Environmental Defense Fund
Smart Boat Initiative
Request for Proposals: 2019 Electronic Technology Service Provider
Rockfish Hook and Line Electronic Monitoring Pilot (Phase 1)
Date: April 18, 2019
Point of Contact: Melissa Mahoney, Policy Manager, US Oceans/Pacific; mmahoney@edf.org
EDF is seeking a provider to install, deploy and service EM systems for a pilot project with small (30’ or less) Open Access or LE Fixed gear vessels in the Monterey Bay area of central California. These vessels are part of an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) approved by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) and granted by NOAA Fisheries in January 2019.
The EFP allows for fishing with mid-water horizontal line gear that is ‘flown’ (trolled) inside an area known as the non-trawl Rockfish Conservation Area. The EFP requires 100% human observer coverage on all trips to for monitor catch and discards. We wish to test the feasibility of EM systems that serve smaller operations and can be swapped easily across vessels, with EM data to be compared to the observer data collected by NOAA Fisheries. Our desired outcome is to demonstrate EM as a viable future monitoring option for the Groundfish trawl sector.
