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 NOAA 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.”
According to NOAA’s figures, Massachusetts-based lobster boats are scheduled for 266 sea days of monitor coverage in the 2015 fishing season, compared to only 218 in Maine where there are significantly more lobstermen fishing.
Together, Massachusetts and Maine will account for 78 percent (484 of 619) of all sea days of coverage scheduled in 2015 for lobster boats fishing from Maryland to Maine.
NOAA pays all expenses for the NEFOP coverage, but the lawmakers in their letter questioned how long that will be the case — drawing a cautionary parallel to the events in the groundfish fishery, where NOAA plans to shift the cost of at-sea monitoring to the permit holders later this year.
“While NOAA has indicated that lobstermen will not be financially responsible for observer coverage during the 2015 season, the agency has not indicated if this will be the case in subsequent years,” the letter said.
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