May 18, 2013 — Scallop research grants totaling $3.1 million have been awarded to the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology, NOAA Fisheries Service announced Friday.
That represents a sharp increase over last year, when SMAST won only one, and a shared grant at that.
The grants to institutions in the Northeast this year total $12.5 million. They are financed by a 2 percent set-aside of the scallop catch, a formula developed more than a decade ago. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that since scallops are so valuable, 2 percent can add up to a great deal of money.
In recent years the fund has raised $10 million to $12 million, NOAA said.
SMAST is also partnering with other institutions in research totaling another $3.3 million. Most of that will go toward a seasonal bycatch survey of the Georges Bank scallop fishery.
Among the SMAST grants, Dr. Kevin Stokesbury won $866,849 for his work developing a high-resolution video apparatus for surveying the scallop population. Stokesbury was behind the original still-photo mapping of the scallop population, which revolutionized scallop management.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times