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And they have to pay to have them onboard to monitor the catch! Something very fishy here about this......................


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/12/0...government-required-at-sea-monitors.html

[quote]East Coast fishermen file appeal over cost of government-required 'at-sea monitors'
By Cristina Corbin Published December 09, 2016 FoxNews.com
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Dec. 2: David Goethel, of Hampton, N.H., speaks about the at-sea monitors aboard his 44-foot fishing trawler.
Dec. 2: David Goethel, of Hampton, N.H., speaks about the at-sea monitors aboard his 44-foot fishing trawler. (Fox News )
SEABROOK, N.H. – David Goethel built his life off the profits of cod, trolling the waters of New England for 30 years netting the region's once-abundant signature fish.

"My slice of the American Dream was paid for from fishing," Goethel said from behind the wheel of his 44-foot fishing trawler on a windy Friday afternoon in December. "Cape Cod house, two cars, four college educations – it all came out of the fish hole in this boat."

But a controversial federal mandate is threatening to put him out of business, he claims.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, requires groundfishermen -- those who catch cod, haddock and other common bottom-dwelling species -- to carry on board "at-sea monitors." The observers, hired by three for-profit companies, are third-party workers whose task it is to observe fishermen's compliance with federal regulations and ensure annual quotas are not exceeded.

The dispute lies in the cost of the monitors and who should pay for them: Fishermen are billed on average $700 a day when a regulator is present.

NOAA, meanwhile, says monitors were placed on fishing boats like Goethel's only 14 percent of the time in 2016 -- and claims the fishing industry supported this system of regulation in 2010 when a vote went before the New England Fishery Management Council, an advisory board to NOAA that sets the rules.

"At sea monitors were originally supported by the sectors when we went from a days-at-sea form of management to a quota based form of management in 2010," said John Bullard, the regional administrator for NOAA's Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.

Goethel and other ground fishermen are suing the U.S. Department of Commerce, seeking to avoid paying the cost for the government-trained monitors. While many factors have led to an economically struggling fish industry in the Northeast, Goethel described monitor costs as "the final financial blow" to his business.

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Goethel 2Expand / Contract
(Fox News)
A federal district court judge in New Hampshire ruled against the group of fisherman in August, but the Cause of Action Institute -- a Washington legal watchdog representing them -- filed an appeal last month. The nonprofit advocacy group is suing on behalf of Goethel and Northeast Fishery Sector 13, which represents groundfishermen from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

"It's a lawless act by the government," said Julie Smith, vice president of the Cause of Action Institute and the lead lawyer on the case. "If the government wants a catch monitored, the government needs to pay for the monitors -- it's that simple."

The New England Fishery Management Council set groundfish catch quotas in May 2010 to prevent overfishing. NOAA claims it was determined then that the fishing industry would cover the cost of observers on board the vessels -- their training, commute to and from the boat, supervisor salaries and other expenses.

In an effort to help an industry already suffering from economic hardship, NOAA said it agreed to subsidize those costs until 2012. The agency continued covering a portion of the costs until March 2016 when it ran out of funds to do so, a NOAA official told FoxNews.com.

Fish stocks have been on a steady decline in the North Atlantic for decades. Overfishing, as well as shifting ocean patterns and climate change, have been cited as factors in the dwindling fish numbers. The Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than any other body of water in the world, according to scientists, and some say not enough regulation is in place.

"The ground fishermen in New England have paid an economic sacrifice that, if life were fair, would result in the rebuilding in stocks but we haven’t seen that yet," Bullard said.

Goethel begins his work day before the sun rises, leaving the dock in Hampton at 5 a.m. and fishing some 20 miles off shore. After 12 hours at sea with his crew, Goethel, who is also a marine biologist, unloads his catch at the Yankee Fisherman's Co-op in Seabrook. On a good day, his catch brings about $1,500, and he takes home $300.

Under the observer program, Goethel must register his fishing trips on a government website 48 hours before departure. He said he does not know if a monitor will accompany the crew until he arrives at the dock in the morning. For the majority of trips, no monitor is present, but when one is, the cost to Goethel is several hundred dollars -- a fee he said he cannot afford.

