June 1, 2016 โ New England fishermen are starting to use digital cameras to document groundfish discards and prove they are fishing within established quotas, turning to technology for a method that may prove more cost effective than hiring human monitors.
With support from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, The Nature Conservancy is overseeing a new project, which launches on Wednesday, June 1 and is being hailed as a โnew era in fisheries monitoring.โ
Up to 20 groundfishermen from the Maine Coast Community Sector and Cape Codโs Fixed Gear Sector will use three to four cameras to capture fish handling activity on the decks of their vessels. After completing their trips, crews will send hard drives to third party reviewers who watch the footage and quantify the amount of discarded fish.
โElectronic monitoring is the only realistic solution for the small-boat fishery,โ Eric Hesse, captain of the Tenacious II, of West Barnstable, said in a statement. โEven if some fishermen have managed to scrape together enough daily revenue to cover the cost of human observers, it wonโt take much to undo that balance.โ
In December 2015, the non-profit Cause of Action announced a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of the federal mandate requiring them to carry at-sea monitors on their vessels during fishing trips and to soon begin paying the cost of hosting the federal enforcement contractors. The suit was filed by Northeast Fishery Sector 13, which represents fishermen from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Cause of Action estimates the cost of human monitors at $710 per day.