Saving Seafood

MSC announces new research funding to improve fishery observer safety

July 23, 2020 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

New funding to support research into fishery observer safety and welfare, has been announced by the Marine Stewardship Council today. The global not-for-profit organisation – which sets an environmental standard for sustainable fishing – said it hoped to accelerate progress in safeguarding observers who carry out a vital role in protecting our oceans.

The move follows the first death of an observer on a vessel fishing for MSC certified catch in the Western Central Pacific. The shocking and tragic death of Eritara Aati Kaierua on board the Win Far 636 in the Pacific in March 2020, is still under police investigation in Tarawa, Kiribati but there have been persistent reports of the dangers facing observers globally. 

Observers play a vital role ensuring the monitoring, compliance and surveillance of commercial fishing activities. Mandated by fishery management organisations, their work focuses on collecting data to enable effective regulation of marine activity. However, according to the Association of Professional Observers, the isolated and sometimes contentious nature of their jobs can lead to attempts at bribery, intimidation and violence.

MSC does not require fisheries to work with observers as a part of its certification requirements – but in practice many fisheries rely on observers to collect the essential evidence needed for sustainable fisheries management – especially in remote parts of the world.

MSC wholly condemns any violence or intimidation of observers. As part of its contribution to the collective efforts of the industry, human rights NGOs, governments and regulators to improve observer safety, MSC is allocating £100,000 of funding for projects and initiatives aimed at improving observer safety at sea.

The funds will be deployed through its Ocean Stewardship Fund in the next round which opens for applications in September 2020. This tranche of funding will also support initiatives focussed on the use of electronic monitoring and other technologies designed to support observers and deliver assurance of fishing operations.

The MSC action comes as there is a growing focus on this area, including campaigns on observer safety by Greenpeace and the Association of Professional Observers as well as the publication of a recent report by the organisation Human Rights at Sea.

The Chief Executive of MSC, Rupert Howes, said:

“The MSC’s mission is to end the global crisis in overfishing. This is an enormous and complex challenge, supported by the extraordinary hard work and efforts of many people – including observers.

Governments, law enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities must do more to ensure observer safety. But we recognise – as part of the wider sustainable seafood community – that MSC also has a part to play.  We want to do so in a way which is practical, by helping those who are already working in this field, pilot and test promising initiatives.

By working collaboratively with others, we believe we can help protect the human rights of observers and support them to carry out their vital work safeguarding our oceans.”

NMFS Doubles Down on Observers; Rep. Huffman Takes Aim at NMFS on COVID-19 Impacts

July 20, 2020 — A California Congressman and National Marine Fisheries Service leaders released statements about pandemic-related issues and COVID-19’s effects on fisheries Thursday, but from opposite perspectives.

Following industry criticism about maintaining at-sea observers and shoreside catch monitors during a pandemic, the agency has allowed observer waivers in some areas but remained steadfast in keeping observer coverage in others. The risk of contagion is too great, fishermen and processors say, but NMFS has disagreed — at least, in some areas.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NOAA Extends Fisheries Observer Waiver to August

July 6, 2020 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued an extension of its waiver on observer requirements granted to vessels operating in the U.S. Greater Atlantic Region.

Originally, NOAA was planning to resume observer deployments on July 1, however the resurgence of COVID-19 cases within the country prompted the agency to re-evaluate this time-frame.

“We intend to begin redeploying observers and at-sea monitors on vessels fishing in northeast fisheries on August 1,” said the agency in a statement.

“During the month of July, we will continue to work with regional observer and at-sea monitoring service providers to finalize their observer redeployment plans, conduct outreach with industry, and finalize our internal programs and policies that will support the safe and effective redeployment of observers and at-sea monitors in the region.”

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

PNA suspends observer coverage requirement for tuna fleet amid COVID-19 pandemic

March 31, 2020 — The requirement to have 100 percent observer coverage on all purse-seiners fishing in Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) member waters has been temporarily suspended to avoid disrupting fishing operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a circular letter on 27 March, PNA CEO Ludwig Kumoru notified all purse-seine vessel owners and fishing companies operating in PNA waters that the decision to allow fishing without observers is in response to the struggles tuna fishermen are facing as a result of COVID-19. In granting the request, Kumoru said the temporary suspension of the observer coverage requirements will be in place until 31 May, 2020.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Baker and Mass. congressional delegation urge federal officials to pay for ground fishing observers

August 19, 2015 — In an effort to reduce the financial burdens on the region’s struggling fishermen, Governor Charlie Baker and the state’s congressional delegation urged federal officials this week to pay for a controversial program that requires observers to monitor fishermen who catch cod, flounder, and other bottom-dwelling fish.

In a letter sent to the secretary of the US Department of Commerce, which oversees the nation’s fishing industry, Baker and the delegation expressed “serious concern” about a decision this year by the National Marine Fisheries Service to require the region’s fishermen to pay for the observer program.

Fishermen insist they can’t afford to pay for the observers, especially after major cuts to their quotas. The Fisheries Service estimates that it costs $710 a day every time an observer accompanies a fisherman to sea, and the agency’s research has suggested that requiring fishermen to cover those costs would cause about 60 percent of their boats to operate at a loss.

“To shift the cost of this ineffective program onto the fishery just as the industry begins to rebuild is not only imprudent, but irresponsible,” Baker and the delegation wrote. “This equates to an unfunded mandate that could lead to the end of the Northeast Groundfish Fishery as we know it.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

 

US wants struggling fishermen to pay for observers

August 4, 2015 — One was knocked overboard on a winter trip in the middle of the night, while another was handed a noose and told to hang himself. Their computers have been tossed into the sea, their bunks set up over a boat’s toilet, their water bottles tainted with tobacco spit.

The men and women who monitor the catch of New England’s once-mighty groundfishing industry, a job required by federal law to curb overfishing, have long had strained relationships with the fishermen who take them to sea.

Now, with federal funding for the controversial program set to run out this fall, the region’s long-beleaguered fishermen are being told they have to pay for the observers themselves — or they can’t fish.”

“This could be the final hit that pushes us into bankruptcy, causing the collapse of the whole fleet,” said Phil Lynch, 45, a Scituate fisherman who has persisted while the number of groundfishing boats in the region has plummeted by more than 70 percent over the past decade. “The guys still left will be gone.”

The threat to the estimated 200 boats remaining, more than half of which are based in Massachusetts, became more palpable last week when the National Marine Fisheries Service denied an emergency request from the council that oversees New England’s fishing industry to suspend the observer program. The agency said fishermen who catch cod, flounder, and other bottom-dwelling fish will have to find a way to pay for the region’s approximately 100 observers, who accompany them on about a quarter of their trips.

Fishermen insist they can’t afford to pay for the observers, especially after major cuts to their quotas. At a government-estimated cost of $710 every time an observer accompanies fishermen to sea, the program would cause most boats to operate at a loss, they say.

“They’ve set up fishermen to fail, and now they want to monitor the failure,” said Vito Giacalone, policy director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, an advocacy group for commercial fishermen. “I believe they’re out to put us out of business.”

Read the full story from The Boston Globe

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