Marine Fisheries Initiative

Examples of Funded Projects

Relationship between estuarine habitat structure and distribution and abundance of juvenile fishery species; assessment of bathymetric highs as nursery habitat of newly settled red snapper in the northwest Gulf of Mexico; genetic analysis of the stock structure of wahoo in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico; turtle excluder device (TED) and bycatch (BRD) reduction device technology transfer to the shrimp industry; and validation of ages for species of the deepwater snapper/grouper complex off the southeast U.S. coast.

Program Accomplishments

Recent accomplishments include: using high-technology underwater video cameras to fine tune bycatch reduction devices in shrimp trawl nets; development of a horseshoe crab management program in South Carolina as a result of reproductive biology research; and delineation of important nursery habitat for red snapper in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Numerous multi-year projects were funded in the out years that reduced the level of funding for new cooperative agreements in FY 06