Saving Seafood

Suit challenging new charter boat rules OK’d as class action

June 15, 2021 — Six captains and five companies from Florida and Louisiana can represent others in a lawsuit challenging new federal regulations for nearly 1,300 charter boats across the Gulf of Mexico, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan certified the suit early this month as a class action for the people who take small groups of anglers into the Gulf. She rejected an argument that some charter captains support the regulations.

“The claims and defenses of class representatives are typical of the claims of the class as a whole,” she wrote on June 2.

The lawsuit contends that privacy and other rights are violated by regulations which require permanently active tracking devices on the boats. The suit also challenges requirements to report information including the crew size, number of customers, the fee charged to each and the amount and price of fuel.

Although the regulations took effect in January, the government has not yet set a date for requiring the devices, said Judy Pino, spokeswoman for the nonprofit law firm New Civil Liberties Alliance, which represents the captains.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Gulf of Mexico charter operators fight back against lawsuit mandating electronic monitoring

June 15, 2021 — A week after receiving class-action status in its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA, and NOAA Fisheries, a nonpartisan civil rights group has filed an amended lawsuit regarding NOAA Fisheries plan to monitor charter boats in the Gulf of Mexico.

A group of 11 small businesses and fishing-boat owners claim that a policy requiring electronic monitoring and reporting infringes on their operations. Last July, NOAA Fisheries issued an order to electronically submit reports for each fishing trip, even if no fish were caught. It also requires boats to notify the agency before departing on any kind of trip.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA to reimburse monitoring costs

April 13, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries has set its electronic monitoring reimbursement policy for Northeast groundfish sector vessels in the 2021 fishing season and is urging fishermen to purchase and install the systems now while federal funds are available.

“For fishing year 2021, groundfish sector vessels may use either electronic monitoring or human at-sea monitors to meet the monitoring requirements, provided the sector has a corresponding monitoring program as part of its approved operations plan,” the agency stated. “Vessels that choose to use electronic monitoring will be eligible for reimbursement, while government funding is available.”

The agency said sector vessels employing electronic monitoring should submit receipts for reimbursable costs to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, using the same process they use for human at-sea monitoring reimbursements.

It said costs eligible for reimbursement largely fall within six areas: equipment, technical support, video review, operational costs, training and COVID-19 protocols.

The equipment category covers the purchase and installation of equipment necessary “to outfit a vessel with one fully functioning electronic monitoring system.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Major Refresh Orients our Fishery Monitoring and Research Division Toward the Future

January 27, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Staff involved with cooperative research and fishery monitoring at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center interact daily with the fishing industry. It’s a challenging job, and an essential one: scientists and fishermen working together in areas of mutual interest improves fisheries science and management.

It’s little wonder that managing the many moving parts of this effort requires constant assessment and adaptation. The most recent effort is a major one that has resulted in a new internal structure to improve operations and maximize resources.

The ultimate goal is to ensure accurate representation of fishing activity.

“Improving integration of our efforts, modernizing our systems, and making the data we collect even more useful will enable us to have increased confidence in our science, take some of the burden off the industry, and make it easier for fishermen to access information,” said Amanda McCarty, chief of the center’s Fishery Monitoring and Research Division, which includes the fishery monitoring and cooperative research efforts.

Read the full release here

At-sea monitoring coming to herring fishery in April

December 14, 2020 — The federal government plans to require herring fishing boats to participate in industry-funded monitoring starting in April.

At-sea monitoring programs allow the government to collect important data that helps manage fisheries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it intends to begin selecting vessels in the herring fishery for monitoring coverage on April 1.

NOAA said the plan could be altered by health mandates or travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The agency said in a statement that some herring boats have the option of seeking an exempted permit to use electronic monitoring instead of at-sea monitoring.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

PFMC: Ad Hoc Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Policy Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee to meet January 20-21, 2021

December 8, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Policy Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee (Committees) will hold three online meetings, which are open to the public.  The meetings will be held Wednesday, January 20, 2021 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Thursday, January 21, 2021 (9 a.m. to 12 p.m.) and Thursday, February 25, 2021 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Pacific Standard Time, or until business for each day is completed.

Please see the Ad Hoc Electronic Monitoring committees online meeting notice on the Council’s website for purpose and participation details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff Brett Wiedoff at 503-820-2424; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

Pathway to Paperless Data Collection

October 28, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The information collected by observers and at-sea monitors is essential to successful science-based fisheries management. Gathering and recording accurate data while aboard a vessel is challenging work. It’s the first step in a much longer process of validating and integrating the data for use by scientists and managers.

