Saving Seafood

Northeast observer coverage resumes July 1; councils express worry

June 24, 2020 — NMFS will resume its usual at-sea observe coverage in the Northeast July 1, after a three-month hiatus when the agency waived requirements because of the covid-19 pandemic.

Dr. Jon Hare, science and research director for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, confirmed Monday that the agency and its observer providers will move ahead with the resumption, in the planning stages since May 29.

“The Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Fisheries Sampling Branch has been working through internal protocols and processes to ensure shoreside components of the program can operate,” Hare wrote in a letter to fishermen and other stakeholders. “They are also coordinating with observer providers to develop deployment plans that support the health and safety of observers, fishermen, and others in the fishing industry, in light of the covid-19 virus.”

But the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils reacted with dismay, reflecting worries in the industry that the observer program is being set back in motion before it is safe to do so.

“The council believes that deploying observers on fishing vessels at this time poses an unnecessary risk to the health and safety of fishermen and observers,” Mid-Atlantic council chairman Michael Luisi wrote in a June 23 letter to Hare and NMFS Northeast regional director Michael Pentony.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries ending Northeast observer waivers, preparing to restart program

June 23, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s (NEFSC) Fisheries Sampling Branch is preparing for a 1 July restart of the Northeast Observer Program.

NOAA Fisheries first announced on 20 March that it was waiving observer requirements in light of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak. That initial waiver was extended on 29 May, with a planned restart date of 1 July.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA Fisheries Continues to Evaluate Observer Situation

June 11, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Providing seafood to the country remains an essential function even in these extraordinary times. Adequately monitoring United States fisheries remains an essential part of that process. However, in recognition of numerous travel or social distancing restrictions or guidance, NOAA Fisheries recently issued an emergency action to provide the authority to waive observer coverage, some training, and other program requirements while meeting conservation needs and providing an ongoing supply of fish to markets. Under this emergency action, NOAA Fisheries regional administrators, office directors, or science center directors have the ability to waive observer requirements in three specific circumstances, after consulting with observer providers.

Over the past several weeks, NOAA Fisheries has continued to monitor and evaluate this situation. Throughout the country, we have actively worked with the observer service providers to understand their local restrictions and implement adjustments to the logistics of deploying observers, ensuring qualified observers or at-sea monitors are available as soon as safely possible. In several regions, providers’ social control guidance has been in place and we now anticipate having sufficient observers/catch monitors to achieve the appropriate level of observer coverage in most fleets and return these employees back to work. Individual waivers for trips and vessels in lower priority fleets may be issued on a case-by-case basis to ensure qualified observers/catch monitors are available for higher priority fleets (i.e., fleets with 100 percent coverage requirements or bycatch of Endangered Species Act-listed species).

Observers and at-sea monitors are an essential component of commercial fishing operations and provide critical information that is necessary to keep fisheries open and to provide sustainable seafood to our nation during this time. We will continue to monitor all local public health notifications, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for updates. We are committed to protecting the public health and ensuring the safety of fishermen, observers, and others, while fulfilling our mission to maintain our nation’s seafood supply and conserving marine life.

Read the full release here

Disappearances, danger and death: what is happening to fishery observers?

May 22, 2020 — Liz Mitchell was on her laptop in her living room in Eugene, Oregon, when she got the news. Thousands of miles away, on a Taiwanese fishing boat, a fishery observer named Eritara Aati Kaierua had been found dead.

Details were scant. The ship’s name (Win Far No 636), the dead man’s passport number, and where the boat was now headed: the port of Kiribati, a central Pacific island nation on the equator.

But for Mitchell, president of the Association of Professional Observers (APO), it was sadly nothing new – another death, devoid of facts.

“We’ve recorded one or two deaths of fishery observers every year since 2015,” says Mitchell. “All with the same outcome: no information.”

Read the full story at The Guardian

Northeast Observer Waiver Extended Through May 30

May 15, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is extending the waiver granted to vessels with Greater Atlantic Region fishing permits to carry human observers or at-sea monitors for an additional two weeks, through May 30, 2020. This action is authorized by 50 CFR 648.11, which provides the Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator authority to waive observer requirements, and is also consistent with the criteria described in the agency’s emergency rule on observer waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

NOAA Fisheries will continue to monitor and evaluate this situation.  As we have done in other parts of the country, we will use this time to work with the observer service providers to implement adjustments to the logistics of deploying observers, ensuring qualified observers or at-sea monitors are available as soon as safely possible.

