GARFO Protected Resources Division Management Needs and Research Priorities
A list of management needs and associated research priorities for Protected Species in the Greater Atlantic Region. This list may be considered for proposal ideas when funding opportunities arise.
Below is a list of management needs and associated research priorities for sea turtles, marine mammals, sturgeon, and Atlantic salmon (Gulf of Maine distinct population segment), assembled by our Protected Resources Division. We periodically review these needs and priorities to further our efforts to effectively conserve and recover these protected species. These needs and priorities are meant to assist our partners in the development of proposal ideas when funding opportunities arise. The examples provided are illustrative of the types of management and research needs; they are not comprehensive. These needs and priorities often build off those identified previously by NOAA Fisheries, and other NOAA Fisheries species-specific needs can be provided elsewhere (e.g., recovery plan, five-year reviews).
Annual Grant Opportunities
- Bycatch Reduction and Engineering Program (BREP)
- NOAA Marine Debris Program
- Research Set-Aside Program
- Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Competition
- Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program
- Species Recovery Grants
- For more regional priorities for protected species, see the GAR Species Recovery Grant Priorities.
Other Management Needs and Research Priorities
- Section 6 Priorities
- Sea Turtle 5-Year Reviews
- North Atlantic Right Whale 5-Year Review
- North Atlantic Right Whale Recovery Plan
- North Atlantic Right Whale Species in the Spotlight Priority Action Plan
- Atlantic Sturgeon 5-Year Reviews
- Atlantic Sturgeon Recovery Outline
- Shortnose Sturgeon Recovery Plan
- Atlantic Salmon 5-Year Review
- Atlantic Salmon Recovery Plan
- Atlantic Salmon Species in the Spotlight Priority Action Plan
| Management Objective | Management Need | Sea Turtles | Large Whales, including the North Atlantic Right Whale | Small Cetaceans | Pinnipeds | Atlantic Salmon | Sturgeon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bycatch Reduction | Investigate gear modifications, deterrents, and operational practices to prevent or reduce entanglement, entrainment, or capture in fishing gear. | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Develop strategies to reduce the likelihood fishing gear will become derelict. | X | X | X | X | |||
| Conduct data collection and analysis evaluating gear conflict and gear loss, including rates and environmental impacts. | X | X | |||||
| Vessel Strike Reduction | Evaluate the risk of vessel strikes. | X | X | X | X | ||
| Develop measures to minimize vessel strikes for species. | X | X | X | X | |||
| Other Impacts | Investigate the sub-lethal impacts of human activities (e.g., noise, energy industries, contaminants, etc.) on protected species. | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Develop river specific management plan with best practices, voluntary requirements, or mandatory requirements (where there is authority to do so) for facilities that intake water (e.g.,for power generation, community water supplies) to avoid or minimize entrainment and impingement of protected species when the life stages at risk of entrainment or impingement are likely to be present. | X | X | |||||
| Identify the impacts of marine debris on protected species and develop measures to minimize those impacts. | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Population Monitoring (e.g., species status, health) | Continue or jumpstart collection of important population metrics (e.g., abundance, distribution, health, status), including use of novel methods (e.g., eDNA, drone/satellite, acoustics), to inform recovery assessments and efforts. | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Increase monitoring for and periodically evaluate the threat of bycatch and bycatch mortality at the state and/or coastwide level for protected species to inform management across short and long-term time scales. | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Develop and/or expand the use of stable isotope, genomics, eDNA, and other emerging technologies to increase our knowledge of habitat use (including identification of high quality habitat), population connectivity, ontogenetic habitat shifts, and foraging ecology. | X | X | X | X | |||
| Conduct genetic research to better understand and monitor the effects of aquaculture on regional protected fish species. | X | X | |||||
| Climate Considerations | Improve understanding of the physical and biological effects of climate change on protected species and their habitats. | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Investigate how climate change may increase other threats to protected species. | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Ecosystem Effects | Characterize changes from human activities (e.g., offshore wind and aquaculture development) on protected species’ ecosystems and range connectivity. | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Characterize the direct and indirect effects of dams on Atlantic salmon and the ecosystems on which they depend. | X | ||||||
| Outreach, Partnerships, and Community Engagement | Identify and implement community engagement activities to promote conservation of regional protected species and reduce risk from threats. | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Develop communication tools, including methods to assess the success of communication outreach, to provide regulatory requirements and best management practices to affected parties (e.g., fishermen, vessel operators, public) for achieving mandatory or voluntary compliance. | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| Develop data-sharing and partnership agreements for compiling research information with the objective of making the research results available to the public in peer reviewed reports or publications within a reasonable time period (e.g., 5 years) from collection of the data (e.g., genetic data for fish species, population monitoring data for all species). | X | X | X |
Examples
Bycatch Reduction:
- Develop tools to assess the likelihood of an interaction and, if an interaction occurs, the likelihood of mortality/serious injury.
