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Cooperative Research Program


The Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation have been working cooperatively on research relative to Bering Sea king, snow, and Tanner crab surveys, biology, and assessment since 2004.

Cooperative research is an important scientific approach at NOAA Fisheries that allows scientists, managers, and stakeholders to work together to resolve outstanding issues related to the underlying ecosystem dynamics of federally managed fisheries in support of stock assessment, bycatch reduction, and other science–management research needs. NOAA Fisheries science centers and regional offices are involved in a variety of successful cooperative research programs, and the demand for such programs is high.

NOAA Fisheries is committed to ensuring a vigorous cooperative research enterprise. There are several key research and development areas, such as innovative monitoring tools and gear technology advancement, that well designed and targeted cooperative research projects can and should support.

The Cooperative Research Program has two components – the regional component, which is managed locally, and the national component, which is managed by NMFS headquarters. Basic requirements are that a NMFS researcher serves as the principal investigator and that the research project partners with industry, academia, or another government agency. Information on the national component of the program is posted annually on the NOAA Fisheries website.

For more information on the ASFC’s Cooperative Research Program, please contact the AFSC regional coordinator John Clary (526-4039).


Pictured above: a juvenile king crab (left) and mature king crab (right) photographed during a 2013 AFSC-BSFRF cooperative research cruise.