The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council is a public agency, funded with taxpayer dollars, with a mission vital to the public interest: managing fisheries “to prevent overfishing, minimize bycatch and protect fish stocks and habitat” in federal waters off Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific territories, according to its Web site.

That’s why a recent report from the Government Accountability Office paints a disturbing picture of the council’s lack of transparency. The report rightly calls for the council to improve public access to its records, including meeting minutes.
At a time when most public agencies routinely put their documents online, the council requires a visit to its office to inspect or copy most of its available records, the report said. In addition, a citizen must file Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain anything “not normally made available to the public.”
Even members of the council have had trouble. The GAO found it took staff eight weeks to produce copies of the council’s 2006 and 2007 annual budgets and its 2006 audit report. That’s unreasonable. Other fishery councils have years worth of records accessible with a mouse click.
It’s not simply a bureaucratic problem. The council’s ability and willingness to fulfill its mission has long been a point of contention. Environmentalists and others have alleged that the council has engaged in illegal lobbying of lawmakers and misspent federal funds to promote commercial fishing at the expense of the fisheries.
The GAO found little evidence to support such allegations. But even that’s not a clear vindication; the report noted the council doesn’t keep records of its interactions with lawmakers, a failure the GAO rightly said should be fixed.
The council and its oversight agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, need to follow swiftly and robustly on their pledges to adopt the GAO’s recommendations for more transparency. The council must get most, if not all, of its records online for easy public access. A citizen should not have to file FOIA requests as a matter of routine.
Such openness is crucial for the public’s ability to oversee the work it is paying for, and in which it has a vital interest.