Photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries
Fishermen fear on-board observers during pandemic
Hoping to avoid any unneeded human contact, Paul Kujala last week asked the Trump administration to waive the law that forces him to have a federal observer aboard his 58-foot trawl catcher vessel.
"I can't afford to lose my business because an observer unknowingly brings the virus on my boat," said Kujala, of Hammond, Ore., in an email to NOAA Fisheries.
In Oregon, fears rose after 26 employees tested positive for COVID-19 at a local seafood processing plant, but NOAA is getting similar complaints from fishermen across the country. Critics say it has just become far too risky to enforce the law during the coronavirus pandemic, and they want Congress to intervene.
"It is unconscionable. ... It is baffling why the agency is risking not only our lives but our businesses by requiring us to carry observers at this time," Heather Mann, executive director of the Oregon-based Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, said yesterday.
While Kujala canceled a fishing trip he had planned for Sunday after NOAA rejected his request, Mann said one observer was ready to go on a boat with a fisherman from Warrenton, Ore., despite having a temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit.
Seafood Harvesters of America, which represents thousands of fishermen and 18 seafood industry groups, called it "especially appalling" that fishing vessels must take human observers on their trips while NOAA has delayed and canceled its own scientific research and surveys because of the risk to staff and scientists.
In addition, the organization complained that NOAA has imposed different requirements for fishermen in different parts of the country, only adding to the confusion.
"This haphazard patchwork of observer requirements and waivers appears to be inconsistent with the current reality across the country and disregards the risk to human lives," Seafood Harvesters of America said in a letter to congressional leaders Friday.
While NOAA declined to respond directly to the letters, a spokesperson for the agency said that providing seafood to the nation "remains an essential function" and that monitoring fisheries "remains an essential part of that process."
But under an emergency action approved in March, NOAA gave regional administrators and others the authority to waive observer coverage under certain circumstances. That has resulted in regional differences, with waivers in place for vessels in the Alaska and the greater Atlantic regions while observers are still required in the West Coast, Pacific island and Southeast regions.
The NOAA spokesperson said observers who suspect they are ill are instructed to contact their employer and immediately seek medical advice.
"We note, however, that there is no evidence to suggest that observers or monitors pose any more risk of transmission than any other fishing crew member or processing plant employee,"
the spokesperson said.
The outbreak of COVID-19 cases at Bornstein Seafoods in Astoria, Ore., rattled many local fishermen, including Kujala.
In his email to NOAA, Kujala said "too many people are depending on me," including his parents who are in their 80s.
"The case at Bornstein Seafoods shows how dangerous this virus is and how it is unwittingly spread by asymptomatic people," Kujala told NOAA.
NOAA relies on 851 observers who act as the eyes and ears of the federal government on commercial fishing vessels. Most of them work as contractors and privately employed biologists tasked with documenting fishing activities and reporting them to government officials.
Some members of Congress, including Democratic Reps. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina and Chellie Pingree of Maine, said last week that NOAA should modernize its data collection system and use more electronic monitors to cut back on the use of observers.
Earlier this year, NOAA officials said observers face dangers of their own as they often work in remote locations and are viewed as outsiders due to their monitoring responsibilities.
"They are at a high risk for bullying and intimidation, sexual and physical harassment, and violence," acting NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs told the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations at a hearing in February (E&E Daily, Feb. 28).
Rob Hotakainen, E&E News reporter