May 9, 2012 – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected 13 collaborative projects for $12 million in research intended to help the scallop industry maintain a healthy fishery.
Since 1998, the scallop industry has set aside a portion of its annual catch limit to fund collaborative research with marine scientists. This year, that figure is 3 percent of the total catch, which equates to about $12 million.
The money is awarded by NOAA and distributed as grants to various research institutes. Among federal fisheries, set-aside programs are unique to the Northeast region.
In the past, the money has been used for a variety of projects to help manage the fishery sustainably, including stock assessments in areas where scallop boats fish, bycatch avoidance programs and, most recently, a modified scallop dredge designed to prevent loggerhead turtles from becoming entangled in the fishing gear.
"I attribute all of the progress in the scallop fishery to the research set-aside," said Ron Smolowitz of the nonprofit Coonamessett Farm Foundation in East Falmouth, which led the research into the new turtle gear.
It was a 1996 letter from Smolowitz to the New England Fishery Management Council suggesting an industry set-aside that initially led to the program's foundation.
The Coonamesset Farm Foundation, UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are the principal beneficiaries of this year's awards.
One of the SMAST proposals, awarded $836,000, is for the development of a hydrodynamic dredge. The dredge is intended to reduce yellowtail bycatch and sea turtle mortality while also reducing fuel consumption while dredging. The school will also receive $926,000 to conduct a high-resolution video survey of the scallop biomass in the Nantucket Lightship and Closed Area I fishing grounds.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times.