May 13, 2015 — The UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) has been awarded two research grants from the New England Fishery Management Council’s Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program.
They are among 10 projects to be selected in this year’s round of grants. The researchers address priorities spelled out by the New England Fishery Managament Council, the advisory arm of regional fisheries management.
SMAST won $373,922 for Dr. Kevin Stokesbury’s continued development of video scallop surveys on Georges Bank. His methods have revolutionized the scallop biomass estimates in recent years, helping turn scallops into the species that keeps New Bedford at the top earning port in the United States for more than a decade.
A grant of $160,738 went to Dr. Catherine O’Keefe for further development of a bycatch avoidance system that collects real-time information from fishermen about “hot spots” of yellowtail flounder, which can then be avoided by the scallopers.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times