April 10, 2017 — Automation is coming to Alaska fishing boats in the form of cameras and sensors that track what’s coming and going over the rails.
Starting next year, electronic monitoring systems can officially replace human observers as fishery data collectors on Alaska boats using longline and pot gear. Vessel operators who do not voluntarily switch to electronic monitoring remain subject to human observer coverage on randomly selected fishing trips.
The onboard observer requirement originally covered vessels 59 feet and longer, but was restructured in 2013 to include boats down to 40 feet and, for the first time, was applied to the halibut fishery.
“Those smaller vessels have had a hard time accommodating human observers,” said Bill Tweit, vice chairman of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees the program.
Smaller boats also had a hard time with skyrocketing observer costs under the restructured program, which in some cases went from less than $300-$400 per day to more than $1,000.
Starting in 2013, 15 pot cod boats aligned with the Homer-based North Pacific Fisherman’s Association and Saltwater Inc. of Anchorage field tested electronic monitoring in the Gulf of Alaska.