AM 890 and kbbi.org: Serving the Kenai Peninsula
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NPFMC Debates Best Use Of Electronic Monitoring

North Pacific Fishery Management Council

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is trying to figure out the best way to use video and camera technology for catch monitoring, and it’s on the brink of transitioning into a regulated program.

Members of the council spoke at ComFish at the end of March and elaborated on its efforts.

Bill Tweit, the council vice chair, explained they’ve been working on the partial coverage fleet - the vessels that get observer coverage only some of the time.

“Again I think a lot of you are aware that when we restructured the observer program, we extended the size range of boats that are  likely to be covered for catch monitoring purposes by an observer, and that’s definitely created some issues about how you fit an observer onto a fairly small fishing boat, and we knew at the time it was probably going to be a little problematic, so we’re trying to hard provide electronic monitoring as an alternative to that," he said.

They’ve been experimenting with that alternative over the last few years, said Jennifer Mondragon, who’s with the Catch Accounting and Data Quality Branch of the National Marine Fisheries Service. They’re now in the comment period for the program’s proposed rules.

Mondragon said the goal of the program is catch accounting, or using data to estimate catch and bycatch, rather than policing the fleet. Brent Priestas, with the National Marine Fisheries Service enforcement division, echoed that and said NMFS doesn’t review the video itself or scope for minor violations.

“The review takes place down in Portland and then in Anchorage and we don’t actually see it. We have mentioned concerns to the reviewers if you see this we would like to know about it, but the primary purpose is not for enforcement," he said.

He said if they do catch a violation, it’s more likely to result in a phone call rather than a direct fine or other punishment.

As for cost, one provider at the table gave an installment price estimate of 10 to 12 thousand dollars, but Mondragon said, right now, that is coming from either NIMFS’ federal budget or from grants.

“Moving forward we’ll be transitioning from using the funds that we’ve been getting just for this to the point where we eventually will be using the observer fees that we’ve been collecting and Bill was talking about how this program is an industry funded program, so it’s the fees that we collect that go to the pay for the observers that will have a budget that will pay for both the observers and the program in that integrated program," she said.

She said they should transition to that funding system by 2019.