2024 Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program Projects Recommended For Funding
Brief descriptions of the projects recommended for funding by the 2024 Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.
At this point in the selection process, the application approval and obligation of funds is not final. Each of these applications are being “recommended.” This is not an authorization to start the project and is not a guarantee of funding.
Northeast/Mid-Atlantic
Blue Planet Strategies
Fleet Designed Gillnet Endline Free Fishing Systems to Reduce Entanglement of Marine Mammals and Other Marine Life
$191,853
This project will engage fixed and mobile gear fishermen to participate in gillnet gear redesign activities. Blue Planet Strategies and engineers from leading ropeless gear manufacturers will work with fishermen representing gillnet, lobster, and mobile fleets. They plan to design ropeless gillnet gear based on the fishermen’s experience using or interacting with current ropeless gear. The result will be new or improved gear designs and related modifications to improve on-board operations with the ropeless gillnet gear.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County
Assessing Catch Retention and Usability of a Novel Turtle Excluder Device in the Mid-Atlantic Summer Flounder Fishery
$179,262
This project will perform outreach, research, and development related to Turtle Excluder Devices within the summer flounder fishery of the Greater Atlantic Region. Two regional workshops will be conducted to present a preliminary flexible grid design and solicit fishing industry input to further refine this design. Following the workshops and development of the final design, a comparison study will be conducted with the fishing industry directly within the commercial fishery. A twin trawl vessel will test the innovative design during summer flounder fishing activity. Cornell and NOAA staff will be aboard during these trips to document and quantify catch performance. This integrated program will perform comparative analysis for regulatory consideration.
Lift Labs, Inc.
Advancing the Reliability and Longevity of Lift Labs Ropeless Gear with Fishers
$228,304
The project seeks to improve the reliability, longevity, and ease of use of the Lift Labs ropeless gear system. Following extensive beta testing with fishers over nine months, engaging directly with the fishing community in Rhode Island, Lift labs, Inc. has pinpointed crucial aspects and components that demand creative engineering solutions. The upgrades from this project aim to enhance system performance, maintain cost-effectiveness, and encourage market acceptance.
University of New England
Improving effective technology to decrease shark bycatch in recreational fisheries
$238,940
This project proposes to demonstrate the efficacy of a new bycatch reduction device (BRD) in partnership with operators and the University of New England. The researchers will partner with Ocean Guardian to produce 75 devices that emit an electrical field to deter sharks. They will also produce 75 devices that are similar but produce no stimulus for use in recreational fishing trials. They will test the BRD in offshore for-hire fishing trips in North Carolina and Maine. This will also include recruiting underserved and underrepresented young adults as anglers. They will conduct academic-based, experimental rod-and-reel groundfish and pelagic shark fishing trips in Maine. Then, they will survey for-hire captains in both states. to receive feedback on BRD design and utility. They will also estimate price points the for-hire industry would pay to purchase a device given different levels of effectiveness in reduction of bycatch or depredation.
West Coast
Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission
Longline-Configured Dungeness crab pots: Designing and documenting an alternative fishing technology to reduce the presence of vertical lines
$245,753
This study will evaluate the efficacy of longline-configured crab gear compared to conventional single-pot gear. Longline-configured gear consists of a string of multiple pots connected by a groundline, with a vertical line occurring at the first and last pot of the string. This research will examine and test longline configurations for vessels categorized as “larger-sized” (length >15 m) and “smaller-sized” (length <15 m). The researchers will charter one larger-sized vessel and one smaller-sized vessel. They will examine the efficacy of fishing longline-configured crab pots in varying quantities per set. This project will help to identify ideal configurations of longline gear that can significantly reduce the presence of vertical lines in the fishery.
Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands Fisheries Group
Recording and mapping traditional knowledge of high shark bycatch interaction to reduce take in the Pacific Islands
$74,328
This project aims to build upon traditional knowledge of shark-fisher interaction across the Pacific Islands small boat commercial fishery. The goal of this project is to help increase awareness and knowledge of areas of high bycatch and methods of mitigation. The project will coordinate interviews and workshops with fishers across the region. This will help build a repository of mitigation and avoidance strategies.They plan to share findings and practices via a web-based digital map, public presentations, and collaboration with leaders within the fishing community. The long-term outcome for fishers and communities is a regional understanding of current and traditional mitigation and avoidance strategies to reduce shark bycatch.
International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, Inc.
