There won't be a change in cheating on catch and bycatch when the Gulf is rationalized if these guys are any example:
"On May 8, 2013, American Seafoods Company and the owners and operators of the catcher/processors Ocean Rover and Northern Eagle were charged by NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for tampering with the equipment used for weighing Alaska pollock. Pollock on these vessels are processed for many uses, from frozen fish sticks and imitation crab to roe and fish oil."
"These are not the first cases of their kind. NOAA’s Office of General Counsel issued a Notice of Violation and Assessment (NOVA) in January 2012 for similar violations alleged to have occurred on another American Seafoods Company catcher/processor, the American Dynasty. The penalty being sought in this pending case is $543,500. In the Ocean Rover case, NOAA’s Office of General Counsel issued a NOVA proposing an assessed penalty of $848,000; in the Northern Eagle case, General Counsel issued a NOVA proposing an assessed penalty of $1,337,000."
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ole/slider_stories/2013/13_051313americanseafoodsnovas.html
Insist on 100% observer coverage of all draggers in the GOA.
Keep yer flippers wet
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3 comments:
Why do you think observer coverage will do anything? If the observers really saw and reported what goes on accurately, the draggers would be shut down and the observers out of a job.
Your negativity is not helpful. Observers are for the part honest, only around 15% cheat by taking bribes in the form of drugs or capitulate to social pressure to wink at cheating. Point is: most dragging is not observed and so occulted data is rampant. We do not have a clear picture of what is going on. We have given sector splits away based on erroneous data. We are about to give the GOA away on the same trash data. We need full observer data. Try that drum beat. Be helpful.
Where does the 15% number come from? Most of them are just terrible at their jobs.
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