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Does Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski have a double standard for fish piracy?OPINION: U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has some nerve. And for that she deserves credit. Last week her media office, among the more prolific in Congress, issued a communique proclaiming: "Murkowski Warns Oceans Caucus of the 'Great Consequences' Of Illegal Fishing". She wasn't talking about her former fisheries aide, Arne Fuglvog, Alaska's consummate fish pirate. For those uninformed about the Fuglvog affair, here is a primer: Arne Fuglvog, a federal fisheries regulator and commercial long liner, was ratted out by his crew for years of illegal fishing. Fuglvog hired one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Alaska -- if not the best -- entered into plea-bargain negotiations with the U.S. government, and still ended up being order to jail for 10 months. Though Fuglvog pleaded guilty to only a single misdemeanor involving some illegally caught sablefish, there are indications it was but the tip of the iceberg. Suffice to say, this is not some scofflaw caught illegally snagging salmon in Anchorage's Ship Creek. Fuglvog was a well-connected political player who masqueraded as a conservationist while pirating Alaska's marine resources. He was the one-time president of the Petersburg Vessel Owners Association, a politically powerful group that spawned Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell. He was a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the self-proclaimed "family" that runs the marine fisheries off Alaska's coast. He was picked by the United Fishermen of Alaska, one of the state's most powerful political lobbies, as the "Fishermen of the Year" in 2005. His whole resume is available here. But the most interesting tidbit of Fuglvog's history isn't on that list of accomplishments. The resume fails to note that in 2009 Fuglvog was the prime candidate to take the job as head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency responsible for managing all the fisheries off U.S. coasts. And then he wasn't. In summer 2009, Fuglvog withdrew his name from the list of candidates for the job (officially titled as the assistant administrator for fisheries in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). "This is not about the job itself, it is just a timing issue," Fuglvog told the Gloucester Times. "I have a job to do and I want to do it to the best of my ability." Fuglvog's job: senior legislative assistant to Murkowski, Alaska's senior senator and an influential voice in national fisheries management. At the time Fuglvog dropped out of the running for the NMFS job, little was made of the move. It was noted by a few websites and blogs that cover fisheries -- and that was about it. But the timing of Fuglvog's withdrawal has since become a lot more interesting because of indications he was then under federal investigation for his illegal fishing activities. Fuglvog and rossi should share a cell the legacy of Stevens,Murkowski and young in regards to federaly regulated fisheries raping alaska waters will unfold for generations, She is a Murkowski her fathers daughter so why is any of this a suprise. Has the government put a lien on the Hankins IFQ NMFS Enforcement admitted that it did receive tips The Vessel Monitoring System did not pass. VSM --wasn't that one of the issues that Foglvog voted on when he sat on the powerful North Pacific Management Council eventhough it was a conflict for him to vote on it? After all the VSM would have caught him for the alleged years of illegal fishing in which he engaged. Could it be his powerful friends have rolled all those years into one small charge to protect him for the role he played on the NPFMC? Most people would have had their boats and IFQs confiscated. That would have been over a two million dollar fine for Foglvog. Instead he pays less that 200,000. Another factoid left out. Murkowski has not said much about when she knew and what did she know about Foglvog precisely because reporters like Medred were not agressive in asking her. The only reporter who did ask an agressive question was the APRN DC reporter who found out that the head of NOAA knew in April of 2009 that Foglvog was a crook. This is a fact that the Alaska Dispatch left off page one and two of this piece. If the head of NOAA knew in 2009, Murkowski had to have known. If she knew then, she is lying now. Medred and the Alaska press went after Miller agressively in the election but are now sitting on their hands about this story. People on the dock in Petersburg knew for a long time about this. It was not a suspicion of some of Miller's supporters during the campaign. They had to know. But NOAA was dragging its heals about the making the information public and it did not come out in public until the plea was filed in court. The Alaska press knew in December 2009 about this but was not agressive about getting to the bottom of it. Medred says Joe Miller's positions convinced her to jump back in. But Murkowski gave the Natives at the AFN this year an entirely different story. She says it was the committment of Kookesh and Mallott to raise a lot of money for her that convinced her to run. IN fact they got her 1.73 million dollars. See Joe Miller's op ed in WND online for more on this quid pro quo whereby she got money and votes in exchange for reintroducing the Sealaska Land Rip OFF now called S 730. I don't longline but understand whats going on here. Much adoo about nothing. Who got hurt? The fish wander from area to area no one is getting hurt by what Fuglvov did. Its just a line on the ocean or a chart the fish don't see it.Fisherman will fish across the line its done in Bristol Bay all the time and they are sold as legal caught fish no one gets prison time for it. The resource isn't being hurt. He did wrong but the resource isn't being hurt he can only catch so many fish. This isn't a major scandal in the minds of anyone but people looking for a scandal. Ottokar, I think that besides you the only place I have heard that argument is from Senator Murkowski's office and from the Petersburg Longline Fleet. Otto your attitude is what steadily destroys fisheries and costs jobs and industries. Look at what happened to the westward region shrimp fishery. Its gone and the bandit fishermen deserve most of the credit. Fuglvog's activities totally confound fish managers' best efforts. Now it appears he's probably not the only one. These guys are stealing from every US citizen as well as their fellow fishermen and any future fishermen. I hope if he's found guilty that he has to pay dearly. Now look at the reduced TACs and such that managers are trying to use in some fisheries - they are shooting in the dark cause the falsified catch data they get from fish crooks. It can turn into a mess. How about we give them three choices, take a VMS or take a observer on every trip or don't fish. At the same time we need to address so other issues including the trawl fleet and the prodigious by catch they are guilty of every season and the Commercial Charter operators who have long been guilty of skirting the sport catch limits because nobody was looking. Fishermen are oppossed to VMS for competitive fisheries. I doubt that anybody would have been oppossed to them if they had been presented as a requirement to the IFQ long-line fishery only. They wanted it for All fisheries, which really makes things difficult in a competitive world. For instance, lets say boat A is a Dungeness crab boat. Federal requirements make him transmit via VMS. Vessel B is also a Dungeness guy, and he can see where vessel A is fishing. Both vessels deliver, B sees A has way more crab, so he goes and dumps his stuff on vessel A. I was thinking it could be easily exploited in the same way. I know how secretive fisherman get on their territories. ade its time for some gunboats patrolling areas.. Make the coast guard and national guard redeply on our ocean boarders. Someone trespasses they get a few shells across their bow... Ok You guys KNOW I am exaggerating right? Sheesh... Still there needs to be some monitoring, yes. especially on waste bycatch and indeed this illegal fishing by foreign trespassers, as well as civilian pirates. Random patrols of restricted areas should be able to do the same type of things. As to this guy, well yea this was just stupid having such a person in charge, just as it is with the council in charge of regulations when they are ultimately the worst of the offenders causing the problems. State or Federal Oversite of such organizations would be a tremendous balance of power to this system. Something fishy about the way Murkowski legislates. . Too bad Miller didn't win Pretty ironic. Ouch. |
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