March 23, 2017 — STONINGTON, Conn. — Groundfishermen at the Fishing Fleet in Stonington, those who catch flounder and a dozen other bottom feeding fish, fear federal regulators are trying to sink their livelihood by mandating more regulations.
“We don’t need somebody on our back every day to watch what we do. Now they want to put cameras on the boat,” said Bob Guzzo, of Southern New England Fisherman & Lobsterman’s Association.
Guzzo has been fishing the region for nearly four decades.
He said the New England Fishery Management Council wants to increase at-sea monitoring of groundfish, in order to verify what they catch and release.
Guzzo said the added cost of paying someone to monitor what happens on the boat, or even watch remotely by camera, doesn’t help them or the industry but only increases the cost of doing business.