Fishermen Get Two-Month Reprieve From At-Sea Monitor Fees

NOAA is announcing a reprieve of sorts for New England's ground fishermen.

The agency has found another $200,000 that will enable the government to pay for at-sea observers on vessels for the next month or two.

The money comes from one of three companies hired by the government to provide observers on fishing boats. That company has spent money at a slower rate and has $200,000 left to spend.

The program was supposed to end in December, and fishermen would have to pick up the $700 per trip cost starting in January.

NOAA's Science and Research Director Bill Carp says the funding will allow for 250-to-300 sea days of at sea monitoring.

Carp tells WBSM News, the agency has been sympathetic to the fishermen's plight. "That's why we've done everything we can to extend federal funding over the last two or three years. It's been difficult for us to find the funds and stretch them but unfortunately we've been no longer able to do so," said Carp.

Carp says ground fishermen can expect to pick up the costs for the at-sea monitors sometime early in 2016.