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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 11
July 2007
Watch for monkfish egg veils; think about research
WOODS HOLE, MA – Scientists who are trying to learn more about when and where monkfish spawn are asking fishermen to be on the alert for monkfish egg veils floating near the water’s surface.
The long, intestine-like veils are thought to remain near the surface for one-to-three weeks after monkfish spawn. Then they start to disintegrate and the larvae hatch.
Egg veils are transported along surface currents, and Anne Richards of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, who is heading up the project, intends to use egg veil sighting information, coupled with satellite data and known information about ocean circulation patterns, to predict where eggs will hatch.
“How far and where an egg veil might move will depend on when and where spawning occurs,” wrote Richards on the science center’s web site. “Prevailing surface currents and water temperatures will then determine the duration of incubation and fate of the fertilized eggs.”
According to Richards, the accuracy of the sighting information is extremely important. Fishermen should record: the date of the sighting; the location in latitude/longitude and/or loran bearings; the color of the egg veil (yellowish, purplish, pinkish); and whether the egg veil was seen in a trawl net, gillnet, free floating in the water, or elsewhere.
Sightings can be reported directly on the web site at <www.nefsc.noaa.gov/read/popdy/monkfish/
MonkfishEggveilReporting/index.htm> or by e-mailing Richards at <Anne.Richards@noaa.gov>. Her phone number is (508) 495-2305.
Monkfish RSA
Just days after CFN went to press in late June, the New England Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were conducting a workshop in Portland, ME on June 26 to discuss the Monkfish Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program.
The RSA program is part of the federal monkfish plan, which was developed jointly by the New England and Mid-Atlantic councils. The plan authorizes a set-aside of 500 monkfish days-at-sea from the directed fishery for research activities. That way, fishermen who are willing to conduct research can be compensated through revenue generated from the sale of monkfish caught on RSA trips.
The workshop was being held to facilitate discussion among potential RSA applicants, grant personnel, and fishery regulators and help applicants develop successful research proposals for the 2008 program. Organizers were expected to review “lessons learned” from the 2006 and 2007 RSA projects.
Anyone interested in participating in monkfish research who couldn’t make the workshop can call NMFS’s Allison McHale at (978) 281-9103 or e-mail her at <Allison.McHale@noaa.gov>. Or call Phil Haring, the New England council’s monkfish plan coordinator, at (978) 465-0492. His e-mail address is <pharing@nefmc.org>.
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