The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has awarded a new round of grants from its Fisheries Innovation Fund.
Three grants are going to Alaska projects:
Every Halibut Counts: Reducing Halibut Discard Mortality
Grantee: Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $55,000; Matching Funds: $56,232; Total Project: $111,232
The Alaska Marine Conservation Council will conduct a collaborative, industry-driven conservation initiative to reduce mortality of discarded halibut in the Alaska sportfishing sector by facilitating broad use of best practices for careful release. The project focus will be on top ports for recreational halibut harvest and discards in both Southeast and Southcentral Alaska stretching from Craig to Kodiak.
GPS Data Loggers as a Low-Cost Alternative to VMS
Grantee: Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $110,000; Matching Funds: $181,500; Total Project: $291,500
The Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association will implement a two-stage field trial to fully evaluate and document the use of GPS data loggers as a low-cost alternative to vessel monitoring systems in Alaska's catch share halibut and sablefish fisheries. The project will be based in Sitka, with field testing conducted throughout Southeast Alaska.
Testing Electronic Monitoring on Small Fixed-Gear Cod Boats
Grantee: North Pacific Fisheries Association Inc.
Fisheries Innovation Fund Award: $127,400; Matching Funds: $120,000; Total Project: $247,400
The North Pacific Fisheries Association Inc. will field test an improved electronic monitoring system on small fixed-gear boats (pot and hook-and-line) fishing for Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska. A comparison of costs of electronic monitoring to costs of observers in this fishery will be made. The project will be based in Homer. Field tests will occur in the Gulf of Alaska, Western and Central regulatory areas.
Congress created the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 1984.
To see the full press release on the 2013 Fisheries Innovation Fund grants, click here.
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6 comments:
Nice job AMCC...maybe you should focus on all of the halibut discards in the IFQ fishery 1st. That's where the real slaughter is happening.
You've got to be kidding! We fish short soaks and shake everything live at the rail.
And we are worse than shallow water flats trawlers bring up bags of dead ping pong paddle halibut? or autobait longliners who can't slow down in order to run thier 30,000 to 70,000 hooks a day and end up crucifying everything???
WTF???
Commercial boats have to have observers or cameras like we do in Canada to protect our resource. I know it costs $$ but we stop the abusers in our industry and we have valid data for computer input. It also gives us info that the commercial sports fleet cannot argue against.
We tried to get cameras on all groundfish and halibut boats but the National Marine Trawl Service decided to lessen the observer coverage on draggers and put observers on halibut boats down to 40 ft.
Kid of like OJ looking for the real killer on Florida golf courses.
Our "data" is worse than no data at all. Which suits NMFS and NMFS's Alaska region boss and his trawler lobbyist wife just fine.
Really?
Here we go again!
It's the sports fishers fault.
Always the Sportsfisher!
And what again are you doing about big brother out there that no one can mess with? Why won't you hold them accountable?
Oh because of special interests on the npmc and the domination of the commercial industry...that's right.
Nice bone...
What a fricken waiste of money and time.
I would expect more from the marine Conservation Council....
Now that's a biased survey once again and a waste of money and time...
Conflict of Interest is the norm for Alaska. People don't know civics that's why.
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