May 14, 2025 — A new kind of data collection is taking root in New England’s groundfish world, and it’s coming from a place that’s been underrepresented for a long time- the recreational for-hire fleet.
Over the past year and a half, a collaborative project called RecBio, short for the Recreational Biological Sampling Program, has been quietly revolutionizing how scientists and fishermen work together to gather vital biological data on Atlantic cod, and more recently, winter flounder. The program is led by Willy Goldsmith of Pelagic Strategies, Anna Mercer of NOAA’s Cooperative Research Branch, and Jeff Kneebone from the New England Aquarium. But the real force behind it? The captains themselves—charter operators who’ve stepped up to fill a critical data gap.
The goal is simple, but the impact is far-reaching: generate time- and location- specific age and length data from the for-hire fleet to help inform federal stock assessments—particularly for species like cod, for which the composition of recreational catch has historically been hard to quantify beyond just weight or poundage.
The catalyst for the project came from inside the Council process. “This project was actually first conceived by a couple of New England Council members representing the for-hire fleet,” shared Goldsmith. “Council member Capt. Mike Pierdinock, president of the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Association, came to us and said, ‘We really don’t have a lot of information on what the recreational sector is catching—especially with this new stock structure for cod.’” Current Council Chair Capt. Rick Bellavance, who serves as President of the Rhode Island Party and Charter Boat Association, agreed.
Until recently, Atlantic cod was assessed and managed under just two stock units: the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. In 2023, the structure expanded to four, including the Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) and Southern New England (SNE), two areas where for-hire charter captains operate heavily. But under the previous system, biological data like age and length from recreationally caught fish was almost nonexistent. In some cases, there were zero recorded lengths from specific stock areas for entire years. And when it came to the age data? Nothing.
“There’s just not the same reporting and accountability requirements on the recreational side as there are on the commercial,” said Goldsmith. “It’s a different world, which makes it difficult to understand what’s really happening on the water.” This is particularly important given that the recreational fleet often targets cod (and other species) in different areas and using different gears than in commercial fisheries, meaning that scientists and managers may have an incomplete picture of stock status and trends.