- Investigate gear modifications to reduce interactions, or mortality resulting from interactions.
- Investigate the applicability of on-demand (“ropeless”) systems for all fishing gear types, including fixed and aquaculture gear.
- Investigate line tension, line material (e.g., sheathed line), or other gear characteristics that will minimize the risk of entanglement in fixed, mobile, and aquaculture gear.
- Investigate visual and acoustic deterrents to minimize interactions with gear.
- Investigate whether modifications (e.g., weak line, deterrents) used in the fishing industry could be applied to aquaculture gear successfully
- Investigate operational practices that will minimize the risk of interaction.
- Identify thresholds, if any, related to how the gear is set or configured (e.g., spacing between horizontal lines, vertical lines per acre) that will reduce interactions.
- Identify spatial (horizontal or vertical in the water column) and temporal areas where bycatch rates and interactions are lower.
Vessel Strike Reduction:
- Conduct and fund research to collect information on risk (e.g., behavioral research) to North Atlantic right whales from vessels to help inform vessel strike reduction measures.
- Develop river-specific management plans for best practices for commercial vessel traffic to minimize risk.
Other Impacts:
- Investigate methods to further reduce impingement, entrainment and/or death or injury in power plants.
- Investigate effects of contaminants (point and non-point sources) on sea turtle health and survival.
- Investigate the levels of biotoxins in sea turtles.
- Investigate visual and acoustic deterrents to minimize interactions with human activities such as dredging or pile driving.
Population Monitoring:
- Conduct research to identify protocols and methods to establish river/ DPS-specific and coastwide fishery-independent surveys to monitor Atlantic sturgeon abundance (spawning adults and early juveniles) or expand existing regional surveys to include annual monitoring. Research can include testing novel methods and equipment (e.g., use of sonar). Particular consideration should be given to identifying and establishing methods that are reasonably cost-effective, can be implemented across the range of each DPS, and have a reasonable likelihood of establishing a long-term (e.g., multi-decades) time series for one or more of the Atlantic sturgeon DPSs, or for river-specific populations as necessary, to inform recovery of a DPS.
- Conduct research necessary to determine the protocols and methods necessary for establishing fishery-independent time series for shortnose sturgeon that will inform abundance and trends, existing or emerging threats to shortnose sturgeon, habitat use, or any other aspect that reasonably provides information needed to recover the species. More than one approach may be appropriate and necessary given the objective (e.g., to assess regional abundance or river- specific abundance).
- Determine abundance of sturgeon river spawning populations.
- Continue research into the population abundance and trends for all sea turtle species in regional Greater Atlantic Region waters and the drivers behind any declining nesting trends.
Climate Considerations:
- Conduct research on the effects of climate change on protected species foraging, migration, reproduction, habitat use, and distribution to support management.
- Identify climate-resilient habitats for Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish in freshwater.
- Investigate the effects of global climate change to river-specific protected fish populations.
- Conduct research to inform the physical or biological features in marine waters, bays, and sounds that are essential to one or more sturgeon DPSs.
- Conduct research on North Atlantic right whale prey sampling in the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf ecosystem, including vertical distribution patterns of right whale prey in relation to physical features.
- Provide existing information for where and when fisheries (state and/or federal) overlap with protected species, information for whether and how climate change will affect the overlap in distribution, identify and implement (if within your authority) the management actions that are necessary to address the effects to protected species.
Ecosystem Effects:
- Assess whether/how prey availability/prey shifts due to anthropogenic activities (including commercial and recreational harvest of prey species) affect protected species.
Outreach, Partnerships, and Community Engagement:
- Identify and implement methods that promote public engagement of the conservation of protected species as well as public knowledge of protected species such as through education and outreach programs, carcass reporting programs, etc.
- Develop outreach materials and tools to increase awareness and encourage reduction of marine debris.
- Develop tools to implement programs to inform the public and private industries about threats to protected species stemming from recreational fishing (e.g., bycatch, vessel strikes, etc.).
- Develop and implement effective outreach tools and strategies to inform the public and private industries about reducing vessel interactions.
Contact Us
Protected Resources Division at (978) 281-9328