To sign up to receive our quarterly FAD research eNewsletters click here.

In 2014, we began the Collaborative FAD Research Program in Puerto Rico.  The goal of the research program is to gather fisheries and economic data on FAD use, performance, effectiveness, and impact on pelagic fish species. The research program is also intended to collect scientific data on FAD-fish movements, diversity, and abundance and inform the public about the results of the research program.  We are interested in answering some of the following questions:

*How do recreational, charter, and small-scale commercial fishermen use moored FADs around Puerto Rico?

*Do moored FADs increase catch and reduce time and fuel spent searching for fish?

*How do you quantitatively describe the success of a moored FAD program?

*How do dolphinfish, and other pelagic fish, behave around moored FADs off San Juan, PR?

Our research has included the participation of over 30 vessel owners and impacted thousands of fishermen in Puerto Rico.  While our goal is to publish scientific research to advance our knowledge and improve management of FAD fisheries another is to award participating fishermen and vessel owners with annual fishing gear incentives in exchange for their collaboration.  This year, we awarded 10 custom handcrafted 6′ standup conventional Star Rods to the top vessels that participated in 2018.   To get involved in this research program please contact Wess Merten at wess@beyondourshores.org.

Visit the Puerto Rico FAD System Webpage, a site we manage, to learn more about the FAD research we are conducting.

Our group sends out quarterly eNewsletters on the FAD research we are doing. Below are the eNewsletters for Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 2018. To sign up to receive these eNewsletters click here.

Recent FAD Publication:

Merten, W.B., Rivera, R., Appeldoorn, R., Serrano, K., Collazo, O., Jimenez, N. 2018. Use of video monitoring to quantify spatial and temporal patterns in fishing activity across sectors at moored fish aggregating devices off Puerto Rico. Scientia Marina, 82(2).   Click here for a PDF