WESPAC’s history speaks

WESPAC’s misguided malevolent history in Hawaii speaks volumes in the following article. With five years developing strategies in opposition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Monument and three years to head off any further marine reserves in the works; it is no wonder, they have decapitated the CNMI government early on. It appears, they are not as innocent as they would have us believe. Unfortunately for WESPAC, every one of their baseless fears has been negated. Unfortunately, for the CNMI, as evidenced by the actions of WESPAC members in the Marianas, WESPAC has not reformed its activities. Indeed, it is safe to say, they prefer to keep the public misinformed and uneducated; they prefer the Pew proposal to create a marine national monument go away before the public can be educated through economic and science studies. John Gourley proved this, when he was asked three times in the last presentation of the Marianas Trench Marine Monument proposal in Kagman by refusing to answer this simple yes/no question: “Would it be better for the public to make an informed educated decision, and to continue asking questions, concerning the Pew proposal for a marine monument? Yes, or No?” How come he had no response?

WESPAC is misguided. If they really were protecting the interests of the fishermen, and were looking at a maximum sustained yield of fish; they should be actively promoting the idea of a marine monument in the top three northern islands. Lobster fishermen in Hawaii; West Coast salmon and rockfish fishermen; and cod fishermen in the New England states would all still have fish to catch, if there were sufficient areas set aside for the replenishment of the ocean’s fish stocks. Instead all of these fisheries have collapsed with no end in sight for the cod or hope for all the tens of thousands of fishermen who lost their jobs. Bottom trawlers have, in fact, destroyed so much marine benthic habitat that they have brought the science fiction term, “terraforming,” back home to Earth. Callum Roberts in his Unnatural History of the Sea calls for 20 to 40 percent of the oceans to be in marine no-take zones. These areas, far from taking fish away from fishermen, would guarantee that there would still be plenty of fish for fishermen to catch. Fisheries management under the guidance of WESPAC is like a Greek tragedy: All the fish die!

Following is an article in the Environmental News Network, in which two fishing groups prompted the federal government to launch one of two federal investigations into the nefarious WESPAC activities in Hawaii: http://www.ens-newswire.com/

WAIANAE, Hawaii, November 9, 2005[/B]—Two Hawaii fishing organizations are asking the United States Department of Commerce Inspector General for an investigation of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac).

Their request, sent Monday in a letter to Inspector General Johnnie Frazier, is supported by a detailed report which alleges a pattern of “improper and dishonest conduct in a campaign by Wespac to undermine presidential executive orders and laws guiding the establishment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve and a related proposal to designate the area a marine sanctuary.”

Wespac is the agency responsible for management of fisheries in federal waters from three to 200 miles offshore of all islands in the Western Pacific Ocean. The Council is to help the Department of Commerce develop fishery management plans and advise the Department of Commerce on fishing matters. It is wholly funded through the Department of Commerce; its members are appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and are compensated by the department for their work.

Wespac staff are federal employees within the Department of Commerce. The Inspector General in the Department of Commerce is responsible for auditing and investigating the performance of the activities of agencies of the department, particularly in cases of illegal or unethical behavior.

Actions that may have violated the law, the fishing groups claim, includes a refusal to follow the law, improper lobbying by employees of a federal agency, misuse of federal funds and manipulations of rules and regulations regarding public participation.

“Council members have personally profited from their policy recommendations, including recommendations regarding the small but high-impact NWHI lobster fishery which, according to NOAA, created ‘a continuous stream of ecological concerns,’ ending in a ‘catastrophic collapse’ of the fishery,” the fishing groups alleged in their letter to Frazier.

The two groups point out that last week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed displeasure with Wespac’s management by rejected their proposed fishing regulations for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

“This slap at Wespac is the consequence of more than five year’s of effort by Wespac to undermine and ignore the efforts of two presidents, the governor of Hawaii and the majority of Hawaiians to protect and conserve the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI),” the fishing groups said in a statement.

“We believe this report shows a pattern of behavior by Wespac that warrants investigation by the Inspector General,” said William Aila, spokesman for the Waianae Boat Fishing Club and the Oahu Game Fishing Club.

The native Hawaiian fisherman serves as harbormaster for the Waianae Boat Harbor, and sat on Wespac’s Pelagic Advisory Panel for over 11 years and co-chaired the panel for two terms.

“The conservation and protection of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands has support from Hawaiians across the political spectrum,” said Aila. “And yet Wespac has engaged in a shameful campaign of misinformation and manipulation of the public process in order to advance their narrow agenda and the interests of a few individuals.”

“Everyone in the Hawai’i fishing industry knows that Wespac regularly uses these kinds of questionable practices,” Aila said. “We’re hoping that by bringing this to the attention of the Inspector General we can force Wespac to reform.”

The report reviews some of the conflicts of interest by members of Wespac that might explain the behavior of that agency. Aila said, “What we want to see from this report is for the Inspector General to thoroughly investigate Wespac and do whatever is necessary to get Wespac back on track to doing its job within the legal mandates.”

Wespac was not available for comment as the Council opened a four day meeting on Tuesday in Guam. The Council will consider a change to ecosystem based fisheries management for bottomfish, crustaceans, precious corals and coral reef resources in the offshore waters of the U.S. Pacific islands.

Stephanie Fried, Ph.D., senior scientist with Environmental Defense based on Oahu, says “it’s about time” for a federal investigation of Wespac’s activities.

“Frankly, this is a national scandal,” said Fried. “You have the federally funded organization responsible for designing management plans for approximately half of all federal waters in the United States, running amuck and attempting to prevent protections supported by the vast majority of people who have attended over 30 hearings, 100 public meetings on the NWHI over the past five years, protections which are of deep importance to the Native Hawaiian community.”

The report and all related documents can be found at: www.scottfoster.org/wespac

Does this seem like a re-run to anyone? It all happened before and it is playing out, again, in the CNMI.
[B] Ken Kramer
[/B][I]Fina Sisu[/I]