August 26, 2026 — The ocean does not hand fishermen a single problem at a time.
A captain deciding whether to leave the dock may be thinking about wind and waves. Offshore, water temperature can help determine where the fish are. Back on shore, the working waterfront where that catch is landed may itself be vulnerable to flooding, storms, or development. Meanwhile, scientists are trying to understand how a changing Gulf of Maine is reshaping the ecosystem beneath it all.
At the 2026 Northeast Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) Annual Meeting, those issues were brought into the same room.
NERACOOS coordinates a network of observations, models, data systems, and partnerships across New England’s coastal waters. Throughout its annual meeting, speakers repeatedly returned to one question: How can all of that information become more useful to the people making decisions on and around the water?
For New England’s seafood industry, the answers ranged from familiar weather buoys to emerging environmental DNA technology, water-level sensors on working wharves, and better ways of getting information directly into fishermen’s hands.
The meeting also came as NERACOOS takes on a larger role in the region’s seafood economy through the National Science Foundation’s Seafood Engine in New England, a Regional Innovation Engine intended to connect research, technology, workforce development, and other investments across the seafood supply chain.
But much of the conversation during the annual meeting focuses on something more immediate. For fishermen, ocean observing has always been part of going fishing.
Read the full article at the National Fisherman