July 31, 2015 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
NMFS, with assistance from the New England Fishery Management Council (Council), is soliciting proposals for 2016 – 2018 that address Atlantic Herring RSA research priorities. No Federal funds are provided for research under this notification. Rather, proceeds generated from the sale of RSA quota will be used to fund research activities and/or harvest set-aside quota.
Projects funded under the Atlantic Herring RSA Program must enhance the knowledge of Atlantic herring fishery resources or contribute to the body of information on which Council management decisions are made. Priority shall be given to funding research proposals in the following areas identified as research priorities by the Council for the 2016-2018 fishing years.
2016-2018 Atlantic Herring RSA Program Research Priorities – priorities are not listed in order of importance.
1. Atlantic herring portside sampling – Develop and/or demonstrate a portside sampling program.
2. River herring bycatch avoidance – Develop and/or demonstrate methods that will enable river herring bycatch avoidance in the Atlantic herring fishery.
3. Electronic monitoring – Investigate the feasibility of electronic video monitoring in the Atlantic herring fishery as a means to document vessel fishing and catch processing operations.
4. Stock Structure / Spatial Management
a. Investigate mixing of the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank Atlantic herring resource with the Scotian shelf Atlantic herring resource.
b. Investigate whether Atlantic herring form contingents, and if schools segregate based on size, age, and spawning location.
c. Evaluate assumptions for developing spatial allocations (sub-ACLs) based on different stock structure models.
5. Availability and Detectability of Atlantic herring in Surveys and the Fishery
a. Investigate whether predation potential (e.g., cod) or school size affects the location of Atlantic herring in the water column.
b. Investigate whether the distribution of thermal habitat affects the availability of Atlantic herring to the survey or to the fishery.
6. Fishery acoustic indices – Develop and/or conduct a fishery-independent abundance survey using commercial vessels and fishery acoustics.
7. Volume to Weight Conversion
a. Investigate sources and magnitude of variability of herring catch volume to weight conversions made by vessel captains and dealers.
b. Investigate density-dependent growth /trade-off with reproduction and the potential effect on volume to weight conversions.
For instructions on submitting proposals, please see the attached Federal Funding Opportunity, or search www.grants.gov for funding opportunity NOAA-NMFS-NEFSC-2016-2004537. Complete proposals/applications must be received on or before 5 p.m. EDT on 9/21/2015.
Please forward to any interested parties. For questions, please contact Cheryl Corbett at cheryl.corbett@noaa.gov or 508-495-2070.