these waters their vessels are watched via satellite by NOAA’s law enforcement agents.
Churchman, Dieks and Kleinberg first requested an exemption from the VMS requirement in April.
Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey and State Assemblyman Jared Huffman sent letters in support of the exemption to the council. “In spite of their size, these fishermen are very important because they are the only local commercial source of fresh fish,” Kinsey wrote.
U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey also wrote to the council. “Although the appropriate committee will not convene until 2011, I do not believe that [these fishermen] can wait that long and still have an economically viable business,” she wrote.
The decision to postpone a ruling on the exemption until 2011 leaves Churchman uncertain and frustrated. His sentiment is shared by others.
Since July, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement has been under investigation by the Department of Commerce.
“This is an investigation that began with representatives in the Northeast,” said Inspector General Chief of Staff Lisa Allen. “We haven’t heard an outpouring from the Pacific Northwest about these issues at this point, but we’re going where the information leads us.”
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