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Goethel Cod Expand / Contract
Goethel puts his catch on ice after unloading at the Yankee Fisherman's Co-op in Seabrook. (Fox News)
"By the government's own study, 60 percent of the active boats that were registered were made nonviable the day this [mandate] was announced," Goethel said, as he lowered his net from the Ellen Diane, a trawler named after his wife and one of only six commercial ground fishing vessels still operating in the area.

Goethel said he hopes a judge will rule it is illegal on the part of the government to require such a fee and that it is considered a tax.

"I think the regulatory industry has exceeded its legal authority because only Congress can tax people," said Goethel. "This is a regulatory agency that has said, 'You will pay for at-sea monitors or you could lose your job.'"

"It's either pay or don't fish," he said. "We don't have any more money to give."

Many fishermen question the necessity of the program given the regulations already in place and searches without warrants by the Coast Guard and unannounced inspections upon returning to port.

Goethel argues that on-board monitors don't effectively deter unlawful activity.

"The fish off New England have suffered several declines in the last 100 years. I don't think any fisherman would say we don't need management -- what fishermen would say is we need rational management," said Goethel.

Some lawmakers have been vocal in their opposition to the monitor costs, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who has questioned NOAA's claim that it does not have the funds to continue paying for the monitors.

"NOAA’s at-sea monitoring fees place an impossible burden on New Hampshire’s small-boat fishermen and that is why I’ve consistently fought against these unfair fees and interference," Ayotte told FoxNews.com Wednesday.

"I continue to strongly believe that NOAA should fully fund its at-sea monitoring program," she said. /quote]


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NOAA fisheries is perhaps the most rogue federal agency I have ever witnessed. They have repeatedly thumbed their nose at congress and the people. I hope they get their ass handed to them, but I have my doubts.

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Worse than the EPA?


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I am thinking some of them should fall overboard...


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NOAA is crazy. One of my biggest hopes with Trump is that he'll be able to rein them in.

Problem is though that trawling is a very dirty fishery, and has the potential to be much dirtier.

I heard they were going to electronic observers. Cameras on the back deck. Hopefully that gets fully implemented.

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I couldn't get through the whole article, but what I understand from what I did read is that not all of the fishermen are honest and follow the limit rules. The fish are being over harvested, and the entire industry is suffering because of the unethical action of a few(or maybe most.) Therefore, some fisherman organization volunteered to put federal "game wardens" on some of their member fishing boats to verify they are not exceeding the limit. Some of the fishermen don't want to pay for the game wardens. That about right?


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Because the trawl fishermen have proven over and over to be as dirty as they get they deserve to be put out of business, period! They annually kill and waste more halibut than the entire sport catch in AK. And the cuts have come to charter boats more than any other segment of the harvesters.

The guy in line for overseeing the mess about 5 years ago, Arnie Fuglvog was caught reporting his longlined black cod from a different area. Black cod are very spotty so fishing effort has to be spread out to keep from wiping out strong central areas. Fuglvog was on the board making the decisions and then ignoring them. Others have been caught doing the same thing.

http://www.alaskapublic.org/2011/12...so-charged-for-falsifying-catch-reports/

Cod were virtually eliminated from the Grand Banks in a typical display of horrible management. Anything they do to rein in the crooks and manage the resource better is a good thing.

I have seen garbage cans full of small feeder king salmon caught by draggers and brought home (illegally) to use for their personal consumption while claiming they had caught none.


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State CO's hammer the commercial fishermen here (New Jersey)for everything from taking over quota to taking out of season. When I was a kid the oommercial fishermen used to go around selling lobster shorts to restaurants and homeowners. An industry that needs cleaning up!

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Government double payments are unfortunately too common these days. The NOAA specialist was hired and paid for with tax money. The monitoring at sea duty should be paid for with the tax money. Billing the operator is just double taxation. The Fire Departments in CA do the same thing as they are paid with tax money until they come out to your house for fire suppression. Then they charge the business/homeowner for their time. A home owner can easily be charged $10,000 for their services after paying taxes for this service for years. This is how the Firefighters make way over $100,000/year and have a nice pension.

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The trawlers won't get an ounce of sympathy from me. The bycatch that is wasted is criminal in its size and scope.


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Sounds a bit unfair to me.


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Nothing "unfair" in the least about this, Gulf Of Maine trawlers have brought this on themselves...


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Figure that if a fisherman had an observer on board a standard working year ( I know there;s nothing standard about their hrs) it would be about a quarter million dollars to pay for the observer.


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