Tag Archives: research set-aside program
Scallop Research Set-Aside Program to Support 14 New Projects; Several 2024 Announcements Include Multi-Year Awards
The Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program will support 14 new projects that were selected from the 2024 RSA solicitation. Several awards will support multi-year research, including a four-year regional survey effort. The set-aside harvest is expected to generate $22 million in revenue. Of that total, $5 million will fund the targeted research and $17 million will compensate industry partners who harvest the set-aside scallops. To determine the award amounts, the price of sea scallops was projected to average $14 per pound of meats. Charts, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:38
Fisherman’s case yields complicated evidence trail
The federal trial of Thomas Kokell features a trail of evidence including hand-scrawled freight tickets and fishing-trip reports. Stacks of paper slips have cluttered a U.S. courtroom in Central Islip over the past two weeks, a multicolored trail of evidence in the first major criminal trial of a Long Island fisherman charged in a probe of alleged illegal fishing.,,, The charges stem from a five-year federal probe of an auction program that let fishermen harvest beyond their quotas. The investigation has netted seven guilty pleas and prison or home-detention sentences for five other people. One of the men who pleaded guilty is Mark Parente, a fish dealer from New Jersey,,, >click to read<11:16
NOAA grants SMAST $1.6 million for monkfish study
Researchers at the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology have won a federal grant valued at $1.6 million to conduct research into the growth and movement of monkfish, NOAA announced Tuesday. The grant is part of a unique “research set-aside” program that pays for at-sea research not with direct dollars but with fishing opportunities whose proceeds pay for the researchers and for the boat they are using. In the case of SMAST, where Dr. Steven Cadrin and research technician Crista Bank will be doing the study, 250 days at sea allocated in the grant each year for 2016 and 2017 should produce $1.361 million to pay for the boat and $270,000 for the research over two years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “A previous monkfish research set-aside grant to this group found that the current approach of estimating monkfish growth is not valid, exposing a gap in the monkfish stock assessment. This two-year project proposes to fill this gap for juvenile monkfish through this tagging study,” said a NOAA press release. Read the rest here 08:04
Mattituck Commercial fisherman pleads in illegal fishing scheme
A commercial fisherman from Mattituck pleaded guilty Thursday to falsifying documents and lying to investigators in connection with a 2011 scheme to illegally harvest fish valued at $78,000, authorities said. James Kaminsky, 74, “systematically cover[ed] up the landing and sale of illegal fluke, scup and black sea bass that were overharvested” in violation of New York quotas and through abuse of a federal research program known as research set-aside, according to the Department of Justice. The scheme took place between May and August of 2011, authorities said. Research set-aside allows fishermen to harvest out of season and exceed quotas, but authorities have branded it a “license to steal” because it has allowed some overfishing without proper reporting. Read the rest here 08:56
Independent scientists need not apply – NMFS denies SMAST Industry paid RSA Funding
For almost 20 years now, SMAST has worked diligently alongside our fishermen to improve fishery science. Kevin’s research has earned him their respect, earned them a ton of money and earned New Bedford its position as the nation’s top fishing port. The drop camera survey he pioneered to count sea scallops on Georges Bank in 1999 was a game changer that helped to rescue an ailing industry. Anyone on the waterfront can attest to that. He did it by providing independent evidence that what fishermen had been saying was correct. There were plenty of scallops out there waiting to be harvested in spite of what the government survey would have everyone believe. Barney Frank took those survey pictures to Bill Daley, who was Secretary of Commerce at the time. Daley listened and New Bedford’s ship came in. It may now be departing. Read the op-ed here 07:27
Out-of-season fishing research set-aside program ripe for abuse, critics say
“The perception held by many of our stakeholders has been that certain fishermen have been abusing the system by not reporting their [research set-aside] landings,” Richard B. Robins Jr., chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, wrote in a Nov. 8 letter. Read more@newsday 2014 RSA Auction Lots, and Revised Auction Contract here @fishingunited.com 10:22
