Wespac Is Still Fighting A Federal Audit That Found Over $1 Million In Questionable Spending
One out of every $6 spent over a decade by the influential regional fishery council was questioned by investigators.
It鈥檚 been a year since a federal audit found more than $1 million in questionable spending by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, yet there鈥檚 still no ruling on how much the influential panel might ultimately have to pay back.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration division responsible for overseeing spending is still working through the audit findings on Wespac, officials said. The council guides fishing policies in over 1.5 million square miles of ocean.
鈥淣OAA鈥檚 Grants Management Division continues to work through the resolution process to develop a final determination,鈥 Stephanie Bennett, a directorate division chief with NOAA鈥檚 National Marine Fisheries Service, said in a recent email.
Wespac should expect a response from that NOAA division sometime in the coming months, Bennett added.
The 46-page audit report was completed by the Commerce Department鈥檚 Office of the Inspector General over an 18-month period, from 2020 to 2021. It stemmed from a request by four congressmen following a Civil Beat investigation in 2019 into the Western Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund.
Overall, the OIG found $1.24 million in questionable expenses by Wespac from 2010 through 2020 via that fund. Wespac had spent $7.4 million total from the fund during that period.
According to the newsletter , NOAA鈥檚 Grants Management division director, , informed Wespac in a February letter that it had endorsed the audit findings 鈥渢o the last dollar,鈥 and that the council should consider the letter the first official notification of a debt owed to NOAA.
The news outlet also reported that Wespac, which is publicly funded, was seeking legal counsel in June to help the council analyze the OIG report and respond to it.
Wespac spokeswoman Amy Vandehey declined in an email last month to directly provide details of whether the council had hired counsel and if so, at what cost. That request to Wespac, she said, should instead be routed through a federal request, which is pending.
Meanwhile, the person serving as regional administrator for NOAA鈥檚 Pacific Islands Regional Office at the time of the Wespac spending, Michael Tosatto, is now working on a special Commerce Department project to help make the country鈥檚 environmental review process faster and more efficient, according to NOAA spokeswoman Stefanie Gutierrez.
鈥淭he National Marine Fisheries Service deals with a substantial portion of the Department鈥檚 permitting workload, and in this context Tosatto brings a wealth of real world experience and applied leadership in the permitting arena to this effort,鈥 Gutierrez said.
