Boston-  Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) announced today he sent a letter to federal regulators expressing concerns with a proposed expansion of the Northeast Fishery Observer Program to cover the Massachusetts lobster industry. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Congressmen William Keating and Stephen F. Lynch joined Moulton on the letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In the letter, the legislators called the proposed expansion “duplicative and unnecessary” and called on the agency to provide additional clarity on the impact to the lobster industry: “[T]he agency needs a comprehensive plan to address the concerns raised by the Massachusetts lobstermen, whose industry is directly impacted by expansion of the [Northeast Fishery Observer Program]. We request that you provide clarity to our constituents on the questions they have raised relating to the cost, duration, and responsibility for the safety of observers onboard vessels.”

Beth Casoni, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, praised the lawmakers’ effort: “The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association is extremely concerned about the Northeast Fishery Observer Program’s lack of collaboration to eliminate the redundancy in effort and expenditure on the collection of data sets between state and federal agencies. We are hopeful to resolve this issue without any further undue stressors being implemented on the commercial lobster fishermen. Commercial lobster fishermen already work within confined spaces and having another person on the vessel would be unsafe to themselves and the observer. I would like to thank Congressmen Seth Moulton, William Keating and Stephen Lynch along with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey for their continued support of the commercial lobster industry here in the Commonwealth.”