The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has decided to discontinue funding for the dockside monitoring program in the groundfish industry. NOAA said it will phase out the program by Sept. 19 and redirect the funds — around $1 million — to help fishermen defray some of their operational costs under the sector management system.
"The sectors will be able to use that money for expenses, such as office space rental or salaries for sector managers. They can also use it for monitors if they wish to continue using them voluntarily," said Maggie Mooney-Seus, communications officer with the National Marine Fisheries Service. "I know a couple of sectors were using them to gather data."
The money will be disbursed by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, a research and education center located in Portland, although the details of how it will be allocated have yet to be determined, Mooney-Seus said.
The catch share system introduced in May 2010 to regulate the New England groundfish industry mandated the use of observers onboard boats at sea, in addition to using dockside monitors to tally the catch as it came ashore. In 2010, the rules called for 50 percent of sector vessels to be monitored at the pier, dropping to 20 percent for the current fishing year. That rule was later modified by the New England Fishery Management Council, which wanted all vessels without an at-sea observer to be monitored as they off-loaded their catch
In New Bedford, Stephanie Rafael, who manages the vessels in Sector 10, questioned why the decision was not taken earlier, before the beginning of the fishing year on May 1.
"It makes it a little difficult because we already have contracts with our (monitor) providers," she said. "If NOAA is dropping the program, I think we'll be able to get out of them. But it makes it a little hairy. And for those providers who only do dockside monitoring, this is obviously pretty bad news. I feel sorry for people who thought they had a job for the year and now they won't." Rafael also doubted that the majority of sectors would continue with the monitors voluntarily. "There are already so many costs that if it's not a requirement, I can't see anyone keeping them."
Read the complete story from The South Coast Today