October 1, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has awarded more than $2.5 million in grants to 16 projects under our Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

Working side-by-side with fishermen on their boats, NOAA Fisheries has developed solutions to some of the top bycatch challenges facing our nation’s fisheries. 

As just one piece of NOAA Fisheries’ larger national strategy, the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program helps identify and foster the development of innovative technological solutions to increase collaborative research and partnerships for innovation.

NOAA Fisheries is proud to continue to partner with fishery managers, the fishing industry, and the environmental community to avoid and minimize bycatch. 

In the Greater Atlantic Region, four projects received grants:

University of New England 

Project Title: Quantifying and reducing post-release mortality for dusky sharks discarded in the commercial pelagic longline fishery 

The Research Foundation for the State University of New York 

Project Title: Development of an Analytical Tool to Allow Fishermen to Reduce Bycatch of Short-Finned Pilot Whales in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

New England Aquarium Corporation 

Project Title: Identifying bottom trawl bycatch hotspots and capture-and-handling practices to reduce the incidental mortality of an overfished Species of Concern 

— the Thorny Skate — in the Gulf of Maine 

University of New England 

Project Title: Determining the post-release mortality rate and best capture-and-handling methods for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) discarded in Gulf of Maine lobster industry

Visit our website to learn more about the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program and our other bycatch efforts.

Questions? Contact Kris Gamble, NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries, at 301-427-8509 or Kris.Gamble@noaa.gov.