The F/V Perseverance was converted to conduct exploratory squid jigging operations.   Conversion consisted of installing a light platform with an array of lights, a small electric generating system, and four jigging machines, two fully automatic and two manual.  A total of 65 jigging stations were occupied between September and November 1996.  On 80% of the stations occupied under good observing conditions off the shelf-slope, the oceanic neon flying squid, Ommnestrephes bartramii, was observed or caught.  A total of 141 neon flying squid were caught and specimens sent to the NMFS Systematics lab at the Smithsonian and to potential buyers. A detailed literature search was conducted on the neon flying squid, but little was found about its distribution and ecology in the Northwest Atlantic. Even though the catches made during this project would seem too low to predict commercial potential, quite a few of these squid were observed.  Surveys earlier in the season and at greater depths should be undertaken.