A comprehensive article about Massachusetts DMF Industry-Based Survey underway in Gulf of Maine
Massachusetts received more than $21 million in federal fisheries disaster aid, most of which was distributed to fishermen. But the state kept some for research projects, including $400,000 for an eight month Industry-Based Survey of random tows throughout the Gulf of Maine, from Cape Cod Bay up to Portland, Maine, focusing on cod, but counting and cataloging the fish and other species they catch. The state survey is part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s promise to help fishermen answer some of the key questions plaguing fishery management, Beaton said. Fishermen contend they are seeing a lot of cod in the Gulf of Maine, but their observations don’t match NOAA stock assessments that show historically low populations. The disconnect, fishermen say, results from the federal government using a vessel and net that have had trouble catching cod and performing surveys in the wrong places at the wrong time of year. The state survey will be more intensive than the federal effort, with approximately 400 tows in the Gulf of Maine over eight months compared with NOAA’s two-month research cruise with approximately 800 trawl locations from North Carolina up over the Canadian maritime border. Read the article here 09:50
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