Tom’s Update June 2025: Highlighting Ongoing PIER Research

PIER’s field season is here!

This week NOAA delivered on its promise, providing PIER permission to start up a long awaited project that focuses on expanding deep-set fishing opportunities off the California coast.

Over the next two seasons PIER will build a team of cooperative fishers to test fishing gear that is not currently authorized for use off the US West Coast (this testing is often referred to as exempted or EFP testing for short).

PIER’s EFP is designed to test deep-set gear that targets a range of highly migratory species, like opah, tuna and swordfish while also trying to avoid sensitive species, like sea turtles and marine mammals.

This project attempts to expand the current deep-set fishery so that it can better accommodate the needs of our fishing community. PIER believes that local, small-boat operations can be profitable and offer a good solution for harvesting our coastal resources in a sustainable and responsible way.

The project wouldn’t be possible without the support from The Builders Initiative, the NOAA Saltonstall Kennedy Grant Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Read more about PIER’s gear development research here. 

Looking Forward:  The PIER team has some travel in the near future, with trips to Mexico, the Bahamas and Oregon on tap for the next couple of months.