Cooperative Research in the National Marine Fisheries Service (2004) / Chapter Skim
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2. Experience With Cooperative Research in the U.S.
2. Experience With Cooperative Research in the U.S.
Pages 13-28
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From page 13... ...
Cooperative research with fishermen as a priority activity and as a tool to increase constituent support for agency programs has received increased emphasis since the mid- to late 1990s. INTRODUCTION AND BRIEF HISTORY Cooperative research has a history that parallels that of fisheries research and has evolved along with the agencies and institutions of fisheries science.
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From page 14... ...
A TED developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) appeared to be effective in excluding sea turtles from trawls while retaining the majority of harvested shrimp.
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From page 15... ...
In that case, collaboration among NMFS, the Southeast Fishery Development Foundation, fishermen, conservation representatives, Sea Grant, and state agencies resulted in several designs for bycatch reduction devices that have been tested and brought into development in shrimp fisheries in the Gulf and South Atlantic. Another early gear development program that fishermen initiated was the invention of the Medina panel to release dolphins from purse seine nets.
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From page 16... ...
The IATTC has contributed to the reduction of dolphin mortality by providing a dolphin safety gear program to the fleet, by conducting workshops, and by providing general education to the fleet of the causes of incidental mortality. The fishermen have contributed to the success of the program through their ideas and experiments on safe fishing techniques and by their careful diligence during fishing operations.
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From page 17... ...
The desire for more and better information brought the parties to the table to design a cooperative survey of closed areas. In 1994 the New England Fishery Management Council limited entry to the fishery, restricted effort through days at sea per vessel, reduced crew size, and increased the gear mesh size.
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From page 18... ...
CMAST provided researchers, the industry provided vessels and dredges, and the NEFSC provided electronic equipment and the survey design. From the science center's point of view, the purpose of the project was to calibrate the guidance and action of the NMFS dredge and commercial dredges as a first step in testing the feasibility of using commercial vessels to do surveys.
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From page 19... ...
The scientific and statistical committee of the fishery management council and the stock assessment review committee for scallops reviewed the information and accepted the 40 percent efficiency estimate. Once the pilot was completed successfully and confirmed that the commercial dredge and the NOAA research survey dredge could be calibrated to show consistent results, the NEFSC moved into the second phase of the project.
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From page 20... ...
The fishing industry advocated that mesh size research be conducted to evaluate whether new mesh size regulations could replace or diminish reliance on trip limits and reduce discard levels. This case study focuses on the development of an experimental design for the field component of the research project conducted in 1988.
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From page 21... ...
Another key design element was the use of volunteer fishing vessels that were exempt from trip limits while engaged in cooperative research fishing trips. The trip-limit waiver was facilitated by the multistakeholder advisory committee and ensured that fishing trips would be scientifically productive (i.e., not terminated prematurely as a result of attainment of trip quotas)
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From page 22... ...
This case study also illustrates the "higher standard" to which cooperative research projects can be held relative to other scientific projects. In the case of the West Coast Groundfish Mesh Size Study, a scientifically valid experimental design was a necessary criterion for success, but that in itself was insufficient.
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From page 23... ...
Although the West Coast groundfish trawl fishery adopted minimum mesh size regulations, the fishery continued to discard significant portions of the catch due to economic and regulatory constraints. In particular, high levels of regulatory discarding were occurring in the shelf slope trawl groundfishery due to trip limits and harvest quotas set by the PFMC.
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From page 24... ...
ODF&W was also responsible for collecting and maintaining raw data and obtaining experimental fishing permits. The OTC was expected to help market the program and locate cooperating voluntary vessels, which received no direct compensation except caps and jackets for skippers and crew.
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From page 25... ...
There was also no final report publishecl. A1though some of the clata have been used by NWFSC scientists to update discard rates for selected species, collectively the project clata could not be used to scientifically determine trawl discard rates for all federally managed shelf ancl slope species.
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From page 26... ...
Two fishing associations also collaborated: the IFQ vessels all were members of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association, and the Pacific cod vessels all were members of the North Pacific Longline Association. Working fishermen collaborated in two ways: they identified possible deterrents at the beginning of the project and decided along with the program director which of those would be most suitable for testing, and they tested these deterrents on their vessels using experimentally rigorous tests while actively fishing under typical conditions.
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From page 27... ...
In this regard, this research was similar to the West Coast Groundfish Mesh Size Study. The initial seabird deterrent regulations passed in 1996 by the NPFMC derived from anecdotal information from fishermen and from seabird deterrence regulations from other parts of the world.
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From page 28... ...
failed when fishermen were informed that the NMFS spring 2002 trawl survey had already commenced. Finally, in August 2002, representatives of the fishing industry, Rutgers University, and the NEFSC agreed to perform further cooperative survey efforts in 2003.
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