May 29, 2025 — A collaborative sea trial aboard NOAA’s vessel Bell M. Shimada has set the stage for a more efficient and cost-effective approach to fishery surveys on the West Coast.
Fishing industry leaders joined NOAA Fisheries scientists in testing an innovative new trawl net designed to gather more accurate data in less time and at lower cost.
Developed in partnership with industry experts, the Multi-Function Trawl (MFT) net is engineered to combine two separate West Coast fisheries surveys that had previously relied on different nets. The Adjustable design allows a single vessel to “more safely gather more data in less time and at lower cost,” according to NOAA.
“The new trawl, which uses the same design features and technologies used by many fishermen, increases our confidence in the survey results,” Greg Shaughnessy, chief operating officer at Ocean Gold Seafoods in Westport, Washington, said. Shaughnessy, a long-time industry collaborator, became interested in the survey process after observing the sudden decline of sardines off the Northwest Coast in 2015. “I needed to understand how these surveys work,” he recalled. “You have to have the best available science to get the management right.”