March 19, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries is restricting access to its Gloucester office and the New England Fishery Management Council is converting many of its meetings to webinars as precautions against further spread of the novel coronavirus.
NOAA Fisheries said its Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in the Blackburn Industrial Park continues to operate, but it is limiting access to the building to employees, as well as to visitors and deliveries deemed essential to its mission.
“This measure is taken out of an abundance of caution and our commitment to protecting the health and safety of our employees and constituents during the COVID-19 virus pandemic,” NOAA Fisheries said in a statement. “The majority of our staff are teleworking to the maximum extent possible, and we also have a few staff working in the buildings to keep critical functions and operations moving. Feel free to call or email GARFO staff as you normally would, but please be patient if their response time is delayed.”
NOAA Fisheries said all meetings and events scheduled for March — and several for April — have been canceled or postponed. It said it will continue to provide updates via email, as well as on the events portion of its website.