The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is seeking a charter vessel partner to participate in a cooperative research study to estimate trawl gear capture efficiency in order to improve assessments of commercially important fish populations in the Northwest Atlantic. The deadline for quotes is June 13.
The following summary highlights Council actions and issues considered at the April 14-16, 2015 Council Meeting held in Long Branch, New Jersey.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is seeking a highly qualified contractor to facilitate the development of a quantitative stock assessment for the northern black sea bass stock to support management of the black sea bass fishery.
Proposals are due by May 29, 2015.
NOAA Fisheries is now accepting project proposals its Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP). Approximately $2.5 million is available to fishermen, academics, and other interested groups for projects that offer practical solutions to reduce bycatch. Pre-proposals are due by April 16 with full applications due by May 28, 2015.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold six public hearings in January to gather public comments on the Deep Sea Corals Amendment to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Hearings will be held January 12 – 20, 2015, and written comments will be accepted until January 28, 2015.
The Mid-Atlantic Council voted at its meeting last week to initiate an action that would protect unmanaged species of forage fish in the Mid-Atlantic.
Members of the public are invited to attend the Council’s next listening session at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10th to learn more about deep sea corals in the Mid-Atlantic. Guest speaker will be Dr. Martha Nizinski, a zoologist at the NOAA Fisheries National Systematics Lab
The following summary highlights Council actions and issues considered at the October 2014 Council Meeting held in Philadelphia, PA on October 7-9.
NOAA has announced the availability of approximately $18 million to support research projects under the FY2014/2015 Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program.
Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the results from its review of NMFS stock assessments in a report entitled Fish Stock Assessments: Prioritization and Funding.
NOAA Fisheries has announced that, beginning in 2015, it plans to provide funding for inshore trawl surveys under the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP).
NOAA has released the FY14 federal funding opportunity, Understanding Climate Impacts on Fish Stocks and Fisheries to Inform Sustainable Management.
NOAA has announced the selection of two sites in NOAA’s North Atlantic Region as the next Habitat Focus Areas under NOAA’s Habitat Blueprint. In the Mid-Atlantic, the agency will focus its habitat conservation and restoration efforts on the Choptank River complex in Maryland and Delaware.
Last month the Northeast Fisheries Science Center released a new butterfish stock assessment which concluded that the stock is not overfished and that overfishing is not occurring. The fishery's status had previously been characterized as "unknown."
The following summary highlights Council actions and issues considered at the Council's meeting on April 8 - 10, 2014 in Montauk, New York.
NOAA Fisheries announces that the Final biological opinion to assess the impact of seven Northeast fisheries on various species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as either threatened or endangered is now available.
Nominations for the NMFS Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel will be accepted through December 6, 2013.
NOAA Fisheries Service has announced more than $6 million in funding for habitat restoration projects in Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia to restore more than 11,000 acres of habitat, and open more than 200 stream miles for fish passage.
Climate change has resulted in shifts in where and at what depths many marine species are found. The leading explanation for these changes has been biological differences among species, but a new study suggests that the local climatic conditions are more likely causing these shifts.
This month the Chairmen of the three east coast fishery management councils signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to help coordinate the protection of deep sea corals off the Atlantic coast of the United States from Maine to eastern Florida.
