August 30, 2012 — NOAA today announced the selection of its 2012 Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program awards. Fourteen projects were selected this year, five of which are from the Northeast Region. The Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the New England Aquarium Corporation and the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth are the Northeast recipients.
NOAA Fisheries’ Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP) is a national program that provides funds to develop innovative research approaches and strategies for reducing bycatch, seabird interactions, bycatch mortality, and post-release mortality of non-target species and protected species in federally managed fisheries. Under the BREP, NOAA Fisheries—working side-by-side with fishermen on their boats—has developed solutions to some of the top bycatch challenges facing U.S. fisheries.
Read more about BREP on the NOAA website.