Final lab note: We're done! Enjoy the reports!
It was almost exactly two years ago when I learned about the Experiment Foundation and Experiment.com for the first time, and decided to give it a shot to crowd-source some funds. At that time, I was preparing to engage commercial fishermen throughout three regions (Alaska, West Coast, and New England) in what I was then calling a "rapid response" research project, aimed at collecting fishermen's priorities for a transition to a low carbon fishing fleet. The rapid response project was designed to help fishermen voice their needs to policy makers who were thinking about new ways to prioritize decarbonization dollars in the Inflation Reduction Act and other major state and federal funding packages to bring about an affordable, equitable, and lasting energy transition off of climate-polluting fossil fuels.
Question: how many other researchers reading this have had the experience of starting a "rapid response" research project that then took them 2 years to complete? :-)
Hopefully not many, but my guess is it happens from time to time: sometimes you get into a topic so rich, so untapped, and so relevant to the challenges of the day that you need two years to do it justice. That's what happened here. What's so wonderful about Experiment.com funding is that we weren't cut short by a grant deadline, or even distracted from the focus of our work by the obligation to produce interim grant reports: these flexible lab notes serve that purpose just fine, without adding extra work to the researchers' plate.
Along the way, we were able to leverage various other sources of funding and in-kind support from partners across the three target regions. Most of the funding was held and administered by local fisheries associations themselves, while simultaneously supporting the larger coast-to-coast work, making this an example of a decentrally funded collaboration in which numerous organizations and individuals across three regions chipped in diverse resources to produce shared research products that serve the community as a whole.
Our findings, which were published this week, can be found in an 18-volume set covering policy pathways, technology pathways, and enabling conditions for a transition to a low carbon fishing fleet -- a transition in which policy makers and other partners offer crucial technical and financial support while honoring the vision constructed by fishermen themselves, through our work.
We have many, many people to thank, but in this context, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Experiment.com and the people who donated through this platform: Experiment Foundation, Robby Bruce, Richard Nelson, David Lang, and Danilo Lessa Bernardineli!
Series: Policy Pathways to a Low Carbon Fishing Fleet
Volume 1: EPA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) National Grants Program
Volume 2: EPA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Tribal Grants Program
Volume 3: EPA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) State Grants Program
Volume 4: USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
Volume 5: California’s Carl Moyer and Related Programs
Volume 6: Fishermen’s Recommendations for New Programs and Policies
Supporting Policy Analyses
Federal and State Financial Support for Reducing Emissions from Fishing Vessels
Expanding Pathways for Comprehensive Support for Commercial Fishing’s Involvement in Reducing Emissions from Marine Vessels
Series: Technology Pathways to a Low Carbon Fishing Fleet
Volume 1: Diesel Engine Efficiency and Emissions Reduction Initiatives
Volume 2: Tools and Strategies to Enhance Propulsion Efficiency
Volume 3: Tools and Strategies to Enhance Non-Propulsion Efficiency
Volume 4: Electric and Hybrid Power and Propulsion
Volume 5: Alternative Liquid and Gaseous Fuels
Volume 6: Additional Alternative Power Sources
Series: Enabling Conditions for to a Low Carbon Fishing Fleet
Volume 1: The Fishing Vessel Energy Baseline
Volume 2: The Socio-Economic and Regulatory Context
Volume 3: Waterfront Infrastructure
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