Cooperative Fisheries Research RFPs: NMFS 2002 Bycatch, Conservation Engineering (out soon)    see complete Manomet report and others (NMFS) 2001 Cooperative Fisheries Research  (05/08/01)          NOAA press release (04/13/01)          Summary of proposed budget for research 2000 Cooperative Research Awards - Introductory letter, Exempted Fishery Permit - Scientific research definition document - Northeast Consortium Projects - FishResearch.org website Ongoing Surveys and Projects: 1. NMFS NEFMC annual surveys (scroll to year)    or Fishermen's Reports (annual surveys) 2. Massachusetts DMF inshore trawl surveys.     Spring  and Fall (images, Howe, et al, 2000) Cooperative Surveys, programs and projects 3. Industry-based Herring survey  (hard copy only) 4. Industry-based Scallop surveys) 5. Industry-based Groundfish surveys  (not yet) 6. Industry-based Monkfish trawl survey 7. other Industry-Based efforts 8. Nearshore surveys, Maine and N.H. (not yet) 9. Cod Tagging report 10. Study Fleet <== NEW 11. Scallop TAC setaside projects (not yet) Other fisheries related research initiatives: National Sea Grant Saltonstall-Kennedy Grants MARFIN Fishing Industry Grants (not yet) GLOBEC George's Bank Ecosystem Program WHOI Institutes MARMAP (hydrography datasets only) Other reading There is a short, anything but comprehensive, Scallop References section for scallop related research on the left panel. Dr. Sandra Shumway, Univ. of Connecticut, has collected the most complete bibliography for scallop available. By now there must be close to 1,000 references.

The frame of fisheries research in the local region has been built up over many long years of hard work, with major contributions from many individuals. Comprehensive data collection efforts for the offshore fisheries have been almost solely conducted by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Maine Department of Marine Resources in state waters. Since the UNLOS, the US Geological Survey, Woods Hole, and the National Undersea Research Center, Groton, Conn. have made increasing contributions to our basic knowlege of the continental shelf concerning substrate and habitat. The two NMFS fisheries research vessels, Albatross IV and Delaware II, used in the Northeast region have a full schedule annually with spring and fall groundfish trawl surveys, a surf clam/ocean quahog survey and a sea scallop survey. Industry participation in data collection is seen as a necessary additional component for several reasons:  1. Although the existing surveys have provided a useful index of the abundance of the target species, Magnuson-Stevens and SFA have changed our approach and are interpreted to require maximization of the biomass for all species and thus more accurate biomass assessments to determine Total Allowable Catch or TAC. The existing surveys were not designed to produce an exact biomass estimate and when applied have fairly broad confidence limits. Figure 1 (AApplegate), scanned from NEFMC Scallop Committee documents, provides a good example of biomass estimate confidence intervals using different survey methods. Additionally, the survey strata that took many years to develop are now overlayed with closed areas that cut through strata, further reducing the usefulness of this carefully refined method to determine area based TACs where this occurs.  2. There is little available excess time in the NMFS vessel schedules for increased survey duties. Industry participation offers the opportunity to increase the temporal coverage and the spatial extent of the observations or data points, refining the information going into the science and being made available to management.  3. One of the greatest failings of the existing situation is the perceived difference between what scientists and fishermen see in the water, and the lack of personal contact between individuals other than for enforcement purpose. This separation allows both parties to remain faceless and institutional, 'the feds' and 'the fleet'. Increasing the contact and familiarity with each other has the opportunity to restore what was once a good working relationship with BCF and NMFS when the port agents were the interface, to promote buy-in and understanding of what we collectively need and how best to accomplish the necessary tasks. There is something to learn here on both parts.