WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) February 8, 2013 — A group of 13 Senators and Members of Congress from New England have written to Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, requesting that the Commerce Department "exercise all authority under the law to preserve New England's fishing industry and its groundfish populations for future generations." Specifically, the group called for NOAA to cover the cost of at-sea monitoring, and to reach a timely decision on carryover.
Noting that the economic hardship imposed on the fishery by recently implemented cuts in Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod, the letter requested that NOAA fully fund the costs of its at-sea monitoring program, stating that "our fishermen cannot feasibly afford their expected share of at-sea monitors." Other improvements in the program, such as implementing a system of virtual monitoring, were also suggested as ways of reducing costs.
The letter also requested that NOAA make long-term improvements to its stock assessment process, and to "prioritize federal programs that have the potential to improve fisheries science and management and support long-term sustainability of the resource and fishing communities." It specifically called for more frequent stock assessments, as well as improvements in the assessments that would address climate change, interactions between species, and the structure of fish stocks.
The letter concluded by emphasizing the importance of cooperation and collaboration between NOAA and fishermen, calling for the agency to "fully engage fishermen and fishing communities as we work together to make targeted investments that will allow the industry to survive and become more sustainable in the years ahead."
The text of the letter is reproduced below:
February 7, 2013
The Honorable Rebecca Blank
Acting Secretary of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20230
Dear Ms. Blank:
We write to request that you exercise all authority under the law to preserve New England's fishing industry and its groundfish populations for future generations. In particular, we urge the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fully cover the costs of at-sea monitoring, as fishermen cannot bear this added cost coupled with dramatic cuts to catch limits. We also urge you to make a timely decision regarding carryover, as fishermen cannot make decisions about their businesses without knowing what to expect next year.
In December, the New England Fishery Management Council (the "Council") affirmed the findings of earlier stock assessments that found significantly reduced abundance of groundfish stocks, particularly Gulf of Maine cod. Last week, in response to these findings, the Council approved significant cuts in future groundfish quotas. Among these are a 77 percent cut to the catch limit for Gulf of Maine cod for the next three years and a 61 percent reduction in the catch for Georges Bank cod for the next year.
We are deeply concerned about the ability of the fishing industry to survive these considerable catch reductions, as well as the implications for the future sustainability of the resource. Scientific and anecdotal evidence suggests a serious resource problem that must be addressed through science-based management. More needs to be done to improve our data collection and analysis because sound management can only be built on a strong understanding of the resource.
We have consistently supported and will continue to support federal actions to improve fisheries science, invest in necessary infrastructure, and address the considerable economic burdens that fishing communities are facing. Now, in the face of an economic disaster declaration and looming cuts to catch limits, we urge you and the Administration to exercise all authorities available through NOAA, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and other agencies to ensure the future of this industry.
NOAA Fisheries must seriously consider the impact of further burdening our fishermen with at-sea monitoring costs and dedicate the resources necessary to continue to cover these costs. Even without the drastic reductions in catch limits, our fishermen cannot feasibly afford their expected share of at-sea monitors, and it is vital that NOAA provide full funding to cover these costs. NOAA Fisheries must also move to rapidly and effectively implement virtual monitoring and other measures to further reduce costs while ensuring adequate coverage.
Additionally, as you prepare your budget request for fiscal year 2014, we encourage you to prioritize long-term investments in New England fisheries that will continue to improve our understanding of this resource and help move the fishery towards a healthy, sustainable future. With incredible challenges ahead for fishermen and in rebuilding the resource, now is the time to prioritize federal programs that have the potential to improve fisheries science and management and support long-term sustainability of the resource and fishing communities.
Further, we urge you to invest in more frequent and improved stock assessments to help NOAA Fisheries and the Council work through the backlog of assessments for critical species and investigate the impacts of changing ocean temperatures, species interactions, and stock structure. This will help improve the timeliness and accuracy of data for the most critical target species and help facilitate better management decisions while creating more business certainty. We ask you to fully cover the cost of at-sea monitoring and to consider investing in electronic monitoring. It is critical to work with fishermen to ensure that the sharing of monitoring costs is equitable and sustainable in the long run. We also ask that you make timely decisions on issues like carryover so fishermen can make business decisions with the best information available. We urge that cooperative research efforts be broadened to ensure widespread participation, and we urge you to use the information collected to take meaningful action that will benefit fishermen and the resource. Finally, we ask that you work with the EDA and SBA to support working waterfronts and handling and processing infrastructure, which are vital to the future of fishing communities throughout New England.
