The New England cod fishery is on the brink of collapse. For weeks now we have heard from all stakeholders, with some calling for more closures, some less, and others seeking financial aid for fishing families. We’ve even heard a few calling for an all-out ban on cod fishing. But what is missing from much of this conversation are constructive ideas to pave a path forward for fishermen in New England.

Electronic monitoring is one of those solutions. Recently, our organization, the Environmental Defense Fund, announced a push to advocate for 100 percent monitoring on all boats on the New England waters. Simply put, the information about what fish are being caught, how much is being caught, and how much is being discarded and tossed back into the ocean is incomplete at best. We are operating in the dark, and that means that catch limits are sometimes based on stock assessments that are not accurate. Monitoring plays a crucial role in understanding our oceans and in return, leads to better science, which generates more precise stock assessments and accurate catch limits. Frankly, having an effective monitoring program in place very well could have helped prevent the cod crisis we’re currently in.

Electronic monitoring is not new. In fact, when the New England Groundfish sectors program was implemented in 2010, electronic monitoring was discussed as part of the sector system — specifically for monitoring fish caught, discards and compliance with reporting. The National Marine Fisheries Service was told to create guidelines for approved use of electronic monitoring — guidelines that have yet to be produced.

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