June 26, 2012 – NOAA Fisheries Service today announced the selection of two cooperative research projects to be funded through the Monkfish Research Set-Aside Program, which is jointly managed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils.
Research Set-Aside programs are unique to federal fisheries in the northeast. Although the Northeast Cooperative Research Program manages them, no federal funds are provided to support the research. Instead, funding is provided annually by the sale of set-aside allocations for quota managed or days-at-sea (DAS) managed fisheries. Current RSAs include programs for Atlantic sea scallops, Atlantic herring, monkfish, and mid-Atlantic multi species which includes Atlantic mackerel, black sea bass, bluefish, butterfish, Illex squid, Loligo squid, scup, summer flounder, and tilefish.