Saving Seafood

2021-2022 Northeast Fisheries Observer Sea Day Schedule Now Available

May 28, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The 2021-2022 sea-day schedule for trips selected for observer coverage is now available. Two new information reports that support the schedule are also available. View or and download the schedule and reports here.

We did not conduct a discard analysis this year because of an observer data gap caused by observer coverage waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s sea day schedule is instead based on last year’s analysis, incorporating the effects of FY21 funding and sea scallop compensation rate.

There are 3,248 agency-funded days for fishery monitoring, 3,096 days fewer than required. We have used the prioritization process described in the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology Omnibus Amendment to allocate available funds to fishing fleets monitored using these sea days.

For groundfish vessels in this fishing year, we estimate that 699 Northeast Fisheries Observer Program sea-days can offset the days required for at-sea monitoring, and that 100% of vessel costs for at-sea monitoring will be reimbursed with funds specifically appropriated by Congress in FY2019 and FY2020 for this purpose.

Read the full release here

Reminder: Midwater Trawl Herring Vessels May Only Fish Inside Groundfish Closed Areas on Trips That Carry an Observer

October 22, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Atlantic herring vessels may only fish with midwater trawl gear inside the following Groundfish Closed Areas when carrying an observer onboard the vessel:

  • Closed Area I North (February 1 – April 15)
  • Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area
  • Cashes Ledge Closure Area
  • Closed Area II

Because industry-funded monitoring has not yet been implemented in the herring fishery, vessels are currently unable to purchase optional industry-funded observer coverage in order to fish inside a Groundfish Closed Area.

Currently, a vessel may fish with midwater trawl gear inside a Groundfish Closed Area on a herring trip if the following criteria are met:

  1. If the vessel is assigned Northeast Fisheries Observer Program (NEFOP) coverage on the trip in the Pre-Trip Notification System, and
  2. If the vessel actually carries a NEFOP observer on the trip.

If the vessel is issued a coverage waiver for the trip for any reason, the vessel is not permitted to fish inside Groundfish Closed Areas during that trip. For complete information on notification and reporting requirements, please see Notification, Reporting, and Monitoring Requirements for the Atlantic Herring Fishery.

Read the full release here

Council to talk deep-sea coral, at-sea monitors

January 23, 2018 — The New England Fishery Management Council kicks off its 2018 calendar with meetings in New Hampshire on the final two days of January that will include discussions on its deep-sea coral amendment and industry-funded at-sea monitoring.

The latter, however, will come with a twist.

The discussion on mandated industry-funded monitoring, set as the second agenda item for the first day of meetings on Jan. 30, is expected to include an update on electronic monitoring projects aboard midwater trawl vessels in the region’s herring and mackerel fisheries.

On the same day in the hotel, NOAA Fisheries — with the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center — will hold a free monitoring service provider vendor show to give fishermen and stakeholders the opportunity to meet and question vendors providing monitoring services.

“This is a great opportunity for herring and groundfish fishermen in particular to interact one-on-one with all of these providers,” said Janice Plante, a council spokeswoman.

Herring fishermen, she said, will be subject to new monitoring requirements under the industry-funded monitoring omnibus amendment and groundfishermen may see new monitoring requirements in the groundfish monitoring amendment currently before the council.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Northeast Fishery Observer Sea-Day Schedule Posted, Short-Term Reimbursement for Groundfish At-Sea Monitoring Available July 1

June 23, 2016 — The following was released by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center:

Today NOAA Fisheries published the 2016 Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology Annual Discard Report with Observer Sea Day Allocation and the resulting final 2016 sea-day schedule for our Northeast Fishery Observer Program.

This year we are able to fully fund our SBRM monitoring program and will use remaining funds to offset some of industry’s costs of the groundfish at-sea monitoring program.

Any sector trip beginning on or after July 1 may be eligible for reimbursement of at-sea monitoring costs though a program we are developing with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Because this support is not likely to last for the entire year, this method preserves the contract relationships sectors already have in place with at-sea monitor providers.

Fisheries observer program spawns more questions

September 29, 2015 — PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The fisheries observer program that looms over the industry in the Northeast won’t go out for public comment until at least December, the New England Fisheries Management Council decided Tuesday.

Years in the making, the preliminary draft of the measure numbers about 500 pages, testimony to the complexity of the effort.

Then there is the cost, which the council staff researched and broke down. It detailed the costs of what the industry will have to pay, and what it will cost the government.

Monitoring estimates by at-sea monitors, who will record bycatch, or fish that are thrown back, stands at $710 per day from the boat and $530 in costs to the government.

But a distinction has crept into the discussion, the difference between the observer program and the monitoring program. Observers are better educated, do more, and will cost boats $818 a day and the government $479.

Read the full story at New Bedford Standard -Times

Lawmakers appeal to NOAA over lobster monitors

August 6, 2015 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton and four other members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation have stepped into the fray over expanded federal monitoring of the state’s lobstermen, saying NOAA’s plan appears “duplicative and unnecessary.”

NOAA, citing the need to adhere to more stringent regulations for recording bycatch and discard data, announced earlier this summer it is significantly expanding the monitoring coverage for lobstermen with state and federal permits, while also mandating they complete vessel trip reports.

The lawmakers, in a letter to NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eileen Sobeck, point out that the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries already conducts annual lobster stock surveys in Massachusetts waters that produce similar data to the information the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeks by expanding the coverage.

“At a time when the financial resources to federal agencies are limited, efforts by NOAA to expand the NEFOP (Northeast Fisheries Observer Program) to a subset of lobster vessels that hold federal permits, and to require vessel trip reports in order to meet the requirements of the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology appear duplicative and unnecessary,” they wrote in the July 31 letter to Sobeck.

NOAA’s plan has outraged local lobstermen. At a contentious June 4 meeting in Gloucester, dozens of lobstermen ripped the plan as unwarranted and disproportionately unfair to Massachusetts-based boats, as well as creating safety and liability issues for permit holders.

“If an accident does occur involving an observer, it is unclear to the industry as to who would be financially liable,” said the letter, which was also signed by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, as well as U.S. Reps. William Keating of New Bedford and Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston. “Many in the lobster industry simply cannot afford the costs for legal services that would be required in the event of an observer injury.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times 

 

 

Lobstering: Monitors more likely on boats with state, federal permits

July 16, 2015 — Federal plans to expand observer coverage on lobster boats from Maine to Maryland may have a hit a lull, but they are not going away, especially for lobstermen who hold both state lobster and federal access permits, according to the NOAA Fisheries official that oversees the program.

Amy Martins, manager of the Northeast Fisheries Observer Program, said Wednesday the number of calls to lobstermen to schedule observer trips have declined substantially in the past month primarily because of concerns lobstermen expressed at a contentious June 4 meeting at NOAA Fisheries’ regional headquarters in Gloucester.

“We heard concerns from the lobstermen that our observer program was calling too frequently and that we were perhaps overly aggressive,” Martins said. “We’ve also done quite a bit of work since that meeting that has allowed us to zone in a little more clearly on the specific parts of the fishery we want to monitor, the fleet-within-the-fleet, so to speak.”

Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times