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Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Projects Selected for 2022–2023

Research set-aside programs are unique to Northeast federal fisheries. Grant recipients partner with the fishing industry to conduct research and to harvest their set-aside award, generating funds for the research.

New England/Mid-Atlantic

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Color image of live Atlantic sea scallops. The main focus is on a sea scallop with its shell open, showing its eyes. Sea scallops can have up to 200 eyes, found at the outer edge of the tissue that lines the shell.
Atlantic sea scallop. Credit: Clayton D'Orsay, CC BY-NC 4.0

NOAA Fisheries has selected 15 projects for 2022-2023 awards through the Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program. 

The selected projects focus on research priorities identified by the New England Fishery Management Council, which established the program in 1999. The council sets priorities, and NOAA Fisheries manages the competition and administers the program.

We expect to make final awards later this month.

The selected projects will investigate sea scallop research priorities developed by the council. NOAA Fisheries expects the awards to generate approximately $16.3 million. That includes $3.8 million to fund research, and $12.5 million to compensate industry partners who harvest the set-aside sea scallops. Six different institutions will lead projects, partnering with fishermen, fishing businesses, and non-profit fishery research organizations.

In the Northeast's program, researchers compete for funding through a federal grant competition managed by NOAA Fisheries. No federal funds support the research. Instead, the program awards pounds of sea scallops from amounts “set-aside” annually for this purpose. 

To allocate award amounts for 2022-2023, sea scallop price was projected to average $15/pound. One project will be awarded 2023 set-aside pounds. All of the other two-year projects will be awarded 2022 set-aside pounds

Survey Areas for 2022-2023

A map showing the coastal land mass from Maine to Eastern Massachusetts on the left and the ocean on the right. Four areas where surveys will occur are shown in a color.
Areas where RSA sea scallop surveys will occur in the Gulf of Maine in 2022. Credit: New England Fishery Management Council
A map showing the coastal land mass from Massachusetts to Chesapeake Bay on the left, and the ocean on the right. Areas to be surveyed on Georges Bank and from Long Island to southern Maryland are shown in a color.
Areas where RSA sea scallop surveys will occur on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic in 2022. Credit: New England Fishery Management Council
A map showing the coastal land mass from Massachusetts to Chesapeake Bay on the left, and the ocean on the right. Areas to be surveyed on Georges Bank and from Long Island to southern Maryland are shown in a color.
Areas where RSA sea scallop surveys will occur on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic in 2023. Credit: New England Fishery Management Council

Examining and Tracking Scallop Aggregations in the Gulf of Maine 

Institution: University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology

Principal Investigator: Kevin Stokesbury, Ph.D.

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/67,623 lb ($1,014,342) 

High-Resolution Drop-Camera Survey to Track Scallop Recruitment Events in Nantucket Lightship South and Closed Area II Southeast

Institution: University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth/School for Marine Science and Technology

Principal Investigator: Kevin Stokesbury, Ph.D.

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/19,833 lb ($297,502)

Optical Assessment of Sea Scallop Abundance and Distribution in Select Areas of the Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank 

2 year award

Institution: Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc.

Principal Investigators: Tasha O’Hara, Luisa Garcia, Liese Siemann, Ph.D.

Collaborators: Jose Correia, Arnie DeMello, F/V Kathy Marie

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/215,358 lb ($3,230,366)

Assessment of Sea Scallop Abundance and Distribution for the Nantucket Lightship, Closed Area II, and Southern Flank 

2 year award

Institution: Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Principal Investigators: David Rudders, Ph.D., Sally Roman

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/45,233 lb ($678,501); 2023/47,057 lb ($705,859)

Sea Scallop Growth and Reproduction Research to Support Improved Resource Management 

2 year award

Institution: Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance

Principal Investigator: Melissa Sanderson 

Collaborators: Farrell Davis, Luisa Garcia, Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc.; 

Jason Amaru, Jared Bennett, Robert Dutra, Mark Leach, Jesse Rose, fishing industry partners

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/41,435 lb (621,529) 

Establishing Standard Methods to Assess the Biological Condition of Sea Scallops Before and After Offshore Wind Farm Development

Institution: Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation 

Principal Investigators: N. David Bethoney, Ph.D., Carl Huntsberger

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/9,774 lb ($146,613) 

Evaluating the Key Factors that Influence the Efficacy of Transplanting to Supplement Recruitment

Institution: Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc.

Principal Investigators: Farrell Davis, Luisa Garcia, Mary Conroy, Ryan Munnelly, Nathan Shivers 

Collaborators: Ronald Smolowitz, Coonamessett Farm Inc.; Daniel Eilertsen, Nordic Inc.;

Joe Gilbert, Empire Fisheries; Brent Fulcher, Fulcher Seafoods; Ronnie Enoksen, Eastern Fisheries; 

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/59,965 lb ($899,478)

Workshop on the State of Knowledge Related to Scallop Enhancement 

2 year award

Institution: Virginia Institute of Marine Science 

Principal Investigators: David Rudders, Ph.D.

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/38,232 lb ($573,483)

Using Sedimentary eDNA to Track the Presence of Scallop Spat and Predators

Institution: Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc.

Principal Investigators: Liese Siemann, Ph.D., Samir Patel, Ph.D.

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/26,628 lb ($399,422)

Modeling Exploration of the Impacts of Natural and Anthropogenic Stressors on Sea Scallop Recruitments over the U.S. Northeast Continental Shelf 

2 year award

Institution: University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth/School for Marine Science and Technology

Principal Investigators: Changsheng Chen, Ph.D., Pingguo He, Ph.D., Liuzhi Zhao, Ph.D., Kevin Stokesbury, Ph.D.

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/91,161 lb ($1,367,419)

Understanding the Feeding Ecology of the Sea Scallop, Placopecten magellanicus, through DNA Metabarcoding 

 2 year award

Institution: Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Principal Investigators: David Rudders, Ph.D., Jan McDowell, Ph.D.

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/77,800 lb ($1,166,995)

Model Assessment of Sea Scallop Growth Potential on the Northeast U.S. Shelf 

2 year award

Institution: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

Principal Investigators: Rubao Ji, Ph.D., Matthew Long, Ph.D., Houshuo Jiang, Ph.D., Zhengchen Zang, Ph.D. 

Collaborators: Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/166,667 lb ($2,500,000)

Seasonal Survey for the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery on the Eastern Part of Georges Bank 

Institution: Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc.

Principal Investigators: Luisa M. Garcia, Liese Siemann, Ph.D., Farrell Davis, Natalie Jennings

Collaborators: Nordic Inc., Nordic Fisheries, Empire Fisheries, Kavanagh Fisheries, Cynbel Fisheries, Eastern Fisheries

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/93,383 lb (1,400,743)

Synthesis of Sea Scallop Survey Dredge Efficiency Data 

Institution: Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Principal Investigators: David Rudders, Ph.D., Sally Roman

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/19,136 lb ($287,033)

Understanding the Impacts of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery on Loggerhead Sea Turtles 

Institution: Coonamessett Farm Foundation, Inc.

Principal Investigators: Samir Patel, Ph.D., Liese Siemann, Ph.D.

Collaborators: Ronald Smolowitz, Coonamessett Farm, Inc.; Jim Gutowski, Viking Village Fisheries; Roxanna Smolowitz, DVM, Roger Williams University 

Set Aside Year/Award: 2022/65,534 lb ($983,004)

For More Information

Please contact Ryan Silva, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office Cooperative Research Liaison.

Last updated by Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office on 03/16/2022