NMFS announces that the New England and Mid-
Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (Councils) have set aside 500
monkfish days-at-sea (DAS) to be used for research endeavors under a
research set-aside (RSA) program.
NMFS is soliciting proposals for
/>
research activities concerning the monkfish fishery for fishing year
2009 (May 1, 2009-April 30, 2010).
Through the allocation of research
DAS, the Monkfish RSA Program provides a mechanism to reduce the cost
for vessel owners to participate in cooperative monkfish research.
The
intent of this program is for fishing vessels to utilize these research
DAS to conduct monkfish related research, rather than their allocated
monkfish DAS, thereby eliminating any cost to the vessel associated
with using a monkfish DAS.
Landings from such research trips may be
sold to generate funds to help defray research costs.
No Federal funds
are provided for research under this notification.
Rather, projects
funded under the Monkfish RSA Program would be provided with additional
opportunity to harvest monkfish, and the catch sold to generate income
to offset research costs.
Projects funded under an RSA DAS award must
enhance the knowledge of the monkfish fishery resource or contribute to
the body of information on which management decisions are made.
The
Councils and NMFS will give priority to funding research proposals in
the following general subject areas:
(1) Cooperative research to
supplement NMFS surveys; (2) life history studies on age and growth,
longevity, reproduction, and natural mortality; (3) tagging and
telemetry studies to investigate short- and long-term movements and
habitat use; (4) research concerning bycatch and discard mortality of
target and/or non-target species; (5) trawl and gillnet gear studies
concerning size and/or species selectivity and bycatch reduction
(including reducing bycatch of and interactions with protected
species); and (6) research concerning trophic interactions of monkfish
with other species.
Please note that the research subject areas listed
above are not listed in order of priority.
Projects that follow up or
expand on previous cooperative research are encouraged and will be
given additional consideration, provided such research would enhance
the utility of the initial work.