August 5, 2015 — NOAA Fisheries now says it expects to continue paying for at-sea monitoring of Northeast multispecies groundfish vessels through Oct. 31, two months longer than the federal agency initially projected.
The news that that permit holders will have at least two more months before they have to absorb the responsibility for paying for at-sea observers on their boats certainly is welcome, even if the reason for it is not.
“Due to reduced effort (by fishermen), the money is lasting longer,” Jennifer Goebel, a spokeswoman at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Gloucester, said Wednesday.
NOAA initially projected the money allotted for at-sea monitoring would run out around Aug. 31, but shrinking catch quotas, area closures and the absence of any opportunity to land cod, which remains the elemental stock for Gloucester and the region’s groundfishermen, has left NOAA with fewer vessels to monitor on far fewer trips.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times