August 15, 2018 — NOAA announced Tuesday that it will fully reimburse at-sea monitoring costs for Northeast groundfish sector vessels for the 2018 fishing year.
The reimbursements will extend to the 2017 fishing year at an additional 25 percent, raising the total reimbursement to 85 percent for last year.
“Effective at-sea monitoring is essential to the success and sustainability of this fishery,” Jon Hare, director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said in a statement.. “This $10.3 million increase from Congress for groundfish at-sea monitoring provides additional economic stability for the sector vessels.”
In the past, NOAA has funded or subsidized the costs of monitoring, however, 2017, marked the first year funding wasn’t available to cover the full costs, the agency said.