Saving Seafood

Northeast fishery managers look to improve sampling

September 11, 2025 — An online workshop is planned Sept. 22-23 to help turn around reduced sampling of commercial fisheries landings in the Northeast, and its effects on stock assessments, organizers say.

“Reduced sampling of commercial landings in our region has been identified as a significant threat to stock assessment integrity,” according to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. “To help address this threat and optimize federal and state sampling efforts, the Northeast Region Coordinating Council is hosting a virtual State-Federal Commercial Landings Sampling Workshop on September 22–23, 2025.”

Originally formed in 2001, the Northeast council draws members from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, the Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery management councils, and NMFS’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

The coordinating council’s stated mission is to “prioritize, communicate, and coordinate fisheries scientific and management resources through in-person meetings that include Federal, State, Council, and Commission managers and scientists of the Greater Atlantic region of the United States.”

Biological sampling – the scientific basis for characterizing the size and age composition of commercial landings – has declined markedly since 2019, according to the Northeast science center.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Northeast fisheries center surveys wind energy areas

August 25, 2025 — Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used its 25-foot DriX autonomous research vehicle for a 20-day spring mission in southern New England waters, collecting data on fish and plankton within five offshore wind energy areas.

Those wind power projects, like Ørsted’s Revolution Wind 65 turbines south of Rhode Island, are now under severe pressure from the Trump administration’s opposition to all forms of wind and solar generation.

But the amid the turmoil, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers are still learning how the new generation of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles can fill in the margins of ecosystem and fisheries surveys, in areas where it’s more difficult to operate NOAA’s big science ships.

The April 16-May 5 expedition by ocean researchers with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center was the second DriX survey out of Narragansett Bay, R.I., with the probe operating nearly around the clock for nearly three weeks.

“Uncrewed systems have the ability to support various stock and ecosystem assessments through data acquisition, particularly in areas that have traditionally been or are increasingly becoming challenging to sample,” Conor McManus, the Advanced Technology Program lead for the science center, said in a statement. “We are learning more about how marine ecosystems are changing while improving the technology and operations to be able to use it more expansively in the future.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NFSC used uncrewed vessel to bolster New England fisheries survey

August 20, 2025 — The Northeast Fisheries Science Center used a DriX uncrewed vessel to complement its survey of southern New England fisheries this spring, with the small drone collecting data that would be difficult for traditional research vessels to gather.

NOAA Fisheries has promoted the use of uncrewed systems as an emerging technology that can be used to overcome several challenges to federal government fisheries surveys. Advocates say the autonomous vessels can navigate in areas where larger vessels can’t operate, such as in and around the increasing number of offshore wind developments. While those installations have threatened to disrupt NOAA Fisheries long-term data collection efforts, researchers believe drones can help fill the gaps in data collection.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Uncrewed Vehicle Helps Fill Data Gaps in Northeast’s Difficult-to-Reach Areas

August 19, 2025 — Between April 16 and May 5, 2025, a team of ocean researchers conducted the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s second DriX survey out of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The DriX operated nearly 24/7 for 20 days. It collected data to characterize fish and plankton in Southern New England, including within five wind energy areas at various stages of development. This is a step toward using this innovative technology to study and sample marine life and habitats in places that are challenging for larger research vessels to access.

“Uncrewed systems have the ability to support various stock and ecosystem assessments through data acquisition, particularly in areas that have traditionally been or are increasingly becoming challenging to sample,” explained Conor McManus, Advanced Technology Program Lead for the science center. “We are learning more about how marine ecosystems are changing while improving the technology and operations to be able to use it more expansively in the future.”

The DriX is a submarine-shaped, 25-foot-long uncrewed surface vehicle. Unlike a sub, the DriX operates entirely on the surface. The vehicle is programmed to collect data along transect lines but can correct its course to avoid objects in the water. Similar to a car’s cruise control, it is monitored by trained operators who are remotely present and can take control when necessary. DriX is a flexible platform that can carry many sensors needed to collect oceanographic data. For this survey, DriX was outfitted with:

  • Seapix multibeam sonar (150 kHz)
  • Konsberg EK80 echosounder (38, 70, 120, 200 kHz)
  • Nortek Signature 500 kHz echosounder and acoustic doppler current profiler

These instruments collected data that will help scientists identify fish and plankton fields, as well as currents and other environmental information. For example, data collected by the Seapix can be used to estimate the volume of a school of fish.

DriX and other autonomous and semi-automous vehicles can complement ship-based surveys and improve the efficiency of collecting acoustic and biological data. The DriX could help fill data gaps by working in tandem with our long-term ecosystem surveys, such as the Bottom Trawl Survey. The science center’s surveys, including the Bottom Trawl, have been consistently collecting data on fisheries, ocean conditions, and habitat from the Gulf of Maine to North Carolina for more than 50 years.

During the first week, scientists launched and accompanied the DriX aboard the R/V Gloria Michelle, a 72-foot research vessel homeported in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. They calibrated the acoustic equipment and plankton sampling systems while collecting oceanographic data in the Revolution Wind Energy Area.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

More than a quarter of staff gone at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center

May 5, 2025 — The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC)—a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with an office in Woods Hole—has seen a 27 percent reduction in staff since President Donald Trump took office, according to current and former NOAA employees, who asked not to be named in this story for fear of retaliation.

