CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen says a budget bill finalized by Congressional leaders includes money to pay for at-sea monitors, so that the cost doesn’t fall to fishermen.
Monitors are workers who gather data that inform fishing regulations. The government shifted the cost of paying for them to fishermen in some Northeast fisheries in 2016. A New England fishing group unsuccessfully sued the government, saying the cost shift is unlawful.
The fee was previously paid for by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Shaheen is the lead Democrat on a Senate appropriations subcommittee. She said Thursday the bill also includes $2 million in new funds for New England groundfish research, including the impacts of changing climatic conditions and warming waters on the fishery.
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