Saving Seafood

RHODE ISLAND: Recent fishermen’s deaths hit home in Point Judith

March 13, 2026 — This winter has been an especially difficult season for the fishermen of New England, with the death of a Stonington man and two recent boat sinkings.

On Jan. 25, late at night, Thomas Williams’ body was found in the water near the town dock in Stonington. Williams was a well known captain of the F/V Heritage and a long-time local fisherman out of Stonington and Point Judith.

Last Wednesday, New Bedford, Mass., police rescued a man from freezing water, according to 7 News Boston. The man fell between two fishing vessels, where he became trapped and unable to get out. Five officers were able to pull him safely out of the water after he was found holding onto dock lines.

A day later, the commercial fishing vessel Yankee Rose sank off Cape Cod, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. Coast Guard was able to pull one person out of the water, but the second crew member is still missing.

As a third-generation fisherman, Williams was a staple of the Rhode Island community for over 25 years. He was known as one of the best fishermen in Rhode Island, according to Fred Mattera, a retired local fisherman and president of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation.

Read the full article at The Independent

Two New Bedford-area fishermen mourned as Coast Guard investigates capsizing

March 11, 2026 — In the last few days, Sherry Holcomb has gotten a few packages. Sunglasses, a pair of flashlights, and a Q-tip holder embossed with a skull. They were ordered by her late husband — a mostly retired commercial fisherman — before he died at sea last week.

She’s also gotten visitors — announced and unannounced — there to help her navigate what comes next, ask questions or offer up a lasagna.

But she hasn’t gotten many answers.

Why did the fishing vessel that Truett “Gene” Holcomb was captaining last week capsize just three miles off of Provincetown? How could that happen when the water was like “glass,” as Holcomb told Sherry in a phone call late Thursday morning — the last time they spoke?

By 11:58 a.m. that day, the U.S. Coast Guard received a report from two witnesses of a capsized vessel. It was the Yankee Rose, the boat Holcomb had recently called from. The 46-foot dragger is painted forest green, but what Coast Guard rescuers saw on scene was her rusted keel.

The federal agency dispatched rescue boats, along with a Jayhawk helicopter and fixed-wing plane.

By about 12:30 p.m., responders from the Coast Guard and Massachusetts Environmental Police recovered a man from the water, 37-year-old Angel Nieves of New Bedford. They brought him to the pier to Provincetown Fire Rescue, where they determined resuscitation was not possible, according to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office.

By around 3:45 p.m., the vessel sank.

And by 1:27 p.m. the next day, the Coast Guard called off the search for Holcomb, who might have been in the wheelhouse when the vessel capsized. His body has not been recovered as of Tuesday.

The Coast Guard and the Massachusetts Environmental Police are investigating the accident.

“Screamin’ Gene,” as Holcomb was known by fellow fisherman, had escaped possible death last month, just days before the capsizing. He found Nieves unconscious on the Yankee Rose from apparent carbon monoxide exposure on Feb. 26 and called 911, according to Nieves’ fiancée, Danielle Jeffrey. The fumes were so strong that they sent six first responders to the hospital for evaluation.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘He was my rock’: Widow mourns New Bedford fisherman lost off Cape Cod

March 10, 2026 — When Sherry Holcomb first heard Truett Holcomb’s Southern drawl, a single word was all it took.

“The first thing he said — ‘Hello’ — he already had my heart,” she recalled of her husband’s accent, which never faded after he left Virginia for New England.

Sherry Holcomb is now mourning her husband of nearly 10 years and hoping his body will be recovered from the fishing vessel Yankee Rose, which sank off the coast of Provincetown last week, killing Truett and Angel Nieves, 37.

Truett Eugene Holcomb, 61, was a longtime commercial fisherman. For his family, his loss has left an aching void.

“It’s going to be hard to do this without him,” Sherry Holcomb said Monday.

Truett Holcomb, who was at the helm of the Yankee Rose, spent most of his life on the water, she said. He began fishing as a teenager and eventually became a boat captain.

The job suited him, she said, describing her husband as a man who felt most at home when at sea. Fishing was not just Truett’s calling, it was his “bread and butter,” she said.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod Tragedy: Community Rallies After 2 New Bedford Fishermen Killed In Boat Sinking

March 10, 2026 — Angel Luis Nieves, 37, and Truitt Holcomb Jr., 61, both of New Bedford, were aboard the scallop boat Yankee Rose about two miles off Provincetown on Thursday, March 5, when it capsized and sank, state authorities said. There were no survivors.

Nieves was an engaged father of four, according to a GoFundMe created to support his family.

“He loved the ocean; it was his passion,” the fundraiser said. “But more than that, he loved God and his family. He worked so hard every day for his family. He had such a good heart. He would have given the shirt off his back for anyone. He was the type of friend you always wanted to have in your corner.”

Read the full article at the Daily Voice

MASSACHUSETTS: Coast Guard ends search after fishing vessel Yankee Rose sank off Cape Cod, killing 2

March 9, 2026 — The search has been called off for any survivors after a commercial fishing vessel with two people aboard sank off Cape Cod, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday.

Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a notification just before noon Thursday that the vessel Yankee Rose was overturned about two nautical miles northeast of Race Point in Provincetown. Coast Guard crews arrived on the scene along with local agencies minutes later.

One person was recovered from the boat but on Friday, the town manager of Provincetown, Alex Morse, said that person had died. He did not provide any further information about the person. The search for the second person was suspended Friday afternoon after 21 hours.

“We express our deepest condolences for the family and loved ones,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Read the full article at CBS News

MASSACHUSETTS: 1 recovered and 1 missing after fishing vessel overturns off Cape Cod

March 6, 2026 — A commercial fishing vessel overturned off Cape Cod on Thursday, prompting a search in which one person was recovered from the water and the other is still missing, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

The person who was recovered was “transported to higher medical care,” Coast Guard spokesperson Keira Shantry said.

Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a notification just before noon that the vessel Yankee Rose was overturned about three nautical miles (3.5 miles) northeast of Race Point in Provincetown, Shantry said. Coast Guard crews arrived on the scene along with local agencies minutes later, Shantry said.

Read the full article at ABC News

Free to Fish a Marine Monument

February 27, 2026 — The Trump administration’s move this month to allow commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, 130 miles off Cape Cod, was welcomed by commercial fishing interests last week.

The monument’s creation was a recent development, established by President Barack Obama in the last months of his administration in 2016, with a multiyear phaseout allowed only for American lobster and Atlantic deep-sea red crab fisheries. The area in question covers nearly 5,000 square miles and includes three underwater canyons and four underwater mountains, or seamounts. In 2020, during his first term, Mr. Trump lifted the ban on commercial fishing there, but President Joseph Biden restored it the following year.

“Because of the complex topography and oceanography within the monument, and the resulting high food production, there is a rich diversity of fishes” there, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the site with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Scientists consider the monument a biodiversity hotspot for deep-sea fishes.” Fish and Wildlife cites a 2003 study that found almost 600 fish species living below 650 feet in the New England shelf region of the monument.

Its canyons are home to various species of flounder, hake, skate, ocean pout, cusk, grenadier, and eel, some occurring in dense aggregations. “Larger pelagic fish like swordfish, tuna, and sharks also use the monument,” according to Fish and Wildlife.

Read the full article at The East Hampton Star

Trump reopens vast swath of waters off northeastern coast to commercial fishing

February 25, 2026 — One of the nation’s richest fishing grounds — put off-limits to commercial use by the Obama and Biden administrations — is once again open for business, courtesy of a proclamation issued by the Trump White House.

The Feb. 6 proclamation — “Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Atlantic” —revokes an Obama- and Biden-era policy that prohibited commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Created in 2016 by the Obama administration, the marine national monument covers nearly 5,000 square miles on the edge of the continental shelf about 150 miles east of Cape Cod. The monument designation included a ban on commercial fishing, which Trump lifted in his first term. The Biden administration reimposed the ban in 2021, a step Trump 2.0 is now reversing.

When it reimposed the prohibition on commercial fishing within the marine monument’s boundaries, the Biden White House, like the Obama administration before it, cited the need to protect sensitive marine life in the area. “Restoring the prohibition on commercial fishing,” the Biden administration said, “will ensure that the unique, fragile, and largely pristine canyons and seamounts, and the dynamic ocean systems and marine life they support … will be safeguarded and will continue to provide an important venue for scientific study and research.”

Read the full article at CFACT

MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Hiring Recreational Fisheries Surveyors for 2026 Season

February 12, 2026 — The following was released by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries:

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is currently hiring Recreational Fisheries Surveyors for the 2026 season. We are seeking seven (7) surveyors for the South Shore, Cape Cod and Islands, and three (3) for the North Shore.

Links to the postings in MassCareers are provided below:

These seasonal positions run from April through November, with training scheduled for the last week of March. While we will review applications on a rolling basis until the roles are filled, first consideration will be given to candidates who apply within the first 14 days of the posting.

MASSACHUSETTS: Before the herring return, Cape Cod needs people to count them

February 10, 2026 — On a still April morning, one of the most important things happening on Cape Cod is easy to miss unless you’re really looking. No crowds. No signs. Just narrow ribbons of water where silver flashes push upstream, muscle and instinct carrying river herring from the saltwater back to the ponds and wetlands where their lives began.

For decades, those fleeting migrations have told a quiet story about the health of the Cape’s ecosystem. Now, local researchers and conservationists say the story needs more listeners.

The Association to Preserve Cape Cod is recruiting volunteers for the 2026 river herring count season, a citizen science effort that relies on something everyone knows how to do: count. All it requires is people willing to show up consistently, watch carefully, and write down what they see.

The commitment is not a heavy lift, but the payoff is anything but lightweight.

“Ten minutes at a run, a few times a week, adds up to information we can use to track the run, spot problems, and see whether restoration work is paying off,” said Mike Palmer, an ecologist at the APCC who coordinates volunteer monitoring across the region.

Read the full article at the Cape Cod Times