In addition to the lab in Woods Hole, the NEFSC has four other offices—one each in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maine. It is not yet clear how many of the departed staff worked in Woods Hole, which is described on the NOAA Fisheries website as the “focal point for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s operations, management and information needs.”

The 27 percent reduction in staff includes people who took early retirement or voluntary separations. It also includes individuals who were let go as “probationary” employees—new hires or employees who have moved into a new role.

NOAA declined to comment, citing a policy at the agency not to discuss internal personnel matters. This reduction in staff comes as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce federal spending.

Read the full story at Maine Public

$2M Grant to Fishermen’s Alliance Means More Boats Gathering Ocean Data

December 5, 2024 — Strange things have been happening in recent years in the Gulf of Maine, the 36,000 square miles of relatively enclosed ocean stretching from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. Low-oxygen zones have become annual occurrences, a large brown algae bloom in summer 2023 grew from Maine to northern Massachusetts, and looming over it all is the accelerating warming of surface waters. The Gulf of Maine is warming three times faster than the global average, according to the Maine Climate Council, which is faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans.

Understanding these phenomena and their effects on fisheries is difficult, said Owen Nichols, Director of Marine Fisheries Research at the Center for Coastal Studies, because of the lack of data available on the ocean water below the surface — at the depths where most fish live.

There is one group of people, however, who regularly put equipment deep in the ocean: fishermen. And many of them are already working with scientists to gather data on the water.

But on Oct. 31, Gov. Healey’s administration announced a nearly $2 million grant to the Chatham-based Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance that will significantly expand fishing vessel-based measurements. The grant is from the quasi-public Mass. Technology Collaborative.

Since 2001, a Northeast Fisheries Science Center project has partnered with local fishermen to try to fix the lack of data about the depths. The project, called eMOLT (Environmental Monitoring on Lobster Traps and Large Trawlers), has so far installed sensors on about 100 fishermen’s gear to gather data on stratification of water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, and other parameters.

Read the full story at The Provincetown Independent

2022 NOAA Northeast Sea Scallop Survey Results

June 28, 2022 — The NOAA Fisheries Integrated Sea Scallop and Habcam Research Survey is in the books for 2022. Scientists and crew completed their work aboard the University of Delaware’s R/V Hugh R. Sharp on June 13, 2022.

The Atlantic sea scallop population is surveyed every summer by NOAA Fisheries and partnering research groups. This year those partners are the Coonamessett Farm Foundation, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology. Each partner surveys an assigned area using similar methods and a standardized survey design. Here, we are reporting results for the survey areas allocated to the NOAA Fisheries-based effort, led by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Resulting data are used for fishery stock assessments, fishery management, and biological studies. Sea scallops are one of the most valuable commercial fishery species in the nation.

Leg 1 of the survey was conducted May 14 to 23 off the Mid-Atlantic and southern Georges Bank. Researchers deployed the stereo camera and sensor system known as Habcam V4.

Leg 2 was conducted from May 25 to June 3, and Leg 3 operated from June 5 to June 13. On these legs, we deployed both Habcam V4 and a scallop dredge. The dredge is a standardized 8-foot wide New Bedford sea scallop dredge that collects sea scallops for biological analyses.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

New England lobster, crab boats could begin using experimental ropeless gear with federal permits

June 6, 2022 — Federal fisheries officials are proposing a special permit to allow up to 100 New England lobster and crab boats to use experimental high-tech systems to retrieve their traps. That would mark a big expansion in the development of fishing systems that could help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The technology uses remote-control systems to locate and trigger traps or buoy lines to the surface, reducing the use of vertical rope lines that can entangle the right whales.

Henry Milliken supervises a prototyping program for the so-called “ropeless” gear at the Northeast Marine Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

Read and listen to the full story at Maine Public

‘Ropeless’ lobster gear could be put to test in area closed to protect right whales

June 2, 2022 — An application to test innovative fishing gear throughout New England could get some Maine lobstermen back into a nearly 1,000-mile swathe of offshore fishing grounds for the first time since the implementation of a seasonal closure last year.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center, a research arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is seeking a permit to work with fishermen to trial “ropeless” fishing gear in several parts of New England, including the 967-square mile closure area off the midcoast.

The lucrative fishing grounds were closed off last year for the first time as part of a slew of new regulations designed to protect the endangered right whale. From October through January — the heart of the offshore fishing season — lobstermen can only fish in the area with a permit and if they use ropeless technology, which is costly and unfamiliar.

But if the federal marine research program’s application is approved, a few fishermen may get to try loaned ropeless fishing gear during the next closure.

“This whole effort is to provide fishermen a tool so they can access those closed areas,” said Henry Milliken, a research fisheries biologist with the center.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

NMFS to expand Northeast ropeless gear trials

June 1, 2022 — Up to 100 commercial lobster vessels would be allowed to test alternative gear without static vertical lines, under an exempted fishing permit application filed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Up to 30 of those boats would be allowed to fish using so-called ropeless gear in areas where conventional lobster gear with vertical line is restricted under the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, according to a notice issued May 31 by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The permit application, to be published in the June 1 Federal Register, is subject to a public comment period through June 15. NMFS is looking to on-demand or pop-up buoy retrieval systems in the lobster fishery as a long-term solution to reducing whale entanglements in lobster gear, particularly for the highly endangered northern right whale.

Read the full story at National Fisherman