February 8, 2013 — NOAA's observer program needs to be scrapped before any “observer” wastes another fisherman’s or taxpayer’s dime.
When NOAA first launched its on-board fisheries observer program, it took less than two months for stories about absolutely clueless and unqualified “observers” hired for the job wreaking havoc while going about their contrived duties.
One observer showed up at the pier for a day-boat assignment with eight suitcases, perhaps dreaming of boarding an ocean liner out of Cruiseport, not jumping aboard a 55-foot gillnetter. Another tinkered with, then broke Gloucester fisherman Joe Orlando’s essential, on-board communications equipment. And there were endless tales of landlubbing observers spending an entire trip seasick, hardly conducive to collecting any meaningful “observation” data even if the NOAA plants knew where to look.
At least some of those fishermen’s complaints found their way in 2010 to Amy Van Atten, who coordinated NOAA’s regional observer program at the time. And, during an information gathering session that June, Van Atten and other NOAA officials promised to tackle those issues and work toward improvement.
Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Times