Tag Archives: sector managers

Coronavirus: Fishermen cite at-sea monitors as potential virus source

Groundfishermen and sector managers are growing increasingly frustrated at NOAA Fisheries over what they perceive as the lack of clarity on at-sea monitoring requirements in the midst of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Dave Leveille, manager for Northeast Fishing Sectors II and VI, said Thursday that he has fielded numerous queries from fishermen asking why they still are being forced to accept assigned at-sea observers on their boats while health experts and the federal government are encouraging measures to reduce human contact to try to halt the spread of the dangerous virus. >click to read< 11:19

SouthCoast sector managers detail fishing costs

AR-160129405.jpg&MaxW=650Managers of area fishery sectors on Friday said many local groundfish boats could face daily charges of $125 or less-frequent charges of about $500, to pay for government-mandated monitoring of their catches. Sector 9 manager Stephanie Rafael-DeMello and Sector 13 manager John Haran both said they negotiated with East West Technical Services, which has an office in Narragansett, R.I., for catch-monitoring services for which fishermen expect to begin paying around March 1. Rafael-DeMello said the negotiated price was “just under $500 a day,” per boat. But because regulators randomly select boats for monitoring, she said, Sector 9 will spread the cost evenly, charging boats a flat rate of $125 per sea day in order to foot the overall costs of monitoring, which will apply only to about 20 percent of trips. Read the article here 08:49