October 1, 2020 — Gov. Charlie Baker is urging the New England Fishery Management Council to develop a program that will take the commercial groundfish industry off the hook for paying for at-sea monitors aboard their vessels.
With the New England Fishery Management Council’s scheduled Wednesday, Sept. 30, to vote on the measure that will set future monitoring levels for groundfish vessels, Baker sent a letter to NEFMC Chairman John Quinn stating his administration’s commitment to the long-term viability of the state’s commercial fishing industry and its coastal fishing communities.
“The decision made by the council stands to have long-term impacts on the fishing industry at a time when it’s essential to protect the commonwealth’s working ports and fishing families,” Baker wrote to Quinn. “I urge the council to devise a program that accounts for the cost of trip monitors and does not place that burden on the industry.”
Baker, unlike a group of about a dozen state legislators, did not call for the council to reject Amendment 23 as currently constituted. But the governor did highlight the importance of building long-term sustainability for an industry that already feels under siege by regulation and pandemic.