Office of Law Enforcement Annual Report Fiscal Year 2015
October 01, 2015
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement protects marine wildlife, sanctuaries and monuments, and critical habitat by enforcing domestic laws and international treaty obligations designed to ensure these natural resources are available for future generations. OLE actively seeks to promote compliance with the nation’s marine resource laws, and takes measured enforcement action when these laws are violated.
This Annual Report provides an overview of how OLE successfully accomplished this mandate during the last year. In the pages, you will read about a few of the many cases our enforcement officers and special agents — supported by dedicated staff in OLE Headquarters and in each OLE Division — investigated last year, to include an ivory smuggling ring, an overfishing conspiracy, mislabeling crimes, fishing during closed seasons, and the harassment of marine mammals.