September 29, 2014 — NEC will administer $800,000 in research funds from the New England Fishery Management Council and will put out a region-wide request for proposals.
The University of New Hampshire-led Northeast Consortium has been selected to lead a new collaborative research initiative on the groundfish stocks and groundfish fishery in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.
NEC will administer $800,000 in research funds from the New England Fishery Management Council and will put out a region-wide request for proposals.
While a broad range of projects will be considered, priority will be given to specific proposals that aim to demonstrate how to access closed areas and increase catch of haddock without impacting cod, yellowtail flounder, and windowpane flounder, as well as to studies that develop gear-engineering solutions to minimize bycatch for flatfish. The request for proposals, which are due Nov. 5, is at http://northeastconsortium.org/pdfs/NEC_rfp_2014.pdf.
The work of the NEC has become the standard model for bringing commercial fishers and scientists together in an effort to improve fisheries, but a significant reduction in funds for supporting the research needed to identify strategies and solutions for the sustainability of fishery resources in the region has hampered further progress in recent years.
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