Saving Seafood

New Bedford Standard-Times: Catch accountability should take place at the dock

August 6, 2015 — NOAA’s denial of the New England Fishery Management Council’s June request to suspend at-sea monitoring has satisfied environmental groups, but it serves as the latest example of their inappropriate and misguided influence in management of the Northeast fisheries.

The Management Council had asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for emergency relief, as the cost of at-sea monitoring shifted from the government to the fishermen, a $700-$800 cost per trip. Fishermen and regulators alike anticipate that it will make a more trips unprofitable.

NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard responded July 30 by saying the criteria for suspending the program under emergency action was not met.

According to an Aug. 3 report in the Gloucester Daily Times by reporter Sean Horgan, the campaign manager for environmental organization Oceana, Gib Brogan, said, “Currently, only 24 percent of fishing trips in the fishery carry observers on board. This proposal would have dropped it even further, seriously jeopardizing any chances of recovery for this region.”

There is more than one problem with this approach.

Read the full editorial at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

 

Our view: NOAA’s unfunded mandate

August 5, 2015 — NEWBURYPORT, R.I. — It is said that fisherman can be stubborn. While there’s some truth to that, they can’t compare to the hardheadedness of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which continues to insist cash-strapped captains fork over hundreds of dollars every time the agency decides to place a monitor on their boat.

The on-board monitoring program has long been controversial, with questions raised about its effectiveness and safety. What rankles the industry most, however, is NOAA’s insistence that fishermen pay for the program out of their own pockets.

 The agency has rejected at every turn the industry’s argument that this is a classic unfunded mandate, with the $700-per-trip costs likely to bankrupt some vessel owners and force others to remain in port, even when they could be fishing.

A few days ago, NOAA Fisheries denied a request by the Newburyport-based New England Fishery Management Council to suspend the monitoring program on an emergency basis.

“This was a foreseeable problem that does not justify an emergency action,” NOAA Regional Adminstrator John K. Bullard wrote to Tom Nies, executive director of the New England Fishery Management Council.

We’re amazed NOAA has finally recognized the cost of the monitoring program is a “problem” for fishermen, even if they have no intention of helping to defray the costs.

Read the full story at The Daily News of Newburyport 

Read a letter from NOAA Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard officially rejecting the request for emergency funding

 

 

NEFMC: Public Hearings Scheduled for Amendment 18 to the Groundfish Plan August 3-18

July 17, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC):

Dear Interested Parties:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold five public hearings and one webinar to solicit comments on draft Amendment 18 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan.

Any interested party is encouraged to comment on the range of proposed alternatives that would impose limits on the amount of groundfish fishery permits and/or Potential Sector Contribution (PSC) that individuals or groups may hold, as well as other measures that could promote fleet diversity or enhance sector management.

Public hearings will be held at the following locations: Portland, ME; Portsmouth, NH; New Bedford, MA; Mystic, CT; and Gloucester, MA from August 3 through August 18. A webinar for the same purpose is scheduled for August 20. The details are provided here Am.18. Public Hearing Schedule.pdf.

To help with the development of comments, you also will find a summary of all the proposals and the rationale behind them here Groundfish Amend 18. Public Hearing doc.pdf, including details about how to comment. Note, the cover page repeats the hearing schedule. You are in the right place to access the summary document, just scroll down.