Tag Archives: groundfishermen
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
Fishermen look to DC delegation for aid, Fish bill like farm bill touted, but monitoring costs biggest concern
Former fisherman Sam Parisi appeared before the city Fisheries Commission on Thursday night to tout his campaign for national legislation to help fishermen as the federal Farm Bill helps farmers. “We need someone to draft a fish bill like the farm bill,” Parisi told the commission members at City Hall.,, The commission members, in the end, decided the best course is to work with Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken to set up a meeting — a fish summit of sorts,,, >Click to read< 13:06
December 15, 2017 – Lets meet and build a consensus to have Congress enact a U.S. Fisheries Bill – Sam Parisi >click to read Sam Parisi’s posts<
‘There’s no margin’ – Monitors final nail in coffin Feds propose up to 100% fish-counting, unclear on who’s on hook for costs
Groundfishermen, speaking Wednesday afternoon during the public comment period, drew a straight line from the increased monitoring costs to the economic collapse of the fishery. “I made 124 trips last year and each day was 10-14 hours,” said Gloucester fisherman Joe Orlando. “At $700 a day for 100% monitoring, that comes to $84,000 for the year. I didn’t even come close to making that. It would completely bankrupt the sector. And there’s only a handful of us left.” >click to read< 19:45
Groundfishermen not hooked by monitoring alternatives
For more than two years, the New England Fishery Management Council has worked on an intricate groundfish monitoring amendment that could have wide-scale economic and regulatory consequences for groundfishermen. It has been a thorny, winding path that involves a host of groundfish committees, plan development teams and assorted staff within the far-flung fisheries regulatory landscape. Now a group of groundfishermen are weighing in. And they are not pleased. >click to read<07:53
Fishermen hope for long-term solution to At-Sea Monitoring costs
The federal budget bill approved last month includes millions of dollars to pay for workers who are required to join fishing trips off New England’s shores. But it’s a temporary fix. And for the few groundfishermen left, the cost could be too much to take on themselves. David Goethel has been groundfishing off Hampton’s coast for 51 years and says a lot has changed. “We’ve lost in New Hampshire about 95 percent of our active fishermen in the last 17 years,”,, >click to read<11:24
Groundfishermen: ‘It feels like we’re just forgotten’
New Hampshire fishermen say temporary federal aid for at-sea monitor coverage is barely holding their industry afloat now that a court battle over the cost appears to have ended. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is currently covering 60 percent of the cost for third-party at-sea monitors to observe commercial groundfishermen’s compliance with federal regulations. That coverage is projected to end May 1, 2018,,, Jamie Hayward, a commercial fisherman out of Portsmouth, said it will be devastating for fishermen to go from paying 40 percent of those costs to the full bill when NOAA stops assisting.,, will be like we got hit by a bomb,” he said. click here to read the story 16:57
Number of NH groundfishermen continues to decline
The number of New Hampshire boats fishing for groundfish has continued to decline, with only five full-time groundfishermen left in the state. Fishermen have been catching haddock, cod and flounder off the coast and selling it in New Hampshire for centuries. But fishermen said that quotas and regulations over the past decade that are meant to protect groundfish have made it almost impossible to make a living. The regulations have also affected other fishermen. At Tuesday’s regional meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council, some complained they were unable to catch herring to use as bait because they were in the same area as regulated groundfish. Video, Read the rest here 13:08
Fishermen to pay $700 a day for at-sea monitors – Will Crush New England’s small boat fleet
Groundfishermen monitored by a federal agency will soon have to pay roughly $700 for their own 
, a cost they say is “one more nail in the coffin” to put them out of business. The announcement comes at a time when the commercial and recreational groundfishing industry is struggling because of what they feel are strict federal regulations. “The day I really have to pay for this is the day I stop going fishing,” said David Goethel, a commercial fisherman from Hampton. “With the at-sea monitoring heaped upon fishermen, it very well could be the tipping point for many vessels, many permit holders,” said Dr. David Pierce, acting director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fishery. Read the rest here
Our View: Congress can help NOAA support groundfishermen
The science, expert experience and anecdotes shared Wednesday at a forum on groundfishing in the Northeast were quite convincing that the fisheries could be better managed. The problem comes into focus when we see how difficult it has been for NOAA surveys to deliver reliable data. UMass Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology has been able — on $450,000 of government funding — to run innovative surveys with video cameras on trawls that show a nonstop stream of fish in the bottom 6 to 8 feet of the water column. SMAST’s data suggest populations of yellowtail flounder and Gulf of Maine cod multiple factors higher than NOAA’s. Read the rest here 16:51
Looming cost of at-sea monitors could put N.E. fishermen out of business
Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service said the money it had been using to pay for the monitors — trained workers who collect data on fishing trips — will be needed for other obligations. That means groundfishermen who catch fish like cod, haddock and pollock in New England waters will likely have to start paying the cost around August. The new expense is coming at a time when it could cripple the fishery, fishermen said. Read the rest here 13:08
Newly minted U.S.Senators Warren and “Mo” Cowan sit with fishing industry
What Elizabeth Warren and William “Mo” Cowan heard was a broad sampling of many of the deep concerns of those groundfishermen whose livelihoods are nearly gone thanks to catch restrictions. Animosity toward government-sponsored researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was clear. Rodney Avila, a former regional fisheries council member, said “We need to drop an atom bomb on Woods Hole.” Several in the meeting cautioned the senators to expect a great deal of lobbying from environmental groups that support the sector management and catch shares that are blamed for the collapse of the industry. Read more
Fish panel snubs U.S., Canada limits Gloucester Daily Times
NOAA’s New England Fishery Management Council Wednesday heaped derision on a joint assessment of yellowtail flounder conducted jointly by U.S. and Canadian scientists, then trashed the minuscule allocation of the stock based on work that even the agency’s chief regional scientist declined to defend, except to say it was the best “available” and therefore binding. http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x179000228/Fish-panel-snubs-U-S-Canada-limits
