June 30, 2020 — Faced with dismay from fishermen and East Coast fishery management councils, NMFS announced it will delay its plan to resume at-sea observer deployments through July 31.
The agency backed away from its plan to restart the observer program July 1, after the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils sent NMFS Northeast regional administrator Michael Pentony and other officials letters expressing alarm that the decision was made too soon.
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center had been planning since May 28 to work toward a July resumption. But in recent weeks the covid-19 pandemic started a new upward arc across the nation.
“Although we had announced plans to resume observer deployments on July 1, we recognize the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and as such, has required us to re-evaluate and adapt to changing circumstances,” the agency said in a public statement issued Tuesday afternoon. “In response, NOAA Fisheries is extending the waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits to carry human observers or at-sea monitors through July 31, 2020.”