Saving Seafood

Enviros sue Trump admin to stop fishing in Atlantic monument

May 5, 2026 — Green groups and an ocean conservationist have sued the Trump administration over its attempt to open a 3.1-million-acre national monument off the coast of Cape Cod to commercial fishing.

President Donald Trump’s proclamation would jeopardize endangered whales, vulnerable corals and other delicate species and ecosystems protected by the Atlantic Ocean’s first and only marine national monument, the groups said in a statement announcing their lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Washington.

“Northeast Canyons and Seamounts is a living scientific laboratory and a refuge for species as varied as cold-water corals and sperm whales. Only the Trump administration would think it makes sense to open it up to damage and harm from commercial fishing,” said Devon Flanagan, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “That decision is clearly unlawful, and we will be fighting it in court until we win.”

Read the full article at E&E News

See the 1-in-50-Million Split-Color Lobster Caught Off the Coast of Massachusetts. It’s Carrying Two Sets of Genetic Information

April 28, 2026 — On April 16, the crew aboard the Timothy Michael spotted an unusual-looking lobster in their haul while fishing off Cape Cod. One half of its body—stretching from head to tail—was orange-red, while the other half was dark brown, with a straight line dividing the two hues, a rare 1-in-50-million example of a “split-color” lobster.

Wellfleet Shellfish Company, which pulled in the rare lobster, decided not to sell it. Rather, the company donated the creature to the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, a Cape Cod institution operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

“Instead of heading to market, she’s heading somewhere even more special,” the company wrote on social media.

The aquarium, established in 1875 and the nation’s oldest public marine aquarium, is currently closed for repairs. But once it reopens early next year, the split-color lobster will be “one of the first animals going back into the aquarium,” Julia Studley, an aquarium biotechnician, tells the Cape Cod Times’ Heather McCarron.

Read the full article at the Smithsonian Magazine

MASSACHUSETTS: Climate change is driving scallops north. That’s good news for New Bedford

April 21, 2026 — For the past five years, New Jersey scallop fisherman Brady Lybarger has been spending more time in New Bedford. Scallop yields have been poor in the mid-Atlantic’s historic scalloping grounds, known as the Elephant Trunk. So Lybarger makes the 250-mile voyage from Cape May, New Jersey’s southernmost point, out to Georges Bank, east of Cape Cod.

Fuel is expensive, so Lybarger docks his vessel in New Bedford during the busy summer season. Between trips, he drives six hours each way to New Jersey to spend time with his family.

With 25 years in the fishing industry, Lybarger says the sacrifice is nothing new.

“No one wants to be away, right?” Lybarger said. “But you also got to go make money.”

Lybarger is part of a growing cohort of fishermen docking their vessels in New Bedford while calling another port home. Since 2016, the number of these “transient” vessels has increased over 300%, while scallop landings in mid-Atlantic and southern ports have declined.

The shift, some researchers say, is driven by climate change: ocean temperatures and acid levels are rising unevenly across the Eastern Seaboard. As scallops react to warming waters, fishermen are following suit — spending more time and landing more shellfish in New Bedford. It’s a boon for the Whaling City, but it’s a challenge for the southern ports left behind.

“We’re getting decimated,” said Sean Barto, the vice president of Sea Gear Marine Supply in Cape May. “It’s been straight downhill for the past five or six years.”

The shift may further consolidate an industry that’s already tough for independent fishermen, driving an even greater portion of fishing wealth into New Bedford’s privileged few.

The shifting tides aren’t enough to make Lybarger leave his home port behind entirely, though he’s willing to consider it someday.

“From what I’ve seen in the past 20 years, [New Bedford] has turned around,” Lybarger said. “I wouldn’t mind living in New Bedford, be honest with you. It’s not my top choice, but I wouldn’t mind it if I had to.”

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

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