In declaring New England's groundfish fishery a federal disaster, your agency has acknowledged that the current resource problem comes despite the fishing industry's adherence to rigorous management practices. Many fishermen in the region have been working to make their industry more sustainable and protect the resource. We encourage NOAA to work with fishermen to better understand the ecosystem as a whole, including issues such as warmer water temperatures, critical habitat, and predator/prey dynamics, as we work toward management efforts to rebuild and sustain healthy stocks.
We deeply appreciate NOAA's continuing efforts to work creatively with the Council to ensure a future for this critical and historic industry. We encourage you to fully engage fishermen and fishing communities as we work together to make targeted investments that will allow the industry to survive and become more sustainable in the years ahead. We are dedicated to working with our fishermen and with you to find ways to avert the collapse of this important fishery and secure a healthy and vibrant future for our coastal communities.
Sincerely,
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
Senator Angus King (I-ME)
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Senator William Cowan (D-MA)
Representative Michael Michaud (D-ME)
Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
Representative Michael Capuano (D-MA)
Representative William Keating (D-MA)
Representative Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA)
Representative Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
Representative Edward Markey (D-MA)
Representative John Tierney (D-MA)
Representative Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
Related information:
NEFMC Motion to maintain monitoring at level NOAA can fund
The New England Fishery Management Council adopted the following motion at its November meeting. It is currently pending NOAA's approval of Framework 48:
"Mr. Stockwell moved on behalf of the committee: to include in Framework 48 the Planning and Development Team's (PDT) Option X for observer coverage for FY 2013: at-sea monitoring coverage of sector trips at the level that NMFS can fund during FY 2013. The motion carried on a show of hands (14/2/1)."
This motion follows the text of the PDT Option X referenced in the motion adopted by the Council. This appears in the following PDT report at p. 23. View the PDT Report here
The text from the PDT report follows:
At-Sea Monitoring Coverage Level Alternative
Option X: Removal of Requirement for Industry-Funded At-Sea Monitoring for FY 2013
This option would maintain at-sea monitoring coverage of sector trips at the level that NMFS can fund during FY 2013. Under this option, sectors would not be required to implement an industry-funded at-sea monitoring program in FY 2013. Instead, NMFS will provide as much funding as possible for at-sea monitoring of sector trips in FY 2013. Absent further action, industry will be responsible for the portion of these costs not funded by NMFS in FY 2014.
Rationale: Amendment 16 mandated that the industry will fund at-sea and dockside monitoring costs beginning in FY 2012. To date, NMFS has had sufficient funding to provide an at-sea monitoring program to fulfill this requirement for sectors annually since FY 2010. Absent continued funding for the NMFS at-sea monitoring program in FY 2013, sectors would be responsible for implementing industry-funded at-sea monitoring programs to monitor their fishing activities beginning May 1, 2013. The Council is concerned that imposing these costs on the industry in FY 2013 will reduce profitability and result in making the sector system an economic failure. This action delays by one year industry responsibility for those costs. A sunset date has been included so that the Council may further modify this requirement in the future as more information becomes available on the appropriate monitoring levels, costs of those programs, and implementation of electronic monitoring systems.
At-Sea Monitoring Costs Affect Small Vessels the Most
In the "Break-Even Analysis of the New England Groundfish Fishery for FY2009 and FY2010" submitted as part of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's November 2011 application for Federal economic disaster aid for fisheries the cost of At-Sea Monitoring was analyzed. In Section 4.3 "Effects of Subsidized Costs" the authors found that the burden of At-Sea Monitoring costs falls disproportionately on gill-net vessels and small trawlers. "Based on FY2010 activity, the ASM costs would have a greater impact on gill-net gear and small otter trawl vessels ranging from 7 to 10 percent of groundfish revenue."
View Governor Patrick's full November 2011 Application for Economic Disaster Aid here
Read Section 4.3 of the request, which addresses ASM costs, here