Gary Gentile

Noaa's Ark: the Rise of the Fourth Reich Gary Gentile

The title says it all. The subtitle leaves nothing to the imagination. As the cover text clearly denotes, this book is a history of outright lies, deceptive practices, and gross administrative abuses that have been perpetrated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration throughout its existence. Most of the book focuses on the National Marine Sanctuaries Program, but fraudulent activities in other NOAA agencies are covered as well: past as well as present. The narrative starts with the Civil War ironclad warship Monitor, which was designated unlawfully as the first National Marine Sanctuary. A brief account of four federal lawsuits, which ultimately led to Congress forcing NOAA to permit public access to the site, is followed by NOAA's recent scheme to expand the boundaries of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary in order to annex every shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina - and beyond. The Stellwagen Bank Robbery relates NOAA's plot to expand the Stellwagen Bank NMS to include all the fishing waters off the State of Massachusetts. This expansion goes hand in hand with NOAA's sordid history of preying upon commercial anglers by citing them with exorbitant fines for alleged violations that were never proven in court - and then using the proceeds as perquisites for NOAA's law enforcement personnel: personal credit cards, free vehicles, and around-the-world all-expenses-paid junkets for NOAA's judges and prosecutors. NOAA representatives have knowingly misled the public at so-called scoping meetings. Worse, they have deceived and lied to Congress by submitting false and distorted information in various action plans: all of which are designed to increase NOAA's authority and submerged land holdings. NOAA wants to expand the boundaries of its West Coast sanctuaries to create a huge conglomerate that will control all the waters off the State of California - and beyond. If NOAA gets its way, public access to National Marine Sanctuaries will be either disallowed or severely restricted. Prohibitions against sport-fishing and recreational diving will result in economic catastrophe as charter boats, dive shops, tackle shops, restaurants, and motels are forced out of business by the loss of tourism. NOAA's plans for expansion are unlimited. NOAA is a juggernaut that is totally out of control. This is NOAA's story.