Objective:
The objective of this cooperative research project is to assess the potential contributions of fisheries for Big Eye Tuna (BET) in Azorean waters, as part of the Azores Cooperative Initiatives Program (ACIP), as jointly decided in May 2003 by the ACIP Technical Working Group held by the United States Government and the Regional Government of the Azores. ACIP, or rather the requirement to engage in cooperative initiatives with the Azores, Portugal, is mandated in the 1995 US-Portugal Agreement on Cooperation and Defense and further defined in the Final Minute to that agreement. ACIP was created and has been implemented through Department of Defense (DOD) financial resources and relationships with civilian federal agenc8ies and other non-governmental institutions as part of the U.S Government's commitment to the agreement. DOD has requested and funded the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) to serve as the lead civilian agency and facilitator for ACIP.

Approach:
In order to assess the potential contribution of fisheries for BET in Azorean waters, researchers will determine the habitat requirements and oceanographic factors that define the catch availability of BET to Azorean fisheries; determine lager scale distribution patterns of BET as they relate to the Azorean archipelago; develop databases describing local oceanographic phenomena and lager scale anomalies affecting BET migration; and monitor catch and effort distribution of BET fisheries and associated biological and ecological communities through an enhanced observer program.This research will determine contributing factors for the recent decline in the Azorean BET fisheries. Several hypotheses exist, such as an overall decline in the Atlantic-wide stock; with the decline in the Atlantic-wide stock, the BET distribution has contracted; or BET may sill be occurring in lesser quantities in Azorean waters, but they are at greater depths where they are not vulnerable to the surface fishing gears traditionally used by the Azorean fleet.Research collaborator institutions have been identified by the ACIP Technical Working Group as the University of the Azores, Department of Oceanography and Fisheries and NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service/Southeast Fisheries Service Center. USDA/ARS' Office of International Research Programs will serve as a technical facilitator