The association representing inshore enterprise owners is joining those expressing concern about what the decommissioning of the Coast Guard research vessel the Alfred Needler will mean for future stock surveys and assessments.

SEA-NL Executive Director Ryan Cleary says they’re “beyond the point of embarrassment” when it comes to DFO science.

He says while the Needler only came out of service five months earlier than planned, the ship was needed to help bring DFO’s new science vessels into service.

The Needler was involved in comparative fishing, that’s when an older vessel trawls alongside a new one, something Cleary calls a critical step to helping to calibrate differences between the ships.

That continuity, says Cleary, has now been broken.

“Poor science translates into bad management,” says Cleary.