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Success stories
Collaborative research is more established in some places than in others.
These stories are intended to highlight different ways collaborative research
has been successful in different locations and political climates.
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The Spatial COmmunity Outreach Project (SCOOP)
is an ongoing, cooperative effort between Ecotrust and the Pacific
Marine Conservation Council (PMCC), and members of the West Coast
fishing industry, in consultation with the Port Liaison Project. The
primary goals of this project are to gather information from fishing
communities on the impacts of spatial management (areas closed to
fishing) in the groundfish fishery, collect community-based recommendations
on proposed changes to spatial management, and collect information
for improving a coast-wide area model of the groundfish fishery.
The principal investigators of this project are interested in gathering
information on the effects of the shelf closures in 2002, 2003, and
2004, as well as recommendations from members of the fishing industry
on alternative spatial management proposals for the 2005/2006 management
cycle and beyond. The resulting report will be presented to the Pacific
Council in April 2005.
- A new venture: The West Coast Cooperative Research Planning
Group , founded in 2003, is an association of people involved
in cooperative fisheries research efforts in WA, OR and CA, several
of whom have also been actively seeking a federal allocation of
cooperative marine fisheries research funding for the west coast. Currently
this group includes PMCC , OR and CA Sea Grant Extension; commercial
fishing representatives; NMFS/NWFSC staff, biologists with CDFG, WDFW
and ODFW, and the OSU Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station. Participation
is open to all interested and productive parties. The group’s overarching
goal is to promote cooperative research and improve relationships
between the fishing, marine science, and management communities.
This huge and long term effort, which will take numerous activities
and events has already succeeded in sharing new information, and planning
complementary efforts while advancing independent agendas. For information
please contact Flaxen Conway, flaxen.conway@orst.edu
; or Jennifer Bloeser, Jennifer@pmcc.org
.
- The Juvenile Rockfish Project: A collaborative endeavor
to gather new information on nearshore fishes and ocean habitats in
Oregon and California.
This innovative project, funded by NOAA Fisheries and now in its third
year, brings together a diverse group of marine specialists and 12 commercial
fishermen. Participants are working to gain a better understanding of
the association between juvenile nearshore fish species with underwater
habitats. The project is intended to improve the information base for
fishery management and help resolve important nearshore management issues.
Fishermen are contracted in nine ports, to conduct at-sea research in
a variety of habitats. Sampling is on a monthly basis, over a two week
period, using standardized traps. And across a wide geographic range
during different phases of settlement – the period when fish leave the
water column as plankton to live close to the ocean bottom. For information
please contact: Susan Schlosser, University of California Sea Grant
Extension Program at scschlosser@ucdavis.edu.
Know a success story about collaborative research? Contact
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