The Maine Dept. of Marine Sources and the College of Maine Pelagic Fisheries Lab run by Dr. Walt Golet are engaged on a research to quantify the potential overlap between the industrial Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery and proposed offshore wind areas within the Gulf of Maine.
Presently, the Bureau of Ocean Vitality Administration (BOEM) has finalized 5 lease areas within the Gulf of Maine for offshore wind. Whereas lots of the US East Coast offshore wind tasks are paused, beneath assessment, or in some circumstances postponed indefinitely, the way forward for offshore wind within the Gulf of Maine stays unknown presently. This truly creates a chance to ascertain necessary baseline knowledge in help of the US bluefin tuna fishery ought to growth ever proceed and issues like mitigation measures be wanted.
We plan to include historic spotter pilot and purse seine logbook knowledge, private fishing data from industrial allow holders within the common and harpoon classes, and digital tagging data (PSAT tags). Nonetheless, we’d additionally like to assemble self-reported knowledge from the fishery. Our hope is that we could present a complete evaluation to ascertain a baseline for understanding regional spatial dynamics that may present insights for the long run.
Why ought to we do that? When BOEM requested for the bluefin knowledge earlier than, there was NONE to provide. That is the chance to fill in these knowledge gaps. If you’re a permitted industrial bluefin tuna fisherman who has beforehand or is at the moment fishing within the Gulf of Maine for bluefin, we ask that you simply please take 5 minutes to fill out this nameless survey, which will likely be open till July thirty first, 23:59 EST.
Every allow holder could solely take this survey as soon as.
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