The US National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced the first round of grant awards for the Electronic Monitoring and Reporting (EMR) Grant Program.
The EMR Grant Program was launched this year to support the integration of electronic technologies into fisheries management and improve the quality, accuracy and timeliness of fishing data. The grants will advance regional implementation of electronic technologies in both commercial and recreational fisheries throughout the United States.
“The Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Grant Program is an exciting new opportunity to build on the success of NFWF’s Fisheries Innovation Fund and allow us to begin applying innovative new tools at scale,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “The five grants we announce today will help fishermen and fisheries managers alike gather better, more reliable information, which is needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of US fisheries.”
The five grants for 2015 total $3 million and will be matched by more than $1.46 million in additional support from the grantees. NFWF’s EMR Grant Program is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The five projects are:
- Integrating Electronics Monitoring into Alaska’s At-Sea Monitoring of Fixed Gear Fisheries - the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association will integrate electronic monitoring on up to 120 small vessels in the Gulf of Alaska’s fixed gear fisheries.
- Electronic Monitoring for New England’s Groundfish Fishery – the Nature Conservancy will implement an electronic monitoring program for up to 24 fishing vessels operating in the New England groundfish fishery.
- Integrating Electronics Monitoring into the West Coast Groundfish Fleet (CA, OR, WA) – the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative will implement monitoring on up to 35 vessels in order to monitor compliance in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl Rationalisation Programe.
- Open-Source Software Platform for Shipboard Electronic Monitoring of Fisheries (AK, OR, WA) – Sea State, Inc will develop a suite of complementary software applications that will support electronic monitoring data acquisition, review, summarisation and archival.
- Electronic Reporting in the Gulf of Mexico Charter Boat Fleet – CLS America will implement electronic reporting in approximately 350 recreational charter boat vessels in the Gulf of Mexico.
