Scup GRA Workshop

Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program, Fisheries Department Scup GRA - November 20th 2024 Utilizing Collaborative Strategies to Assess and Adapt Scup Gear Restricted Areas (GRAs) in Response to Climate Change This project is funded by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) This project will implement a collaborative and comprehensive program that will analyze several current data sources using improved modeling approaches for Scup Gear Restricted Areas (GRAs) within the Mid-Atlantic region. We will use a combination of local and industry knowledge, along with economic and community data to translate the predicted spatial distributions of juvenile scup into social and economic outcome measures for alternative spatial closure scenarios. We will develop calibrated scenario analysis to quantify likely changes in fishing costs, catches, or shifts in distributions of fishery benefits arising from representative GRA policy scenarios. This project will also engage the commercial fishing industry with two multi-venue workshops, development of an interactive survey tool and dockside visits throughout the region to collect an all-inclusive industry opinion and fleet behavior relative to current and proposed scup management. Commercial Fishing Industry input is needed on the current Scup GRAs! We are collecting industry input on the current Scup GRAs and the impacts they have on small mesh trawl fishermen. Please take a moment to follow this link to take our survey: https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9n6QW3nCW6mHAp0 CCE will host two multi-venue in-person and virtual workshops to gather the commercial fishing industry’s input on the status of the Scup GRAs. This input will also be used to guide our modeling efforts to show the socioeconomic impacts of the GRAs and potential benefits of changing GRA regulations.