Advancing Biodegradable FAD research in the U.S. tropical tuna purse seine fleet
$205,625
This project will conduct a comprehensive search for organic materials suitable for biodegradable Fish Aggregating Devices (or bio-FADs) in the western and eastern Pacific region. To ensure collaboration and knowledge exchange, three workshops will be organized with fishers. The first workshop will serve as the project's launch and involve discussions with captains regarding the organic materials and the new prototype of bio-FADs to be tested. Then, approximately 200 bio-FADs will be constructed and deployed for evaluation over a period of 10 months at sea. Monitoring of the bio-FADs will be carried out through captains who will fill out forms to monitor bio-FAD performance as well satellite technology (utilizing the information from geo-locating buoys attached to the bio-FADs). The performance evaluation of bio-FADs will focus on bio-FADs’ ability to attract tuna and the durability of the organic materials used. A second workshop will take place midway through the project to evaluate progress. Finally, a concluding workshop will be held at the project's end to share the results and engage in discussions about future directions.
Alaska
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Developing gear modifications to reduce killer whale bycatch in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Amendment 80 groundfish trawl fishery
$197,595
The goal of this project is to reduce or eliminate killer whale mortalities and serious injuries caused by net entanglements in the Amendment 80 (A80) deep-water flatfish trawl fishery through development and implementation of a gear modification. This device is a barrier across the net entrance to deter or prevent killer whales from entering. Prior to this BREP project, in May 2023, the principal investigator (PI) conducted fieldwork aboard an A80 trawl vessel fishing for deep-water flatfish, during which the PI collected acoustic and visual observations of killer whale behavior around the vessel and net. Then, the A80 vessels participating in the 2024 Bering Sea deep-water flatfish fishery, which takes place between May and September, used a first-generation gear modification developed at a flume tank in March 2024. The BREP funding for this project would support updates or design changes to the gear modification following the 2024 season of deep-water flatfish fishing as well as the data collection aboard vessels fishing with a second-generation gear modification in summer 2025.
FishNext Research, LLC
Encouraging and facilitating the adoption of active selection systems to release bycatch from the catch-share fisheries of the North Pacific
$199,998
The project will accelerate adoption of active selection (ActSel) systems, improving their use through experience and familiarity, while continuing to improve the related technology. Two recent BREP projects have developed, demonstrated, and improved ActSel, as a new way for trawlers to limit their bycatch. The first objective of this study is to assure that vessels early experiences with ActSel systems are successful. Then, the project will work to improve the ActSel system technology. This project will explore interactions between ActSel systems and different excluder designs. Finally, the project will continue to conduct education and outreach to ActSel users. Vessels using ActSel systems will be contacted regularly to gather reactions, identify problems, and document their experience with the system. The resulting application tips, problems, and on-board evaluations will be compiled into periodic reports that will be distributed to the fleet through current users by email. The emails will also allow feedback and discussion on emerging issues and project direction. The most useful of these feedback and ideas will be compiled into a continuously updated operator’s manual for training of new users. Annual reports will be made to fleet captains’ meetings of the relevant industry groups.
Southeast/Gulf of Mexico
Executive Office of the U.S. Virgin Islands Government
Effectiveness of Fish Trap Escape Vents in the U.S. Virgin Islands
$200,000
This project will evaluate the effectiveness of escape vents for small herbivorous reef fish in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). This will be done through cooperative research with local fishery groups and the USVI Department of Natural Resources. This research focuses on further testing and evaluation of the species affected by a gear modification, a fish trap escape vent designed in a 2013 study by Olsen and Hill. This BREP project will be designed to collect abundance data on bycatch species released through the vents. If effective, this project will develop management strategies for the implementation of these escape vents in the local fishery.
Florida Atlantic University
Novel application of galvanic fields to reduce shark bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries
$248,482
The goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a patent-pending Zinc/Graphite treatment to reduce shark bycatch in commercial pelagic longline fisheries which have a significant shark bycatch component. This project includes two major objectives. First, to test whether Zinc/Graphite treated hooks significantly reduce catch of elasmobranchs in commercial, pelagic longline fisheries. Testing of the Zinc/Graphite treatment in the pelagic fishery will take place aboard commercial fishing vessels during their regular fishing operations. Then, if effective, develop gear configurations that incorporate the Zinc/Graphite treatment into commercial fishing operations in collaboration with partners.
Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
Optimizing descender device strategies for understanding and enhancing post-release survival of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico
$249,900
This project proposes to determine the optimal release depth (1/2 depth or on the bottom) for red snapper descended with fish descender devices to maximize survival. The project will also assess depredation and predation rates using high-resolution video and novel acoustic telemetry technology. Researchers will evaluate changes in angler perceptions and likelihood of fish descender device use. They will do this following the dissemination of their research findings using pre- versus post-study surveys.