June 25, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries’s plan to reinstate at-sea monitoring aboard commercial fishing vessels on July 1 despite the ongoing pandemic prompted withering criticism Tuesday from the region’s fishing industry.
Fishermen and other stakeholders flocked onto the webinar of the New England Fishery Management Council’s June meeting Tuesday morning to voice their displeasure — and perplexity — at the decision by NOAA Fisheries to resume placing monitors aboard vessels despite obvious health risks.
“They’ve offered us no guidelines and protocols for keeping observers and the industry safe,” Gloucester Fisheries Director Al Cottone, a longtime Gloucester fisherman, said in an interview following the webinar. “Basically, NOAA Fisheries has just passed the buck, placing the burden on the industry and (monitoring) providers on how to be safe on a 40-foot boat.”
He said the agency has not provided provisions for mandatory testing of observers, nor will it provide medical exemptions for at-sea monitoring to fishermen who have a pre-existing condition or are at extreme risk because of age.
“We have an elderly working fleet here,” Cottone said.