Cooperative Research

Cooperative research is fisheries science conducted jointly by fishers and scientists, with commercial vessels and crews supplying data, samples, or platforms that survey vessels alone cannot. It runs the range from industry-funded reference fleets logging catch and effort to chartered vessels running standardized trawl surveys and tagging work. NOAA Fisheries and ICES both use it to fill spatial and temporal gaps in stock assessment, calibrate fishery-dependent indices against survey indices, and build trust around contentious quota decisions. Fishers gain a stake in the data behind their total allowable catch; scientists gain at-sea coverage and gear access. The trade is fishery-dependent data that needs careful standardization before it enters an assessment.