PORTLAND, Maine - A number of Northeastern fishermen are suing the federal government over a shift in the cost of at-sea fishing monitors.
Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say money for monitors in New England fisheries such as cod and haddock will be gone by early 2016. The monitors are trained workers who collect data to help determine future quotas on certain species of commercial fish.
A group that includes more than 20 groundfishermen is suing the U.S. Department of Commerce, which includes NOAA. The group contends that the cost shift is illegal and it's seeking an injunction to protect it from having to pay for the monitors.
It is filing the lawsuit in federal court in New Hampshire.
