June 30, 2020 — Recently, Fishing Partnership Support Services reached out to federal administrators in regards to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and federal at-sea observers. The following is an excerpt from a letter addressed to Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator for NMFS, and Dr. John Hare, Science and Research Director for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
Fishing Partnership Support Services (FPSS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and safety of commercial fishing families throughout the Northeast. Given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are gravely concerned by your decision to reintroduce observers to fishing vessels at this time. For the safety of our fishermen and observers, as well as their families, we ask you to change course and extend the waiver until you can work with the fishing community and public health officials: 1) to analyze the risk of the observer program to safety at sea, and 2) to develop effective protocols that minimize transmission of Covid-19.
The CDC has been clear that older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are at highest risk of developing a severe illness from COVID-19. “Severe illness means that the person with COVID-19 may require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe, or they may even die.”