BOSTON—The nation's oceans chief says the federal government will cover what fishermen feared could be crushing costs for the on-board observers that monitor how much they catch or throw overboard.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Jane Lubchenco announced Wednesday that the observers would be funded by the government through the 2012 fishing year, which ends in April 2013.
The observers are needed to monitor the catch under a new fishing system that relies on strict limits on how much a fisherman can catch or discard of a particular groundfish species, such as haddock or cod. If fishermen exceed the limit on one species, fishing stops on all species.
The government paid the multimillion-dollar costs of bringing the observers to sea during the first two years under the new system, beginning in 2010. But fishermen were supposed to cover that cost this year. Fishermen and legislators have argued that the expense, an average of about $600 per day, would put more fishermen in the struggling industry out of business.
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