AbstractCooperative fisheries research will continue to expand throughout the United States with the 2007 reauthorization of the Magnuson‐Stevens Act, which called for the development of regionally‐based cooperative research programs nationwide. We report on a survey of individuals actively engaged in commercial fishing in New England (N = 295) that asked how important and achievable cooperative research programmatic goals are and why. One goal, “the promotion of partnerships between fishermen and scientists,” was particularly important to fishermen because partnerships are believed to be in everyone's interests, enhance the quality of the science, lead to better management decisions, improve the professional relationships between fishermen and scientists, and speak to a fishermen's sense of professional duty. However, fewer respondents considered the partnership goal achievable because of a wide range of obstacles. Based upon the findings and published studies on the perceptions of scientists and mangers, we discuss recommendations for cooperative research managers.
