Reps. Moulton, Keating, Pingree
Press NOAA On Monitoring Costs

The following is a excerpt from a story originally published on Friday, October 9, 2015, in the Gloucester Daily Times.

GLOUCESTER, Mass.—U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton was among a trio of congressional members who met Friday with officials from NOAA Fisheries on at-sea monitoring, telling the regulators to their face what they’ve been saying all along in official correspondence and verbal declarations.

“We made it very clear that we don’t support the costs of at-sea monitoring being shifted to the fishermen,” Moulton said after the meeting.

Moulton, along with fellow representatives William Keating, D-Mass., and Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, organized the meeting to help find an alternative to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s plan to stop paying for at-sea monitors on groundfish boats and shift the costs -- estimated at $710 per day per covered vessel -- to the federal permit holders.

“It was contentious at times, but I think we came out with some positive steps forward to address this issue,” Moulton said. “They’re not stonewalling us, but it’s clear we don’t see eye-to-eye.”

Moulton said the congressional members met, among others, with William Karp, NOAA’s science and research director at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and came away with three areas that could provide the fishermen some relief moving forward:

• A Keating proposal on behalf of hook-and-line fishermen on Cape Cod to reduce the level of at-sea monitoring coverage because of their low levels of bycatch;

• A more through examination of the potential cost savings afforded by electronic monitoring; and

• Exploring the possibility of Congress making NOAA’s funding of at-sea monitoring a mandatory cost rather than a discretionary cost.

Moulton said he delivered a singular message at the end of the meeting, that the goal of providing a sustainable, regulated fishery extends well beyond New England.