Limited Access (LA)
Sea Scallop Image-Based Research Fleet
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
Given the success of the first Limited Access General Category Image-Based Research Fleet, we expanded the fleet in 2024 to include 5 LA full-time fishing vessels that fish further offshore. The LA Research Fleet allows us to monitor the opening of an access area over a longer duration than current scientific surveys. This will reduce uncertainty in the stock assessment while also allowing us to better understand reductions in scallop growth rates, increased natural mortality, and other variables. We hope that the shell height-to-meat weight relationships and reproductive trends observed from the LA Research Fleet sampling efforts can eventually inform and increase confidence in sea scallop management decisions.
project goals:
Leverage the methods developed for the LAGC Research Fleet to establish a Limited Access Sea Scallop Image-Based Research Fleet
Attempt to monitor an access area through time with coordinated image-based sampling
Continue to analyze and extract biological data from images of individual scallops taken from the image-based sampling method
Evaluate the value of the data collected for sea scallop management.
Project team:
Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation
Becky Smoak - Project Lead
N. David Bethoney
New England Marine Monitoring
Mark Hager, Chief Executive Officer
Anthony Lucia, Operations Manager
Participant vessels:
F/V Redemption, Cape May, NJ
F/V Motivation, Cape May, NJ
F/V Negotiator, Cape May, NJ
F/V Dauntless, Cape May, NJ
F/V Patriarch, Cape May, NJ
