WESTERN & CENTRAL PACIFIC NETWORK
Honolulu, Hawai`i
MEDIA RELEASE
CONTACT: SCOTT FOSTER
Director of Communications
808-988-1708 ~ wcpnetwork@hawaii.rr.com
GLARING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST BY WESPAC COUNCIL MEMBERS REVEALED DURING REDO OF NULLIFIED GUAM-CNMI MEETING
With Two Confirmed Federal Investigation In The Works, Industry Control of Federal Fishing Regulatory Agency Has Become Obvious To All Concerned
HONOLULU: APRIL 14, 2008 -- Because the dysfunctional Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council's (Wespac) March 17-18, 2008, meeting in Guam, Saipan and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was not given proper public notice, all business conducted there had to be revisited during a "do-over" meeting which took place on Monday, April 14, at Wespac’s Honolulu office and via teleconference. The nullified meeting was held at an estimated cost of $50-$60,000, not including the unknown cost of the second meeting. Unfortunately, Wespac failed to supply many of the documents being discussed to the teleconferenced voting Council members and to the general public -- and the Council’s notorious dysfunction did not end there.
BUSINESS CONFLICTS ARE RAMPANT ON FISHERY COUNCIL
Scott Foster, the Communications Director for the Western & Central Pacific Network said, "During today’s [Monday] meeting, the Wespac Executive Director, Kitty Simonds expressed interest in having more Native Hawaiian representation. Our Governor has the opportunity to put two Native Hawaiians on the WESPAC Council this June due to the retirement of one member -- and current Council Member Fred Duerr's residency in Montana. Duerr doesn't even live here -- which may explain why he constantly votes against Hawai`i state interests. Technically, Montana is the terminus of the Pacific Council's salmon fishery and it would make more sense if he were on that council. Why is Durrer a member of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council?"
During Monday’s Council discussion re allowing certain late CNMI permit applicants to be accepted after the deadline, Council Member Peter Young raised the issue of possible conflicts of interest and it was soon revealed that Council Member Stephen Haleck from American Samoa was one of the late applicants. Haleck is identified on the Wespac Web page as a "business owner (hotel and gas station)" -- with no mention of his commercial fishing interests.
When another Council member raised a serious concern about Chair Martin's potential conflict on another issue and voting in conflict, Martin brazenly continued to preside over the meeting and attempted to influence other Council members during the discussion. He later said, "Recusing oneself is voluntary." But the Magnussun Stevens Act mandates such recusal when a Council member stands to personally gain from an action before the Council. Because such financial conflicts have been rampant, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, and the National Marine Fisheries Service co-published (2007) very specific guidelines for "Regional Fishery Management Councils" to follow. SEE: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/...
What is Wespac Chair Martin’s conflict? One might start with the fact that Martin is a partner in Pacific Ocean Producers, Hawaii’s largest fishing and safety gear supplier, and Vessel Management Associates, owner and operator of Hawaii’s largest commercial longline fishing fleet. And then there’s the $1.3 Million in Council-related business benefiting Wespac Chair Martin. Tina Owens of the Lost Fish Coalition put it this way, "In a post Enron world we cannot take conflicts of interest lightly. Tonight, WESPAC showed the world why it’s the subject of two Federal Investigations."
Wespac Vice-Chair Manuel "Manny" Duenas (also President of the Guam Fishermen's Cooperative) leaned into the debate saying, "This is a big mudslinging contest and I don't approve. I don't feel comfortable with it. If we have to recuse ourselves for everything we do, it’s kinda' of ridiculous. Can you say the motion again Mr. Chair. I'm all lost."
Council Member Laura Thielen, the governor- appointed Chair of the Hawai`i Department of Land & Natural Resources jumped into the fray saying, "I would expect council members who have a personal interest to raise them and I'm disappointed that the council member did not do this." Duenas soon revealed that he had his own conflict of interest on another matter before the Council, the CNMI purse Seine Exclusion Zones because of his admitted business involvement with Korean commercial purse seine operators.
DUENAS IS NO STRANGER TO CONTROVERSY
During the nullified Guam-CNMI Wespac meeting on Monday, March 17th, Duenas apologized to his Council peers for any embarrassment" he may have caused by his role in improperly and aggressively meddling in the affairs of Guam, CNMI and American Samoa. Duenas' apology for "embarrassing" the Council was made not once, but three times during the course of the Wespac meetings -- but even his apologies were not without controversy. Duenas asserted that he was acting not as a Council member when taking the offensive actions, but rather in his role as president of the Guam Fishermen’s cooperative. Yet Council members are appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and serve the public trust by advising the Secretary on fishery management policy. In any event, Duenas is not immune to the federal guidelines on business conflicts.
And this was not the only time the Wespac Vice Chair has acted aggressively and improperly on fishery management issues. Duenas had recently attacked Saipan conservationist, Angelo Villagomez on a blog, calling him an "idiot" with a "coconut mentality." The attack was related to a local fishing incident.
After Duenas apology, Wespac Executive Director, Kitty Simonds attempted to downplay the issue which had involved the Governor of Guam and other officials by calling it "a tempest in a teapot." What isn't "a tempest in a teapot" are the two confirmed coordinated federal investigations now taking place – one at the request of U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform who on February 5th, requested the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to "... investigate the expenditures of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac)".
Wespac’s lack of transparency and process, and conflicts of interest aside, Scott Foster said, "The complexity of the lexicon used in describing, tabulating and regulating our fragile ocean fish stocks and related natural resources can be very daunting to the uninitiated and this works to great advantage for the commercial fishing industry. Decisions made by Wespac can and often do produce negative ramifications that may not show up for many years."
As an example, Foster pointed to one "particularly-important" item on the April 14th agenda, "Hawai`i Bottomfish Fisheries Action." BACKGROUND: On May 27, 2005, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce (DOC) notified Wespac of an "overfishing determination" and gave the Council until May of 2006 to develop a plan "to reduce fishing mortality for bottomfish in the Main Hawaiian Islands" (MHI). "Bottomfish" includes a range of snappers and groupers that live on the outer reef slopes, seamounts and banks at depths of between 50 to 200 fm. In Hawai`i, bottomfish are caught both by commercial and non-commercial fishermen around the MHI and by commercial fishermen in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI).
Foster notes that this "overfishing determination" should have originated from Wespac and ordered by their governing agency (DOC). Why is this important? Today, the fish stocks in the remote NWHI and the over-fished MHI fish stocks are managed as one fishery, badly skewing the true numbers. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) says if these two stocks were viewed and managed separately, the MHI fishery would already have been considered overfished -- and would have been so for the past 10 years!
Historically, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has been populated and controlled by commercial fishing interests. All fishers, especially the sports, recreational, and subsistence fishers, will now pay the price for Wespac's mismanagement and this dire situation -- as will the consumer because of the anticipated scarcity and higher retail prices at their local markets. Another six-month bottom fishing ban began today (Monday April 14) in Hawai`i waters meaning the so-called "Deep 7," which includes local favorites onaga, ehu and opakapaka, are going to be in short supply in the coming months. The current situation could not have come as a surprise to anyone following the issue. As recently as 2007, Dr. Linda Paul, Executive Director for Aquatics for the Hawai`i Audubon Society noted in a well-publicized white paper that, "We are running out of fish, at least wild-caught fish." SEE http://www.pacfish.org/...
BACKGROUND & ARCHIVES
http://belammc.com/...
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