CRPI has initiated 25 short-term (1- to 2-year duration) research projects that aim to provide more information on fish stocks, marine habitat, and bycatch reduction through the development of more selective fishing gear. Funding for these projects to date totals approximately $5 million.

View current status of the programs described below

Projects Initiated In FY 2000:

• The Maine Department of Marine Resources was granted three contracts to: 1) study fishing gear selectivity and bycatch in the whiting fishery, 2) conduct inshore trawl surveys in the Gulf of Maine (this project was re-funded in FY2001), and 3) test bycatch in the shrimp fishery.
  
  
• The University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth was awarded two contracts to: 1) conduct high-resolution fishery resources surveys, and 2) study different mesh shapes and excluder devices on species and size selectivity in multispecies fisheries.
  
  
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was awarded a contract to evaluate existing data logging and reporting devices and provide advice on the integration of these technologies into a groundfish study fleet.
  
  
• The New England Aquarium was awarded a contract to convene cod tagging task force meetings to obtain local fishing industry advice on what a cod-tagging program should entail.
  
  
• The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences was awarded a contract to conduct a series of scoping meetings designed to determine the best way to conduct cooperative research in bycatch reduction.
  
  
• The Undersea Research Foundation, Inc. was contracted to study the correlation between whiting abundance and water temperatures. They will also investigate whiting stock structures in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and the Mid-Atlantic Bight.
  
  
• The commercial fishing vessel, Kathleen Mirarchi, Inc., was contracted to study the effects of trawl fishing gear on soft bottom habitats. This project was re-funded in FY2001.
  
  
• The Gulf of Maine Research Institute Development Corporation was contracted to conduct scoping meetings with the fishing industry to determine appropriate mechanisms for developing an industry-based research fleet. This includes both an industry-based study and survey fleet.

Projects Initiated In FY 2001:

• The University of New Hampshire was awarded a grant to 1) develop a fishermen-designed electronic logbook system for the northeast multispecies fishery, and 2) develop a soft species separation system for the New England multispecies fishery.
  
  
• The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries was awarded a grant to 1) study expanding the use of the sweepless raised footrope trawl in small-mesh whiting fisheries, and 2) conduct a Monkfish Cooperative Research Project: Gillnet Survey and Study Fleet.
  
  
• The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences was awarded a grant to develop a collaborative program to assess possible temporal access to closed Area II targeting yellowtail flounder without significant bycatch of cod and haddock.
  
  
• The Maine Department of Marine Resources was awarded a grant to perform a Gulf of Maine inshore trawl survey.

Projects Initiated In FY 2002:

• The University of New Hampshire was contracted to study cod end mesh selectivity in the Gulf of Maine multispecies trawl fishery.
  
  
• The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences and the F/V's North Star, Lady Jane, and Christopher Andrew were contracted to improve the selective efficiency of trawl gear with escape windows and visual stimuli.
  
  
• The F/V Vincie N. Corp. and Allen Michael & Associates were contracted to perform a Gloucester, MA trawl selection study.
  
  
• Captain John Raymond and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences were contracted to develop a collaborative program to test the use of a cod/haddock separator panel in trawl nets.
  
  
• The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute were contracted to assess the bycatch of groundfish in the monkfish fishery.
  
  
• The University of Rhode Island and the F/V Grandville Davis and RIDEM were contracted to characterize the bycatch reduction from cod end mesh sizes increases in the directed scup bottom trawl fishery.
  
  
• The F/V Ocean Reporter and Allen Michael & Associates were contracted to develop video techniques for bycatch reduction studies.