WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Angus King and Susan Collins announced that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is awarding the Nature Conservancy $300,000 to implement an electronic monitoring system in the New England groundfishery that will help promote sustainability and improve catch share monitoring. The project will be a collaborative effort with the local fishing industry, and will equip up to 24 regional fishing vessels with electronic monitoring technology.

“Maine’s ocean resources are an invaluable part of our economy,” said Senators King and Collins in a joint statement. “To efficiently and equitably manage these resources and protect the long-term health and sustainability of our fisheries, we must leverage new technology, like electronic monitoring. This grant will support an encouraging collaboration between the Nature Conservancy and New England fishermen that has important implications for the future of our fishing industry.”

In May, King wrote a letter to NFWF Executive Director Jeff Trandhal expressing his support for the collaborative electronic monitoring effort. Along with fishermen from Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, The Nature Conservancy is partnering with scientists, other non-governmental organizations, and federal regulators to develop an electronic video monitoring system in place of human observers. Using human observers to monitor fisheries can be costly, inconvenient for fishermen, and presents safety concerns – issues that are all magnified on smaller vessels like those common in Maine. Electronic monitoring is seen as a good alternative to help promote sustainable practices while cutting down on monitoring costs, which would be particularly beneficial during a time marked by recent fishery disasters and stress on the livelihood of local fishermen.

NFWF is an independent non-profit organization that was created by Congress in 1984.

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