NMFS Grant for Atlantic Sea Scallop Research

B. Program Priorities
Projects funded under the Scallop RSA Program must enhance understanding of the scallop resource or contribute to the body of information on which management decisions are made. NMFS and the Council will give priority to funding research proposals in the following areas:
2012 Scallop RSA Program Needs and Priorities
HIGHEST PRIORITIES (not listed in order of importance):
1. An intensive industry-based survey of each of the access areas (access areas in Georges Bank including Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and Nantucket Lightship, as well as Delmarva, Hudson Canyon, and Great South Channel, if approved). These surveys can then be used to estimate TACs under the rotational area management program if the data from these surveys are available by August of the prior fishing year.
2. Identification and evaluation of methods to reduce bycatch of all managed species including projects that determine seasonal bycatch rates of yellowtail flounder, and other key bycatch species.
3. Research to support the assessment of the loggerhead turtle population in the Mid-Atlantic (i.e., satellite tagging and investigation of seasonal movements, etc.) and identification of sources of sea turtle interactions and/or identification of ways to minimize interactions with sea turtles. Priority topics include development and monitoring of scallop dredge and trawl operations that would reduce or eliminate the threat or harm of sea turtle interactions. Other issues related to sea turtle research include, but are not limited to: gear modifications or fishing techniques that may be used to reduce or eliminate the threat of sea turtle interactions without unacceptable reduction in scallop retention, and using available and appropriate technology to quantify the extent that gear modifications reduce turtle mortalities, and turtle behavior.

MEDIUM PRIORITY (not listed in order of importance):
1. Other resource surveys to expand and/or enhance the NMFS annual dredge survey including open areas and determine NMFS survey dredge efficiency in those other resource areas. For this priority, NMFS and the Council are seeking resource information from areas outside of the range of the typical NMFS survey station locations and also information on the efficiency of the NMFS survey dredge.
2. Scallop biology, specifically studies aimed at understanding incidental gear mortality, discard mortality and seasonal growth.

OTHER PRIORITIES (not listed in order of importance):
1. Scallop biology, including studies aimed at understanding recruitment processes (reproduction, larval and early post-settlement stages), growth, and natural mortality (including predation and disease).
2. Identification and evaluation of methods to reduce habitat impacts, including, but not limited to: broader investigation of variability in dredging efficiency across habitats, times, areas, and gear designs; and research on habitat effects from scallop fishing, including the development of practicable methods to minimize or mitigate those impacts.
3. Habitat characterization research including, but not limited to: video and/or photo transects of the bottom within scallop access areas and within closed scallop areas and in comparable fished areas that are both subject and not subject to scallop fishing before and after scallop fishing commences; development of high-resolution sediment mapping of scallop fishing areas using Canadian sea scallop industry mapping efforts as an example process; identification of nursery and over-wintering habitats of species that are vulnerable to habitat alteration by scallop fishing; and other research that relates to habitats affected by scallop fishing, such as long-term or chronic effects of scallop fishing on marine resource productivity, other ecosystem effects, habitat recovery potential, and fine scale fishing effort in relation to fine scale habitat distribution. In particular, NMFS and the Council are seeking projects that directly support evaluation of present and candidate Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) closures and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) to assess whether these areas are accomplishing their stated purposes and to assist better definition of the complex ecosystem processes that occur in these areas.
4. Improved information concerning scallop abundance and evaluation of the distribution, size composition, and density of scallops, including but not limited to: efforts to develop a cooperative industry-based resource survey; high resolution surveys that include distribution, biomass of exploitable size scallops; recruitment, mortality, and growth rate information; research that provides more detailed scallop life history information (especially on age and area specific natural mortality and growth) and to identify stock-recruitment relationships; and intensive sampling on both sides of access boundaries for fishing year 2007 and in subsequent years to gauge the short-and long-terms effects of fishing on the resource.
5. Scallop and area management research, including but not limited to: evaluation of ways to control predation on scallops; research to actively manage spat collection and seeding of sea scallops; social and economic impacts and consequences of closing areas to enhance productivity and improve yield of sea scallops and other species; and estimation of factors affecting fishing power for each limited access vessel.
6. If a habitat research area is identified in a future action, allow RSA funds to be used for projects to enhance scallop production using rotational strategies. In the event that the habitat omnibus amendment were to establish habitat research areas, this priority encourages the use of RSA funds to seed these areas with scallops for the purpose of enhancing biomass and yield under the rotational management program.
7. Development of methodologies for the scallop fleet to collect and analyze catch data on a near real-time basis (i.e., meat weight, bycatch, etc. “Study fleet” concept).
8. Continue scallop dredge environmental impact studies (e.g., research that evaluates dredge impacts on habitat and other aspects of the environment).

C. Program Authority
Statutory authority for this program is provided under sections 303(b)(11), 402(e), and 404(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1853(b)(11), 16 U.S.C. 1881a(e), and 16 U.S.C. 1881(c), respectively.
The Scallop RSA Program is established through the Scallop FMP (69 FR 35193, June 23, 2004) and implementing regulations at 50 CFR 648.56.