NOAA Fisheries has awarded more than $2.3 million to partners around the country to support 13 innovative bycatch reduction research projects through its Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.
Bycatch is catch that fishermen do not want, cannot sell, or are not allowed to keep. Bycatch of various species—fish, marine mammals, or turtles—can have significant biological, economic, and social impacts. Preventing and reducing bycatch is a shared goal of fisheries managers, the fishing industry, and the environmental community.
Working side-by-side with fishermen on their boats we've developed solutions to some of the top bycatch challenges facing our nation's fisheries.
Examples of past regional projects include:
- An enhanced communication network and real-time maps to allow longfin squid fishermen in the Northeast to avoid butterfish “hot spots” and reduce bycatch by more than 65 percent
- Using LED lights on the West Coast to reduce bycatch of endangered eulachon in the ocean shrimp trawl fishery by up to 91 percent
Read brief descriptions of the selected projects
2020 Recipients by Region
Northeast
- LobsterLift, LLC: $119,890
- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology: $196,256
- Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation: $196,256
Southeast
- University of Mississippi: $156,193
- Mote Marine Laboratory: $175,433
West Coast
- Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission: $185,389
- Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission: $174,750
- Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society: $231,824
Alaska
- Natural Resources Consultants, Inc: $81,769
- Alaska Department of Fish and Game: $212,052
Pacific Islands
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography: $247,934
International
- SUBMON: $161,256
- Thünen-Institute for Baltic Sea Fisheries: $199,275
