spinydogfish.org - Spiny Dogfish Workshop

In August, 2008, North Carolina Sea Grant sponsored a Spiny Dogfish Workshop at East Carolina University. Representatives from Sea Grant, North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NC DMF), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada, AMIRIX/VEMCO Division, and East Carolina University joined to discuss spiny dogfish movement behavior. Workshop participants also included two North Carolina commercial fishermen that fish out of Hatteras Village, NC and Wanchese, NC.

There were two major goals of the workshop, 1) to develop a white paper that identified common knowledge and research needs for spiny dogfish movement patterns, and 2) to develop a practical approach to characterize movement patterns of spiny dogfish in coastal North Carolina waters.

Presentations from participants were heard for two days. On the second day, an AMIRIX/VEMCO representative provided an introduction to acoustic telemetry and a demonstration of several types of acoustic transmitters and receivers. The second day also included a trip to Morehead City, NC - participants visited the beach, the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, and enjoyed local seafood at the famous "Sanitary Fish Market" on the Morehead City waterfront. On the third day, the outline and introduction to the white paper were drafted. East Carolina University representatives Roger A. Rulifson, Ph.D and graduate student Jennifer L. Cudney expanded the white paper from a compilation of notes and tape recordings.

Products of the workshop included the development of the Spiny Dogfish Research Network, and a white paper. Recommendations from workshop participants towards research that can be completed in North Carolina were integrated into proposed methodologies for a North Carolina Sea Grant Fisheries Resources Grant application.

The first draft of the white paper was completed in November, 2007 and sent to participants for review in November and December. A final draft of the manuscript was completed in January 2008 and submitted to North Carolina Sea Grant for review. Once this draft is fully reviewed and accepted by North Carolina Sea Grant staff, it will be released to any interested person. Copies will be provided to the North Carolina Spiny Dogfish CAP, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, NOAA Fisheries, the ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee, and the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils. At that time the white paper will also be made available on this webpage. Please contact Dr Roger A. Rulifson (rulifsonr@ecu.edu) for more information or to request a copy of the white paper.