Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Many near-shore fishing companies are facing increasing economic challenges with rising costs of fishing operations, coupled with the need to implement stock harvest strategies that ensure the sustainability of fish stocks with minimal environmental impact of fishing methods. Addressing this business challenge requires the development of innovative fish harvesting strategies. For the scallop fishery, one approach is to develop methods for generating maps of the seafloor showing predicted distributions of the targeted species. NSCC will partner with LBM Fisheries Ltd. (LBM) in this research project to develop and test methods for generating predictive maps of scallop habitat within a test area in the Bay of Fundy. The use of such maps will allow LBM to better target scallop habitat thereby increasing fishing efficiency (i.e. improve catches, reduced effort, minimize gear loss) and will reduce the bottom contact time of fishing gear, thus providing environmental benefits (e.g. reduce spatial footprint of the fishery, bycatch, and impact on non-target habitats). A variety of habitat modelling techniques will be tested using existing multibeam echosounder (MBES) data from the test area, in conjunction with newly collected underwater video data collected as part of this project. Map validation through directed fishing operations will allow LBM to assess the benefits that this novel approach can offer the company. It is anticipated that the project will provide the development of efficient and sustainable resource harvesting strategies for sea scallop within the region, with subsequent commercial and environmental benefits provided to the company. Project results will also be shared with other fishing companies operating under the Full Bay Scallop Association (the corresponding industry association for the geographical region), providing additional regional benefits to the wider near-shore fishing industry operating in this area. Evaluation of this general approach within the context of fisheries resource mapping offers potential longer term benefits to Canada through application of these mapping technologies and further refinement of the data integration methodologies for other Canadian fisheries.