September 28, 2020 — The prospect of a sharp increase in at-sea monitoring requirements for groundfishing vessels is pitting New England’s seafood providers against environmental advocates, and players from the Port of New Bedford are right in the middle of the discussions.
“Amendment 23” to the region’s fisheries management plan will be up for a vote Wednesday by the New England Fishery Management Council. The council will decide whether sector-based groundfish vessels should be monitored at a 25, 50, 75, or 100-percent level. Currently, fewer than 50 percent of all trips are monitored.
The council, known as the NEFMC, will also decide whether human at-sea monitoring, electronic monitoring via cameras, or a combination of the two will be allowed. Under electronic monitoring, video of the fishing operation would be either saved to a hard drive or uploaded to the cloud, then reviewed by regulators.
The council has already stated that a 100-percent coverage level is its “preferred alternative,” and that it wants to allow electronic monitoring in addition to human monitors, but that’s not set in stone.