Descriptions of the projects the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP) funded in FY 2014.
Northeast |
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Grantee |
Project |
Funding amount |
| Cornell University | Bycatch Avoidance Communication Network expansion | $70,000 |
| University of Rhode Island | Reducing the bycatch of sublegal Jonah crabs in the lobster fishery | $190,000 |
| Marine Biological Laboratory | Avoiding bycatch and entanglement of turtles and whales with innovative sub-tidal and offshore aquaculture gear | $205,000 |
| University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth | Avoiding overfished flounders with innovative semi-pelagic trawling on Georges Bank | $205,000 |
Southeast |
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| Texas A&M University | Techniques for minimizing discard mortality of Gulf of Mexico red snapper and validating survival with acoustic telemetry | $205,000 |
| Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Foundation | Increasing compliance and effective enforcement of turtle excluder devices and bycatch reduction devices in the southeast shrimp fishery | $83,632 |
| Environmental Trawling Solutions, Inc. | Bycatch reduction with lessened bottom impact through the wing trawling system; comparison to otter trawl doors | $105,434 |
| Vast Array Corporation | Pilot project to test prototype devices to reduce leader line length on pelagic longline bycatch | $51,935 |
| Mote Marine Laboratory | Reducing post-release mortality from commercial fisheries bycatch in large coastal sharks | $180,000 |
| Florida Keys Community College | Performance of a long lasting shark repellent bait for bycatch reduction during commercial pelagic longline fishing | $48,579 |
Alaska |
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| FishNext Research | Exploring off-bottom trawling and other approaches to avoid interactions with structure forming invertebrates during Pacific Ocean perch fishing on the Bering Sea slope | $52,570 |
West Coast |
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| University of California – Santa Cruz | Changing fishing practices through outreach to decrease post-release mortality of protected species in the central California recreational rockfish fishery | $109,082 |
| Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission | Continued research on the use of artificial illumination to enhance Chinook salmon escapement out a bycatch reduction device in a Pacific hake midwater trawl | $113,227 |
| Stanford University | EcoCatch: Real-Time fisheries management for ecological and economic sustainability | $38,016 |
| University of California – Santa Cruz | EcoCatch: Real-Time fisheries management for ecological and economic sustainability | $45,082 |
| The Nature Conservancy | EcoCatch: Real-Time fisheries management for ecological and economic sustainability | $110,000 |
| Marine Conservation Initiative | EcoCatch: Real-Time fisheries management for ecological and economic sustainability | $31,680 |
| San Diego State University | EcoCatch: Real-Time fisheries management for ecological and economic sustainability | $15,329 |
| Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission | Examining the effectiveness of T90 codends to reduce bycatch in a multispecies bottom trawl fishery | $137,384 |
| Makah Tribe | Testing the use of traditional fishing knowledge of the Makah Tribe to reduce bycatch in recreational halibut fisheries | $68,324 |
| University of California, San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography | Using combined video, acoustic, and accelerometer measurements to determine the conceptual viability of a “smart” hook for reducing bycatch of shark, turtle, skates, and marine mammals in pelagic and demersal longline fisheries | $190,000 |
Pacific Islands |
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| Cascadia Research Collective | False killer whales and long-line fishery interactions: Assessing movements of satellite-tagged individuals in relation to longline fishing activity | $158,066 |
Oceanic whitetip shark. Hawaiʻi longline fishermen use leaders to connect weighed branch lines and baited hooks. A new rule prohibits steel wire leaders in the Hawaiʻi deep-set longline fishery, starting May 31, 2022. The rule aims to increase the survival of hooked oceanic whitetip sharks caught as bycatch in the Pacific Islands region. Credit: Andy Mann
Sea turtle escaping a net equipped with turtle excluder device.
