EDF calls for better monitoring of Gulf of Maine cod catch, recreational and commercial (Opinion)
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] by Matt Mullin - October 17, 2014 -
(Matt Mullin is the Northeast Regional Director for the U.S. Oceans Program at the Environmental Defense Fund.)
A top priority needs to be higher levels of cost-effective monitoring and better catch accounting on all fishing boats to try and get a more accurate picture of what is being caught. Compounding the challenge is that there is poor data in the recreational sector.
But some recreational fishermen have taken the lead in developing pilot programs to better track what is being caught on a timelier basis. These initiatives show tremendous promise and need to be expanded.
We need more accurate data to ensure that fisheries models are performing as well as possible. The tracking of fish caught on boats in the New England commercial fishery is woefully inadequate. Less than one fifth of commercial trips are monitored, in large part due to the exorbitant cost of human observers.
The time to move to more comprehensive and cost-effective electronic monitoring is now. Not only...
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