come from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
A recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that when an observer was on deck New Englandthat degraded the quality of fisheries data, a phenomenon known as"observer bias." “This isn’t your grandfather’s fishery anymore,” said Captain Al Cottone, who recently had cameras installed on his 45-foot groundfish trawler, the Sabrina Maria. “If you’re going to sail, you just turn the cameras on and you go.”
The stakes are especially high in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean — home to the world’s largest tuna fishery. Observer coverage of the Pacific’s longline fleet, which numbers around 100,000 boats, is around 2% — well below the 20% minimum threshold scientists say they need to assess a fish stock’s health.