SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Peggy Parker — September 24, 2014 — Freezer longliners, including vessels fishing for western Alaska coastal villages, have missed weeks of fishing this summer because no Lead Level 2 (LL2) observers were available for the trip. The fleet is concerned they will not be able to fish their quota of Pacific cod in this year’s B season if the problem is not addressed by NMFS.
When the Alaska observer program was redesigned and expanded to cover more boats a few years ago, the freezer longliner fleet was given two options for the 2013 season: take two observers, one of whom would meet LL 2 experience requirements, or take one LL 2 observer in combination with a flow scale that the crew would use to weigh all Pacific cod.
Most of the fleet went with option two and purchased the flow scale, at a cost of about $100,000 each. Prior to the final rule on the new observer program that requires LL2s, freezer longliners regularly carried LL2 observers on board.
“There were never any significant difficulties with securing LL2 observers for our fleet, and members appreciated the additional knowledge and familiarity with our fleet that LL2 observers brought on board,” says Chad See, FLC executive director. As a result, prior to the implementation of the final rule, using flow scales and cameras to monitor catch “increased observer data collection and monitoring … regardless of the qualifications of the observer on board,” See states in a letter to NMFS Regional Administrator Dr. James Balsiger on August 28, 2014.
Balsiger’s response acknowledged the situation but says the 213 active (defined as having debriefed within the past 18 months) LL2 observers on staff as of June 2014 should be enough for the freezer longline fleet. “NMFS believes that this current pool of lead level 2 observers is sufficient rto meet regulatory requirements,” Balsiger states in his response.
“However, NMFS notes that observer companies do not generally pay a significant premium to observers for lead level 2 qualifications nor do they charge fishng companies more for providing them. NMFS notes that the freezer longline fleet could negotiate higher wages to help guarantee that an adequate number of lead level 2 observers is maintained,” the letter continues. “NMFS has no role in setting the compensation provided to lead level 2 observers in the freezer longline fleet. It is essential that observer provider companies and the freezer longline fleet provide compensation and working conditions that will attract and retain qualified observers, or provide a mechanism that gives newer observers lead level 2-qualifying experience.”
At an Observer Advisory Committee meeting held last week in Seattle, an experienced observer pointed out how difficult and complicated this would be, since observer providers (separate companies from the harvesters) negotiate wages with observer unions well in advance of each season.
“It’s a lot more complicated than just paying them more money, “says FLC’s Chad See. “It’s a matter of creating a regulation that works.”
The FLC is taking two courses of action now. First, the fleet is paying for an extra observer to accompany an already qualified LL2 observer so they can accrue the 30 sets needed for the additional training. The cost of having the additional (not required because they’ve got a flow scale and an LL2 observer) observer for a trip is about $10,000.
Their second course of action is to pursue a regulatory change that will allow some flexibility to the fleet when LL2s are not available. That will take a few years, given the process required to change the rule.
The agency was first notified of the problem in 2011. See’s letter provides five examples of vessels waiting three to six days at the dock this August for qualified observers before being able to fish. He says if this problem is not addressed by the agency, “the shortage of LL2 observers threatens the freezer longline fleet’s ability to fish their quota in the 2014B season, with additional concern in 2015.”
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.