The project is to look into the interplay of cultured seafood product into the food chain, how this affects existing enforcement efforts, research into existing protocols that address similar issues and suggestions on how the issue can be addressed.

As cultured seafood gains acceptance and popularity in the marketplace there is a need to harmonize existing wild fishery harvest and sale regulations with the new reality that a greater amount of the seafood consumed in the US will be cultured.  Currently the US imports more than 80% of the seafood consumed in the country and of this amount 50% of it is cultured.  The National Marine Fisheries Service acknowledges that, for a number of reasons, sustainable domestic culture of seafood is to be encouraged.  As this takes place the movement of cultured product into the traditional seafood distribution chain will create issues concerning regulation of wild harvested product. 
In many instances it is impossible to quickly and accurately differentiate wild harvested product from cultured product.  As cultured product does not affect the natural resource there is little reason to encumber the cultured product with traditional fishery management rules.  However this raises the issue of continued effective enforcement of the federally managed wild harvest while potentially allowing the aquaculture industry leeway from the traditional harvest regulations.

The Intern project would be to work with IRM and a PRD Contractor (yet-to-be-hired) on the layout and content development for the Large Whale Entanglement Response Program Case Narrative website. The current website is managed for NOAA by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and lacks some basic functions like search and discussion boards. The core content of the website will be fed from the NOAA Large Whale Incident Database but we need assistance on the overall layout and aesthetics of the website. If time and resources permit, the Intern would also focus on current education and outreach materials for the Entanglement Response Program and assist with re-design of various out-of-date publications. This position is intended for a student with a graphic arts, and potentially communications, background or interests.

Much of the recent focus of fishery management deals with development and implementation of catch shares. Catch shares distribute a total allowable catch, or quota, amongst fishermen. Catch shares provide fishermen with increased flexibility and an incentive to fish more efficiently. Environmental organizations and academics have produced many guidance documents on issues to consider when developing a catch share plan. Catch share programs, such as individual transferable quotas (ITQs) and fisheries cooperatives exist in Alaska, the Pacific northwest, Gulf of Mexico, Mid-Atlantic, and New England. While many of these catch share plans have been implemented within the last decade, there is little guidance on how to assess catch share performance or measure the success of a catch share system after it has been implemented.

This project would review the various documents on catch share performance that have been previously developed, summarize different methods for measuring catch share performance, and provide policy recommendations in the form of a white paper on how to measure the success of sectors and other catch share programs developed by the Northeast Region. There is potential that the findings could also be incorporated into an article that may be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Individuals interested in natural resources management, environmental economics, public policy, or environmental sociology would be ideal candidates for this project.

Much of the recent focus of fishery management deals with development and implementation of catch shares. Catch shares distribute a total allowable catch, or quota, amongst fishermen. Catch shares provide fishermen with increased flexibility and an incentive to fish more efficiently. Catch share systems, such as individual transferable quotas (ITQs), allow fishermen to buy and sell fish they are allocated. Many fishermen choose to sell their allocation and stop fishing. As a result, the number of vessels and fishermen often decrease after catch share programs begin. Much of the concern with implementing catch share systems in fisheries management is this excessive consolidation and the accumulation of fishing privileges by those industry members that remain in the fishery.

Environmental organizations and academics have produced many guidance documents on issues to consider when developing a catch share plan, one of which is fleet consolidation. This project would review guidance documents, fisheries management literature, and fishery management plans throughout the country (potentially globally) to examine various recommendations and measures that have been implemented to limit excessive accumulation of fishing privileges. A summary that includes policy recommendations in the form of a white paper will be developed. This paper could aid the Northeast Regional Office and New England Fishery Management Council staff when considering the development for Amendment 18 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. There is potential that the findings could also be incorporated into an article that may be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Individuals interested in natural resources management, environmental economics, public policy, or environmental sociology would be ideal candidates for this project.

The Northeast Region in cooperation with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (Council) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) works to maintain sustainable saltwater recreational and commercial fisheries for bluefish from Maine through Florida. The highly successful bluefish management has rebuilt the Atlantic Coast bluefish stock while maintaining significant recreational and commercial fisheries. The bluefish management program includes a unique mechanism that allows for direct transfer of unutilized annual recreational catch allowance to be transferred to the commercial fishing sector. This allows for more full utilization of the total allowable catch for the year. It also provides for higher landing limits for the commercial sector which has been provided with a much smaller annual allocation than the recreational sector which rarely lands its full allocation of the bluefish resource. Recent trends in stock status and recreation fishing trends on striped bass and other stocks could focus more recreational fishing effort onto bluefish and limit the transfers of bluefish from the recreational sector to the commercial sector. An analysis of the effectiveness of the history of transfers, and the changing trends in recreational fishing effort needs to be performed to help provide for informed recommendations on continued transfers of bluefish.

This project would:

• Review the effectiveness of the bluefish recreational catch allocation to the commercial sector; 
• Evaluate recreational fishing trends that may affect availability of future bluefish recreational allocations for transfer to the commercial sector (e.g. investigate relationship between historical bluefish and striped bass recreational harvest using MRFSS data);
• Provide a white paper describing and analyzing the bluefish transfers process with recommendations on the efficacy of the continuation of the transfer process; and
• Develop a PowerPoint Presentation on the transfer process and white paper recommendations.

The Region works with the Regional Fishery Management Councils (Councils) and the states to maintain sustainable saltwater recreational fisheries from Maine through North Carolina, and in some cases implements fisheries regulations along the entire East Coast (Maine through the east coast of Florida). Together, these entities manage important marine recreational fisheries. The marine recreational fisheries that take place throughout the Region are an important economic activity, with 24.6 million fishing trips taking place in 2009 providing $5.3 billion in economic activity for Northeast coastal state economies. Recreational fishing also offers the citizens of and visitors to the Northeast coast special experiences that can enrich their lives by giving them close contact with the ocean and the complex web of life it supports. These experiences can foster an appreciation for conservation of sea life, and provide insight into the need and type of programs required to maintain and protect fisheries, and the habitat that supports them.

The Region has formulate a 2012 Recreational Fisheries Action Agenda (Action Agenda) to manage recreational fisheries resources, and to positively engage recreational fisheries constituents in the development and conduct of its programs that affect recreational fisheries.

This project would provide support for and recommendations for improvement of the Action Agenda through:

• Review and evaluation of the Action Agenda’s 2012 planned activities;
• Compiling a draft 2nd quarter Action Agenda activities report;
• Updating information on the Region's recreational fisheries webpage and recreational fisheries contact list; and
• Developing a PowerPoint Presentation describing the Action Agenda that includes recommendations for 2013 Action Agenda activities.