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GCEL OFFICES The Office of General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation The Office of General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation (GCEL) prosecutes civil administrative violations committed under a myriad of laws administered by NOAA. GCEL also provides legal advice to their primary client, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office for Law Enforcement, on the development and implementation of enforcement policies and operational guidance. GCEL HEADQUARTERS Office of the Assistant General Counsel For Enforcement and Litigation 8484 Georgia Avenue, Suite 400 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Phone: 301-427-2202 Fax: 301-427-2211 The Silver Spring office's mission is national in scope and promotes unified and consistent enforcement of NOAA's natural marine resource statutes. The Silver Spring office also focuses on uniquely Washington-based functions such as monitoring and developing legislative and regulatory proposals, responding to Congressional inquiries, conducting Congressional briefings, issuing all GCEL penalty schedules, providing legal and policy guidance to NOAA program offices, adjudicating written warning appeals, and taking the lead on any number of cross-cutting issues of nationwide concern. In addition, the Silver Spring office facilitates cooperative enforcement efforts with state and federal agencies. Like enforcement attorneys in the regions, the lawyers based in Silver Spring also prosecute cases. These cases are sent from all over the country and reflect the individual region's priorities. Headquarters litigation relieves temporary increases in regional case referrals and supports timely case processing. Headquarters also steps in to litigate particularly sensitive, politically charged cases. As in the regional offices, a significant amount of time is devoted to regulatory review and client guidance, primarily for programs managed from NOAA Headquarters, including those that manage and protect endangered species and marine mammals, and commercial and recreational fisheries. A number of enforcement programs are supported exclusively by Headquarters, such as international cooperative efforts to limit illegal unreported and unregulated fishing. GCEL NORTHEAST REGION 1 Blackburn Drive Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930 Phone: 978-281-9211 Fax: 978-281-9389 In the Northeast region, there are thirteen fisheries management plans (FMPs) and at least forty species of fish regulated by NOAA's NMFS. As in other regions, enforcement efforts here are focused on serious and purposeful offenders. Over the past several years, there has been a significant increase in the number of serious cases being referred to NOAA General Counsel. Areas of particular concern include the use of illegal net configurations in the multispecies fishery, large-scale violations by fish dealers, incursions into closed areas by scallop and multispecies vessels, and fish landings that exceed trip limits (particularly in the cod and general category scallop fisheries). In this region, Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) have a large impact on detection of closed area and Days-At-Sea violations. VMS first became mandatory in the fisheries of the Northeast in mid-1998. Over the last several years, many catch seizures resulted from VMS-based information have taken place and a number of closed area cases, based solely on VMS positional data, have been prosecuted. GCEL SOUTHEAST REGION 263 13th Ave. S., Suite 177 St. Petersburg, FL 33701 Telephone: 727-824-5370 Fax: 727-824-5376 In the Southeast region, there are twenty-two FMPs in effect and more than four hundred species of fish regulated by NOAA's NMFS. Some of the most challenging issues in the region stem from the year-round nature of the fisheries and the large numbers of commercial and recreational fishermen. Regional priorities include but are not limited to enforcement of turtle excluder devices (TEDs), which help prevent endangered and threatened sea turtles from drowning in shrimp nets, red snapper seasonal/ area closures and bag limits which protect this overfished species, the Oculina Bank, Florida, measures to limit activity in this unique fragile environment, unlicensed and unreported purchase and sale of fish that undermines the integrity of fishery management measures, and other area closures which protect various HMS and other finfish species. The region is also home to several federally-designated National Marine Sanctuaries. Within the sanctuaries, the primary issues have been violations that result from fishing in areas where fishing is not permitted, and groundings on the coral reefs. GCEL NORTHWEST REGION 7600 Sand Point Way, N.E. Seattle, Washington, 98115-0070 Phone: 206-526-6075 Fax: 206-526-6542 The Northwest Region of GCEL works closely in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard and the states of Oregon and Washington to enforce commercial and recreational fishing restrictions for Pacific Coast groundfish species, salmon, and halibut. Groundfish and halibut are regulated in federal waters under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and North Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (NPHA), respectively. Salmon fishing is regulated under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the Pacific Salmon Treaty Act of 1985. The Northwest Region also enforces compliance under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to protect and recover threatened and endangered runs of salmon and steelhead trout in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. This effort continues to be a regional priority, with emphasis on preventing or penalizing the taking of ESA-listed endangered and threatened species, regardless of whether the take occurs directly or through habitat modification. Other regional priorities include Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) enforcement issues relating to Northwest whales, porpoises, seals and sea lions, and case investigations under the Lacey Act Amendments of 1988 involving fish and shellfish that is harvested or sold in violation of state, federal, foreign, or Indian tribal law, and that is subsequently trafficked in interstate or foreign commerce. The Northwest Region also provides assistance and law enforcement support to the federally-designated Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, under authority of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. GCEL SOUTHWEST REGION 501 W. Ocean Blvd., Suite 4470 Long Beach, CA 90802 Phone: 562-980-4080 Fax: 562-980-4084 The Southwest and Pacific Islands Regions are is responsible for a wide range of NOAA priorities, including the Pacific coast groundfish fishery, the Western Pacific pelagic fishery, issues concerning the Pacific Insular Areas, marine mammals, endangered species, and twelve national marine sanctuaries. In the Southwest Region, the cases involving dealer/vessel conspiracies to land overages and falsify records in the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery are a priority as these violations significantly impact the resource. In addition, the recent implementation of conservation areas in this fishery has made the enforcement of the vessel monitoring system requirements a priority for the region. Lastly, the Southwest Region continues to devote significant enforcement resources to various issues under the ESA and the MMPA. Salmon-related issues remain a priority for NMFS along the entire West Coast, and the enforcement effort is developed along with the management plans (e.g., habitat conservation plans) to ensure the survival of the species and promote compliance among the myriad affected people/entities. In the Pacific Islands Region, the Western Pacific pelagic fishery remains a top priority. Significant effort is put into continued enforcement of prohibited fishing zones through effective use of the nation's first vessel monitoring system, as is enforcement of the recent measures to reduce the number of seabird and sea turtle takes by the fleet. In addition, enforcement of the Shark Finning Prohibition Act through dockside monitoring of landings of U.S. and foreign vessels has become a significant issue. As always, a strong enforcement response to any illegal fishing by foreign vessels in remote U.S. exclusive economic zone waters in the Pacific is accomplished through cooperation between GCEL, NMFS Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Department of Justice. GCEL ALASKA REGION P.O. Box 21109 709 West 9th Street Room 909A Juneau, AK 99802-1109 Phone: 907-586-7414 Fax: 907-586-7263 The Alaska Region is responsible for enforcing the laws and regulations for numerous fisheries, as well as endangered species and marine mammals. The region's priorities include prosecuting violations that involve interference with fisheries observers; the lethal taking of endangered Stellar sea lions and illegal fishing in their critical habitat; recordkeeping and reporting requirements; violations of the sablefish and halibut individual fishing quota (IFQ) regulations; and violations that involve fishing in areas that have been closed to fishing activities. The region also works closely with the United States Attorney's Office in Alaska on cases in which NOAA seeks to prosecute individuals criminally and also obtain civil forfeiture of the vessel used in perpetrating the crime. The region is in the process of working with other NOAA offices and various Alaska Native Organizations to negotiate cooperative agreements under the MMPA. The first cooperative agreement was signed with the Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission, and recognizes a role for Alaskan native tribes to enforce, under their tribal jurisdiction, violations of MMPA subsistence take regulations while preserving preeminent federal authority under the MMPA to prosecute such violations if necessary.