January 3, 2020 — The following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition:
Calendar year 2020 has begun with some positive news for commercial groundfish fishermen.
Thanks to the hard work of Senator Shaheen and fellow members of Congress, full funding has once again been secured through the FY 2020 federal appropriations legislation to cover at-sea monitoring (ASM) expenses for commercial groundfish fishermen!
Even better, for the first time, this legislation includes specific directives for NOAA Fisheries to improve the quality and utility of ASM and other fishery dependent data for the purpose of improving groundfish stock abundance estimates, along with the necessary funding to support implementation of these directives.
It has become clear that the future of the groundfish fishery depends on improving the apparent limitations of current stock assessments given their disconnect with the observations of fishermen on the water. It is likewise clear that until an understanding of true stock abundance is achieved, the groundfish fishery will not be sustainable under the financial burden of ASM expenses.
Consequently, securing this funding and these Congressional directives has been among the top priorities of the Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC), and so we are profoundly grateful to Senator Shaheen for her effective leadership and enduring commitment to our fishery.
Our work is not over. Senator Shaheen’s appropriations legislation also directs NOAA to submit to her Committee a ‘spend plan’ for these funds. It is critical that NOAA Fisheries strictly adheres to the intent and directives of Congress and does not seek to misuse these funds to pursue their own objectives. NSC will be watching this closely.
Finally, it is critical that NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council understand that there is absolutely nothing in Senator Shaheen’s appropriations legislation suggesting that it was intended to support any specific measures to revise the monitoring program as are being contemplated within ongoing development of Amendment 23. NSC will be vigorous in objecting to any misrepresentations of Congressional intent in this regard.
For additional information contact Jackie Odell, Executive Director, Northeast Seafood Coalition, Cell (978) 836-7999, jackie@northeastseafoodcoalition.org