GLOUCESTER, MA - Fishermen, scientific and academic organizations, and other research companies are now in the process of taking important steps to get started on three large-scale cooperative research projects.
    These projects - a regionwide cod tagging effort, a pilot study fleet, and a pilot industry-based survey - are being funded through the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Research Partners Initiative.

	(SMAST Project Photo)

    On Dec. 27, the Gulf of Maine Aquarium (GMA), on behalf of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), issued a request for proposals (RFP) inviting bids from vessel owners interested in using their boats as research platforms for a cod tagging project on Cashes and Fippennies Ledges and/or in the eastern Gulf of Maine from Mount Desert Island to the US/Canada border.
    GMA will contract with up to eight groundfish vessels of all gear types from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. The vessels will complete seven trips each for a total of 56 trips.
    DMR or GMA will provide at least one cod tagging assistant for each trip to tag, count, and weigh the cod caught. The vessel crew will be expected to assist with sorting, measuring, and tagging the fish when not otherwise engaged in tending gear or other fishing operations.
    Vessels will be required to keep accurate logbooks and comply with handling protocols designed to minimize damage to the fish brought on board for tagging and release.
    The aim of the two-year project is to tag a minimum of 5,000 codfish per year in each area with the target being 10,000 fish per area per year.
    GMA has hired Shelly Tallack to serve as its cod tagging program manager. Tallack has extensive experience managing tagging projects on a variety of species. Most recently, she worked with the Bigelow Lab on monitoring the red crab fishery.
    She completed her doctorate research in the Shetland Islands working with fishermen and scientists to design management recommendations for three crab species.

    Fishermen interested in making a bid have until Friday, Feb. 7 to submit a proposal to GMA.
    Project proposals will be evaluated as follows:

• 10 points - Experience of vessel owner in the groundfish fishery;
• 20 points - Experience of vessel captain in the groundfish fishery;
• 25 points - Vessel specifications in regards to size, electronics, gear, safety, and other factors;
• 20 points - Experience and commitment of captain and crew to fishery research; and
• 25 points - Vessel charter day rate.

    The GMA/DMR project is part of a larger New England effort to tag cod in five different regions. NMFS has selected the following organizations to coordinate cod tagging in these areas:

• DMR, which is responsible for Cashes/Fippennies Ledges and Mount Desert Island east to the US/Canada border;
• Island Institute, which is responsible for the inshore Gulf of Maine area and is working primarily with lobstermen;
• Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association, which is responsible for the Chatham and Great South Channel area;
• School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, which is responsible for the Georges Bank area; and
• Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which is responsible for Browns Bank and the outer Bay of Fundy and is working cooperatively with Canadian fishermen to place tags.

    Late in December, Technology Planning and Management Corporation (TPMC) put out an RFP looking for bids from organizations interested in acting as coordinators for two of three components of the NMFS pilot study fleet project:

• One organization to recruit and coordinate a Southern New England study fleet comprised of large, offshore vessels from New Bedford, MA to Point Judith, RI; and
• A second organization to recruit and coordinate a Gulf of Maine study fleet comprised of medium-sized draggers and gillnetters from Gloucester, MA to midcoast Maine.

    NMFS has named the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) as the program manager for a pilot Gulf of Maine cod industry-based survey to study cod aggregations and distributions. DMF is working with Maine DMR and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department on this project. The information collected will be used to complement NMFS and DMF trawl surveys.
    A minimum of four fishing vessels at least 50' in overall length will be selected from a pool of vessels to do the surveys - two from Massachusetts and two from Maine and/or New Hampshire.
    The survey will be conducted over two, six-week periods from March through early May. Cruises typically will be 10 days long and will take place from the shore out to 60 fathoms - including Cashes Ledge, but not Georges Bank - within an area bordered by 41°30'N up to the northern extreme of the Hague Line.
    DMF said it expected that the survey will cover 400 sampling stations, with 200 stations sampled per six-week period.
    An implementation committee consisting of representatives from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island fisheries agencies, NMFS, and the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center had met twice as of mid-January to finalize the details of the survey.
    For more information, contact DMF's David Pierce: phone (617) 626-1532; or e-mail David.Pierce@state.ma.us.

    The cod tagging project, the pilot study fleet, and industry-based survey projects were selected by NMFS last year following lengthy consultations with the New England Fishery Management Council's Research Steering Committee.
    The three projects are being funded with approximately $11 million appropriated by Congress over the last three years specifically for cooperative research.
    In addition to these long-term, large-scale projects, NMFS has approved $4.66 million in cooperative research spending for 25 short-term projects.
    Another $8 million in congressional appropriations for cooperative research was lost due to delays in spending the funds and subsequent congressional recession actions between fiscal years 2000-2002.