August 27, 2018 — The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Research Set-Aside (RSA) program has raised funds for fishery research while allowing fishermen to catch more fish.
It has successfully worked for the scallop industry in New England and for a charter industry pilot program that I participated in seven years ago.
RSA programs use a set-aside of fishery resources, whether quota or days-at-sea, to generate revenue that is used to conduct needed research. Here in the Northeast, the New England Fishery Management Council has successfully used its RSA program to study Atlantic sea scallops, Atlantic herring and monkfish.
The charter fishing industry RSA program I participated in with seven other vessels purchased summer flounder quota (with a grant) to run a summer flounder pilot project.
Software developed during the pilot allowed charter captains to record catch and effort in real time electronically with computer tablets on their vessels. Today, the software is approved by NOAA for use by charter captains and commercial fishermen in the Greater Atlantic Regional.