Coastal Communities & Ecosystems
Events
Fisheries Extension will take part in the New England Saltwater Fishing Show that runs March 30 through April 1. They will be available to provide information on their program as well as answer any questions. The New England Saltwater Fishing Show, held at the Rhode Island Convention Center, is the largest saltwater fishing show in the Northeast and consists of more than 500 booths as well as continuous seminars held throughout the day. For more information visit http://www.nesaltwatershow.com/.
An international symposium on haddock—Haddock 2007— is being organized with the help of the Sustainable Fisheries 
Extension program. Fisheries will be participating in the Haddock Workshop on April 3 as well as a two-day symposium on October 25 and 26 that will include presentations and discussions on harvesting technologies, biological aspects, and resource management issues concerning haddock and haddock fisheries on both sides of the Atlantic.
For more information visit http://www.seagrant.unh.edu/haddock.html.
Sustainable Fisheries also took part in a mini-grant workshop regarding recent Rhode Island Sea Grant Request for Proposals. The goal was to open up discussions and get collaborative research ideas flowing that investigate the changes that have occurred in the fisheries, the fishing communities, or the habitat and/or fish themselves. This forum allowed for introductions that will result in collaboration between fishermen, commercial and recreational, and faculty & staff from various universities. The workshop resulted in 11 pre-proposal submissions for the Rhode Island Sea Grant Fisheries Collaborative Research RfP as well as discussions for future projects.
Websites
Fisheries worked closely this month with the Rhode Island Sea Grant Communications department on the National Sea Grant Fisheries Extension Website. Visit http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/fisheries/extension/meeting.html.
A Fisheries Gear Research Database website has been implemented. The site is a searchable database that allows the user to access past and present projects related to fisheries work based on topic, investigator, species, region, or funding agency. Links to reports from projects are included as well as web addresses and other information about each project. This database was designed to help reduce duplication of work and provide researchers with background information that may be useful to their future projects. The database should be operational later this month. Visit http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/reg_fish/gear/.
Grants
Fisheries Extension staff embarks on their fourth year of a scup survey of hard bottom areas in southern New England. This study involves looking at the size distribution of scup using unvented fish pots in areas that are not sampled by current state and federal finfish trawl surveys. Recently, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Mid-Atlantic Research Set-Aside Program approved the survey.