Historically, observers have collected data on paper forms for manual processing, but many programs are moving the entire data collection process to a paperless system. This improves cost and timing efficiencies while reducing potential errors in the data itself. Our Northwest Fisheries Science Center has put a new paperless system to the test, and the lessons learned can inform other projects across the country.

The program has traditionally used paper-based data collection and documentation of fishery catch weights (e.g., groundfish, shrimp, midwater species) for trawl and fixed-gear, rod and reel, longline, and other gear types.

In the paper-based process, the information is calculated, entered into an offline database while at sea, and then synced to an online database once on land. Then, observer program staff review the data, consider edits or corrections, and if necessary, require resubmissions before the data becomes available to end-users.

To address their goals to streamline the traditional workflow, the observer program has been developing a system that includes data entry into a handheld device. This eliminates error-prone processes like transcription and calculation, and enables electronic data archiving.

“Improvements to our data collection process resulted in faster data turnaround and catch quota updates for vessels that participated in our program,” says Jason Eibner, a former observer who has worked for 12 years at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, part of our Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

“We realized that a paperless electronic data collection system would help us work even more efficiently by removing the most tedious and time-consuming steps. At the same time, we’re increasing data accuracy and providing our observers with some deserved down time in the field,” added Eibner.

Read the full release here

How Fish-Recognition Tech Is Assisting Demand for Canned Tuna

October 28, 2020 — The pandemic is forcing marine protection observers to adopt technology that monitors fishing boats remotely instead of getting on the vessels and risking infection.

Commercial fishing fleets are facing a jump in demand for canned tuna, but the coronavirus outbreak has prevented industry watchdogs and environmental groups from sending people onto boats to monitor whether the catches are sustainable. Traditionally, those observers spend months on vessels collecting data and watching for illegal activity.

Instead, some vessels are installing video cameras, sensors and systems that use algorithms to detect different types of fish and marine life, similar to the way Facebook Inc identifies people tagged in photos, said Mark Zimring, large scale fisheries program director at The Nature Conservancy, a U.S.-based environmental nonprofit organization.

The goal is to make sure boats don’t misreport the contents and volumes of their catches and ensure at-risk species like turtles and sharks are safely released when they’re caught by accident. Satellite imagery, machine-learning tools and artificial intelligence are also used to detect practices such as illegal shark-finning and labor abuses.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

Fishermen Raise Concerns About Costs, Effectiveness of Expanded At-Sea Monitoring

September 28, 2020 — The following was released by the Northeast Seafood Coalition:

As the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) considers adopting universal at-sea monitoring requirements for commercial groundfish vessels, a diverse group of fishermen and fishing organizations is raising concerns about the long-term negative impacts on the fleet of a drastic expansion of current monitoring mandates.

The groups, which include organizations like the Northeast Seafood Coalition and the Associated Fisheries of Maine, and several of the region’s organized seafood sectors, have raised issues about the cost and efficacy of expanded monitoring. Many submitted these concerns as public comments on the NEFMC’s Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fisheries Management Plan, which deals with changes to the monitoring requirements.

Specifically, these groups are concerned that many fishing vessels will be unable to take on the increased monitoring costs; that the cost will fall disproportionately on smaller vessels; and that the benefits of additional monitoring tools, and the effectiveness of electronic monitoring to reduce costs, have not been proven.

Read the full release here

GLOUCESTER DAILY TIMES: Monitoring plan puts small businesses at risk

September 25, 2020 — Imagine trying to run a Main Street business — a restaurant or gift shop, maybe — during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cratered economy and the threat of disease make each day a challenge and the future uncertain. Now imagine the government dropping another $700 in fees on you every time you open your doors. There’s no way your mom-and-pop operation could survive.

Yet that’s just what the New England fishing industry is facing as regulators move closer to requiring that boat owners pay to have a government monitor on every trip. The monitors — the federal government calls them “observers” — assess the health of fish stocks and make sure fishermen are following the rules.

The New England Fishery Management Council, which essentially sets the rules for commercial fishing in the region, will meet next week to decide how often monitors will be required on fishing vessels — 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of trips. Early indications are that councilors will require a monitor on every trip, with the average cost of $700 to be borne by fishermen. Regulators have thus far turned their backs on industry pleas to have the government pay for the program, or develop less-intrusive electronic monitoring programs.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times