On July 30, NOAA Fisheries announced that deployment of observers and at-sea monitors in the Northeast partial-coverage fisheries will resume on August 14. To improve transparency in its approach to observer deployment, NOAA Fisheries has established national-level criteria for vessels to be waived (released) from observer or at-sea monitor coverage. Going forward, observer or monitor coverage may be waived, for both full and partial-coverage fisheries, on a trip-specific basis if one of the following two criteria are met:
Observers or at-sea monitors are not available for deployment; or
The observer providers cannot meet the safety protocols imposed by a state on commercial fishing crew or by the vessel or vessel company on its crew.
For additional details, read the full announcement here.