Observers and at-sea monitors are an essential component of commercial fishing operations and provide critical information that is necessary to keep fisheries open and to provide sustainable seafood to our nation during this time. We will continue to monitor all local public health notifications, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for updates. We are committed to protecting the public health and ensuring the safety of fishermen, observers, and others, while fulfilling our mission to maintain our nation’s seafood supply and conserving marine life.

NMFS suspends West Coast observer requirements

April 17, 2020 — Most requirements for observers aboard West Coast fishing vessels have been temporarily suspended through April, following the lead of NMFS’ decision to do the same earlier for Northeast fisheries in the face of coronavirus outbreaks.

The agency announced the decision Wednesday, April 15, hours after a recommendation from the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and also cited new policies of monitoring service providers to address health and safety concerns for their observers and fishing crews.

A NMFS notice to industry issued by the office of Ryan Wulff, the assistant Pacific regional administrator for sustainable fisheries, said the two-week hiatus was requested by contractors who provide observer services, and are now implementing health guidelines to address concerns raised by fishermen and plant operators.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Saving Seafood Urges Industry to Comment on NOAA’s Emergency Rule Regarding Observer Waivers

April 8, 2020 — On March 27th, NOAA Fisheries published an Emergency Rule regarding the circumstances by which observer coverage would be waived.

In the opinion of a number of our Saving Seafood coalition members, the emergency rule does not provide sufficient protections to ensure the health and safety of the captains and crew of commercial fishing vessels.

The conditions proposed for the waivers leave an opportunity for continued observer coverage. Many of our members feel at this time a permanent waiver should be granted for 90 days. State and Federal entities have made it perfectly clear that serious precautions should be taken to control the spread of this virus.

Given the inherent nature of the fishing industry, close quarters on fishing vessels and the potential spread of the virus to entire crews, and their families, many of our members believe the cost is too great.

Please use the Federal Register notice to submit comments and share your personal experience and concerns.

In addition, the emergency rule indicates that some of the observer training and requirements may be waived to make sure there is sufficient personnel available to act as observers.

We encourage industry members to provide your own thoughts on that topic, as you have all had your own experience with the observers.

Comment on the emergency rule here

PNA suspends observer coverage requirement for tuna fleet amid COVID-19 pandemic

March 31, 2020 — The requirement to have 100 percent observer coverage on all purse-seiners fishing in Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) member waters has been temporarily suspended to avoid disrupting fishing operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a circular letter on 27 March, PNA CEO Ludwig Kumoru notified all purse-seine vessel owners and fishing companies operating in PNA waters that the decision to allow fishing without observers is in response to the struggles tuna fishermen are facing as a result of COVID-19. In granting the request, Kumoru said the temporary suspension of the observer coverage requirements will be in place until 31 May, 2020.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Northeast Fisheries Observer Coverage Requirements

July 22, 2019 — The 2019-2020 Northeast Fisheries Observer sea-day requirements and schedule, and three new reports, are now available.

Together these documents show how many days the NOAA Observer Program needs to cover to obtain data needed to estimate discard for 14 federally managed species groups and sea turtles in 63 fleets across the region, how the days are determined, and how they are allocated to each of the three monitoring selection systems used.

Read the full story at CapeCod.com

Fishery observer survey seeks answers for high turnover

May 30, 2019 — Many of Alaska’s commercial fisheries depend on observers having a place on board, but fewer than a fifth of them feel appreciated by the industry, according to a new survey.

Fishery observers sail on vessels with fishermen in federal waters and keep track of catch and bycatch and take biological samples throughout trips. Managers use this information to evaluate stocks and manage fisheries.

The job can be tough, requiring up to a month at a time on the water in rough conditions, and turnover can be high. The survey, conducted by the National Marine Fishery Service in 2016, asked 553 observers why they did the job and what their experiences have been like.

Although three-quarters of them thought the job helped them in their careers and about 69 percent said the days at sea matched their expectations, nearly half them reported being harassed. Only 20 percent said they felt valued by the fishing community, and many said they were disappointed by a lack of opportunity to learn more about science and management, according to the survey findings, published in May.

The original intent of the survey was to help improve retention. Most observers quit after a few years — the West Coast, with about 5½ years, has the longest average tenure. Alaska’s average tenure is about 4.8 years, according to the survey data. Although observers have to have some training or education before taking the job, there’s a lot they learn through experience.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce