Saving Seafood

SCeMFiS Announces Funding for Two Research Projects Impacting Fisheries Management

November 27, 2017 — CAPE MAY, N.J. — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

The Industry Advisory Board (IAB) of the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) has allocated $26,467 in funding for two research projects during the Fall IAB Meeting held October 31-November 1, 2017 in Cape May, New Jersey. The awards span the broad mission of the SCeMFiS and include research on marine mammals and continued funding for the omnibus stock assessment proposal for Atlantic herring.

Funded projects are as follows:

  • Independent Advisory Team for Marine Mammal Assessments – Phase V – this team addresses uncertainties in slow growing marine mammal populations and the interactions between marine mammals and fishing operations. PI: Paula Moreno, USM
  • Stock Assessment Team – stock assessment teams provide external support to NMFS for benchmark assessment working groups with a focus in 2018 on the Atlantic herring. PI: Steve Cadrin, UMass Dartmouth

This fall marked a trend to include industry sponsorship of social events and hold meetings close to prospective new members in an effort to attract and showcase research projects. The Cape May oceanfront provided a beautiful venue for the Fall IAB Meeting. Lund’s Fisheries Inc. and Atlantic Capes Fisheries, Inc. graciously provided food, beverages and evening social events on the Cape May Whale Watcher as well as Cold Spring Village/Brewery and The Grange Restaurant.

Jeff Reichle, President of Lund’s Fisheries, Inc. commented, “It was an honor to host the Fall IAB Meeting of SCeMFiS in the port of Cape May. The fishing industry in New Jersey, both commercial and recreational, has a huge impact on our coastal communities and we are very pleased to be part of this science based organization focused on cooperative research with NMFS and other fisheries management bodies to ensure that we have healthy, sustainable fisheries now and in the future.”

The Industry Advisory Board of the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS), supported by the National Science Foundation I/UCRC Program, provides research related to major challenges in fisheries management and brings participants from industry, government, and other organizations in need of science-based solutions into contact with academic scientists capable of providing that expertise.

The SCeMFiS Industry Advisory Board is composed of members from the shellfish and commercial finfish industries and the NMFS-Northeast Fisheries Science Center. The organizational structure provided by the Center permits members to control the science agenda in exchange for financial support under the sponsorship of the NSF.

For a list of the SCeMFiS research projects already underway, please click the following link, http://scemfis.org/research.html. The Industry Advisory Board will review each of its funded projects at its next meeting to be held April 24 & 25 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

 

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘A new era’: UMass Dartmouth SMAST building to open

September 29, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — UMass Dartmouth’s new marine science building is finished, its laboratories gleaming with the promise of new research.

The $55 million School for Marine Science and Technology building, dubbed SMAST East, officially opens today in the South End of New Bedford. At 64,000 square feet, it nearly triples the physical size of SMAST, a graduate school and research center focusing on fisheries, coastal preservation, ocean modeling, and climate change.

The new building reunites the school’s programs in a campus-like setting. For several years, some have been housed in the AT&T building in Fairhaven for lack of space.

“Just to be back together was great,” said Steve Cadrin, a professor and chairman of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography. But more importantly, it’s a world-class facility, he said.

The building also helps cement the school’s relationship with the state Division of Marine Fisheries. The agency leased the third floor for its New Bedford office, and it will have a first-floor office for permitting.

The Division of Marine Fisheries works hand-in-hand with SMAST on research and sometimes hires its Ph.D. graduates. Recent hires have represented the agency on New England Fisheries Management Council committees, helped the state understand fish surveys, and studied algae blooms.

The agency’s director, David Pierce, is an adjunct professor.

“We are now in a far better position to collaborate,” he said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times