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by Lorelei Stevens.
CAMBRIDGE, MA - The folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Maine Sea Grant are looking for a dozen groundfish fishermen who might be interested in testing the waters of cooperative research.
With funding from the fiscal year 2000 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)/New England Fishery Management Council Research Steering Committee process, MIT Sea Grant's Center for Fisheries Engineering Research (CFER) is conducting a project to evaluate a study fleet electronic catch reporting system.
As cooperative research programs expand in the region, fishermen will be playing a greater role in gathering information on fish stocks. Some will become part of study fleets and take on responsibility for recording specific catch and discard information to provide more timely and accurate data to support better fisheries management.
The CFER project is piloting the study fleet idea by testing electronic data recording equipment to see if it will work in the real world -- on board a working fishing boat.
According to CFER Director Cliff Goudey, fishermen who participate in this pilot project will be using a data recording device developed by Thistle Marine. The box is already receiving rave reviews from lobstermen who have been recording lobster catch information as part of a test project for the Maine Department of Marine Resources (see Commercial Fisheries News March 2001, page 8B).
Since the Thistle Marine device is so user friendly and the CFER project won't interfere with normal fishing operations, Goudey is especially hopeful of attracting fishermen who haven't yet given cooperative research a try.
"In addition to seeking a distribution of participants from Downeast Maine to Cape Cod, I'm also interested in involving fishermen who are not already engaged in the 'cooperative research fishery' -- guys interested in getting involved, but who haven't yet found the right opportunity," Goudey said.
Privacy protection
CFER is specifically looking for 12 commercial fishing vessels to work on the project for six months. Vessel captains will be compensated as consultants for the time they invest in the project.
All the hardware, installation, communication, and data analysis costs will be covered by MIT. The data collected will be transmitted over telephone lines to Thistle Marine, which will then make the information available to the fisherman through a secure Internet web site using a password. Anyone else involved in the project will be able to look at the data only in aggregate form.
"Under this federally funded project, MIT, NMFS, the New England council, and certain collaborating scientists will have web access to pooled data," Goudey explained. "Fishermen's proprietary interests will be protected. Pooled data will not be attributable to a specific vessel, the catch locations will be based on 10 minute squares, and there will be a time delay in its availability."
The project requires different types and sizes of vessels and different gear types. MIT is looking for: three inshore draggers; three offshore draggers; three gillnetters; and three longliners.
Participating fishermen will also be required to: be active in the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank groundfish fishery; be willing to accurately report catch and discards; have GPS on board; and have Internet access.
For more information, contact: Cliff Goudey at MIT Sea Grant; phone (617) 253-7079; fax (617) 252-1615; or e-mail cgoudey@mit.edu; or Dana Morse at Maine Sea Grant; phone (207) 563-3146, ext. 205; fax (207) 563-3119; or e-mail dana.morse@maine.edu.
