Audit faults NOAA on fishermen’s fines

An audit of how fishery police used millions in federal fines collected from fishermen has found they misspent it on such items as cars for managers, a $300,000 luxury undercover boat, and a weeklong training workshop in Norway. The audit, released yesterday, was commissioned earlier this year after the inspector general of the US Department of Commerce found mismanagement by the law enforcement office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Inspector General Todd Zinser investigated after fishermen complained for years about arbitrary enforcement of fishery laws, saying the fines amounted to a bounty because NOAA kept the money. Gloucester fishermen Richard Burgess, who has fought $85,000 in fines, said NOAA should repay fishermen every dime. “We’ve all known that they’re criminals,’’ Burgess said of the law enforcement office. “Every one of them has got to go.’’...more