NOAA Fisheries Awards $2.3 Million for Bycatch Reduction Research

NOAA Fisheries has awarded $2.3 million to partners around the country to support 13 research projects through its Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

Bycatch is catch—of fish, marine mammals, or turtles—that fishermen do not want, cannot sell, or are not allowed to keep. It 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.

Read brief descriptions of the selected projects

Examples of past projects include:

• Development of a ropeless, remotely deployed lobster trap system to reduce whale entanglements and enable the New England trap fishing industry to remain open

• Investigation of artificial baits to reduce bycatch of protected species, including oceanic whitetip sharks, while maintaining target catch rates of tuna and swordfish in Hawai’i

2022 Bycatch Funding Recipients by Region

Northeast

• Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society: $199,824
• Cormac Hondros-McCarthy: $211,290
• Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County: $205,240
• University of Maine: $210,822
• Ocean Associates Incorporated: $199,154

Southeast

• Florida Atlantic University: $197,595
• Arizona State University: $149,000

West Coast

• Sub Sea Sonics, LLC: $199,584
• Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission: $166,986
• Dylan Diefendorf: $193,295
• University of California, Santa Cruz: $133,720

Alaska

• FishNext Research, LLC: $139,641

Pacific Islands

• Wildlife Computers, Inc.: $81,967