URI, Commercial Fisheries Center combine to create apprentice program in commercial fishing

In early July, a group of apprentices joined a pilot program designed to train new commercial fishermen and women. When the program ended 20 days later, not a single apprentice had dropped out. “We were very pleased with that,” said Barbara Somers, a research associate at the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Science who helped put the program together. “We started with 12 and we ended with 12.” The program, funded by a $100,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was a joint initiative of URI and the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, a non-profit group representing nine fishing organizations. The goal was to produce skilled crews to replenish the declining ranks of the Rhode Island commercial fishery. click here to read the story 08:26

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