Photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries
Fisheries across nation seeking monitor waivers
What began in the fisheries of New England has spread across the country.
Fishing stakeholders from as far away as the West Coast and Alaska have joined Northeast commercial fishermen in pressuring NOAA Fisheries to extend — and uniformly apply — waivers from having to carry at-sea monitors and other observers on vessels while the COVID-19 pandemic still rages.
The Seafood Harvesters of America, an umbrella organization that represents 18 separate fishing groups from Maine to Alaska, wrote to NOAA Fisheries and Department of Commerce officials this week to advance many of the same safety arguments against reinstating observers aboard commercial fishing vessels in the midst of the pandemic.
"Recent decisions by the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding observer requirements continue to threaten the health, safety, and lives of our nation’s fishermen, fishing communities, and observers," the group said in its letter to Neil Jacobs, the acting undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere, and three chief NOAA Fisheries executives. "We strongly urge you to add a third criteria to the emergency action under which NMFS may waive observer coverage requirements to take into consideration the health and safety of captains, crew, coastal communities, and observers."
The group also urged NOAA Fisheries to "fix its inconsistent and unequal application of observer waivers" by extending waivers to any fishery where fishermen are now mandated to accept human observers aboard commercial vessels.
"Councils around the country have raised their concerns," the letter stated, referring to actions by the New England, Pacific and the Mid-Atlantic fishery management councils. "Unfortunately, these concerns, fears, and letters have been ignored or met with empty words from agency staff. The agency has failed to issue a thoughtful, reasonable response that justifies the glaring inequities in its issuance of observer waivers in only some regions, an action that very clearly risks lives, during this global pandemic."
The current waiver from having to take observers aboard vessels in the Northeast groundfish fishery is set to expire Aug. 1. NOAA Fisheries first announced the temporary waiver for at-sea monitoring on March 20 and extended it four times — most recently on June 30 — to adhere to recommended safety measures.
The Seafood Harvesters of America were joined by five West Coast-based fishing and seafood processing associations that sent their own letter to federal fisheries managers seeking a more level and organized approach to monitors.
"Some regions of the U.S. have had blanket waivers for months, while others have received little relief, even though the fishermen face the exact same health emergency," the groups stated in their letter. "This discriminatory approach is further highlighted by NOAA Fisheries' decisions to require their employees work from home, eliminate all field work, and then the cancellation of the majority of fisheries independent surveys to protect the health and well-being of NOAA Fisheries employees."
Last Friday, NOAA Fisheries canceled three research surveys — including an assessment of sea scallops and another assessment on Atlantic surf clam and ocean quahog stocks — because of the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"These are difficult decisions for the agency as we strive to balance our need to maintain core mission responsibilities with the realities and impacts of the current health crisis," NOAA Fisheries said in announcing the cancellations. "After much deliberation, we determined that there was no way to move forward with these surveys while effectively minimizing risk and meeting core survey objectives."
Contact Sean Horgan at 978-675-2714, or shorgan@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanGDT.