Narrative:

Completely saturated sector. Aircraft X checked on climbing out of mht on pport SID; and I climbed him to FL230. I was also working on a three-way bgr tie further north in the sector; vectoring to bos; and issuing an instrument approach. A contributing factor was the high sector; 01/02; was completely saturated as well and unable to provide sequencing to me on handoffs descending into my sector. Training on my d-side with a relatively green trainee that wasn't contributing much to the operation.shortly after the aircraft X was issued a climb clearance the pilot said something to the effect of 'request vectors to avoid traffic'. My eyes immediately went back to him even though I had much higher priorities; and I saw a mode C intruder target that had already merged with him at his altitude (085). At that same moment the boston approach controller (east sector) called on the land line; but we were just way too busy to even begin to answer. I can only assume he was calling about the aircraft X and the VFR traffic. As I was unable to determine a safe course of action for the aircraft X; and didn't want to make the situation any more dangerous. I just told the pilot he was cleared to maneuver at his discretion (the targets had already merged). Almost seconds after; I observed the aircraft X leaving FL091 and stated 'traffic no factor'. The pilot then casually commented about how 'that could have been bad'; and I agreed with him.I can't say I feel good about the situation.I honestly don't know that much could have been done differently here; other than boston approach not shipping aircraft X until he was clear of the VFR traffic; or calling me well ahead of the targets merging. The sectors could have been split which would have provided more range.more importantly; I think the high side should have been split long before. It was being staffed by a non-certified professional controller (cpc) radar controller and non-cpc d-side controller. They handed me lots of traffic conflicts that required increased amounts of attention.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Boston Center (ZBW) Controller reports of an airborne conflict between an IFR and a VFR aircraft. The Controller did not issue traffic as they didn't observe it until the pilot called about it.

Narrative: Completely saturated sector. Aircraft X checked on climbing out of MHT on PPORT SID; and I climbed him to FL230. I was also working on a three-way BGR tie further north in the sector; vectoring to BOS; and issuing an instrument approach. A contributing factor was the high sector; 01/02; was completely saturated as well and unable to provide sequencing to me on handoffs descending into my sector. Training on my D-side with a relatively green trainee that wasn't contributing much to the operation.Shortly after the Aircraft X was issued a climb clearance the pilot said something to the effect of 'request vectors to avoid traffic'. My eyes immediately went back to him even though I had much higher priorities; and I saw a mode C intruder target that had already merged with him at his altitude (085). At that same moment the Boston Approach controller (East sector) called on the land line; but we were just way too busy to even begin to answer. I can only assume he was calling about the Aircraft X and the VFR traffic. As I was unable to determine a safe course of action for the Aircraft X; and didn't want to make the situation any more dangerous. I just told the pilot he was cleared to maneuver at his discretion (the targets had already merged). Almost seconds after; I observed the Aircraft X leaving FL091 and stated 'traffic no factor'. The pilot then casually commented about how 'that could have been bad'; and I agreed with him.I can't say I feel good about the situation.I honestly don't know that much could have been done differently here; other than Boston Approach not shipping Aircraft X until he was clear of the VFR traffic; or calling me well ahead of the targets merging. The sectors could have been split which would have provided more range.More importantly; I think the high side should have been split long before. It was being staffed by a non-Certified Professional Controller (CPC) radar controller and non-CPC D-side controller. They handed me lots of traffic conflicts that required increased amounts of attention.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.