Mayor Scott Lang, New Bedford MA, explains his thoughts on Catch Shares, its severe impact to his city, and Commerce Department NOAA’s abuses. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (NOAA), has implemented a commercial fishing plan called “Catch Shares” that has created financial havoc in coastal fishing communities. NOAA’s radical environmental idea gave away fishing rights to a select few in a privatization scheme. Many of the rights, or “Catch Shares,” have made their way to private equity profiteers, radical environmental groups, or to fisherman aligned with the radical Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). This has made it next to impossible for the small business commercial fisherman to survive because they cannot obtain cost effective “catch shares.”
Additional costly regulatory burdens were imposed that ensured that the fishing fleet would reduce in size, a fact Jane Lubchenco admitted when confronted. NOAA knowingly imposed policies that they themselves admitted would result in significant job losses and idle much of the commercial fishing fleet. The regulatory burden of Catch Shares has driven the price of US harvested seafood higher for US consumers while fisherman do not enjoy the financial gain.
The uncut version Mayor Scott Lang’s statement about NOAA and Catch Shares can be found here: Mayor Scott Lang explains his thoughts on Catch Shares, its severe impact to his city, and NOAA abuses. Recorded in Faneuil Hall, Boston MA. Lang spoke at the conclusion of a Senate Subcommittee hearing Senator Scott Brown held to question NOAA about their abuses within their Enforcement Division.