NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — March 18, 2015 — In the scallop science world, what's going on this week on the waterfront is a little like a battle of the bands: three competing methods of surveying scallops, pitted against each other in front of a panel of tough scientific judges.
Over the course of three days, fisheries and ocean scientists are making presentations of their methods and results, and they are being sharply questioned by the select group of international scientists chosen by NOAA Fisheries. The goal is to sort out the best parts or each and perhaps choose one method.
Dr. Kevin Stokesbury of the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology said, "What is happening here is that they're examining the different survey types."The latest RSA (research set-aside) RFP (request for proposals) was open to proposals for 2015 but not 2016. "Because NOAA wanted to have a review of all the survey techniques as the basis for what they are going to finance," Stokesbury said.
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