December 8, 2015 — The region’s fishermen, who have railed for months against the possibility of having to pay for the government observers who monitor their catch, may be getting a bit of a reprieve.
The New England Fishery Management Council, which oversees the region’s industry, approved measures last week to alleviate some of the burden fishermen are facing to cover the costs of the observers monitoring their catch.
Earlier this year, federal regulators decided to end the multimillion-dollar subsidy that paid for the program, handing off the cost to the fishermen. The observers, under federal mandates, accompany fisherman on about a quarter of their trips as a way to curb overfishing.
A federal report this year found the new costs could cause 59 percent of the region’s once-mighty groundfishing fleet to lose money. Many of the estimated 200 boats remaining are already struggling, given sweeping government-imposed cuts to quotas of cod and other bottom-dwelling fish.
The council’s recent action, if approved by federal regulators, could reduce by half the number of trips that observers are required to take with the region’s groundfishermen. The new regulations — which the government has estimated could cost fishermen as much $710 per trip with an observer — would reduce that requirement from nearly a quarter of trips to as low as 13 percent.
Read the full story at the Boston Globe