Whistleblower Leaves U.S. National Fisheries Serviceff

The biologist who filed a federal whistleblower complaint concerning political interference in setting water levels prior to the massive Klamath fish kill in the fall of 2002 has resigned from federal service. He was also the person who objected last year’s decision by the Bush administration to change the definition of dolphin-safe.

In a stinging letter delivered to his managers at National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Michael Kelly accuses the agency of politicizing scientific decision-making and misleading the public.

In his resignation letter, Kelly, a federal biologist for nine years, cites a series of decisions beyond the controversial Klamath fish-kill that were taken contrary to scientific evidence and to the detriment of harmed federally protected salmon and other marine life. These actions include the decision not to list the green sturgeon, the dolphin-safe tuna decision, and the recent position counting of hatchery salmon as part of the protected “natural population.”

”My particular case is just symptomatic of this agency's failure to correctly apply science and caution to its decisions and public pronouncements. I speak for many of my fellow biologists who are embarrassed and disgusted by the agency's apparent misuse of science.”

“Federal service has just lost another biologist with the integrity to speak up,” stated Karen Schambach, Director of California PEER, whose organization represented Kelly in the 2002 whistleblower case. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for self-respecting scientists to continue working in agencies where politics now routinely and flagrantly trump science.”