April 14, 2025 — There’s nothing about a monkfish’s appearance that makes you want to eat it.
With a bulbous head, bulging eyes, oversized mouth and sluglike body that can grow more than four feet long, it’s basically the Jabba the Hutt of the ocean.
But this slimy, bottom-dwelling monstrosity sometimes called goosefish, devilfish or fishing frog is known to seafood afficionados for firm, sweet tail meat that makes for a tasty meal.
April 2, 2026 — A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: The cost of fuel oil is rising because of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Now, we’re seeing it on the ground at gas stations and in the air as airlines raise prices. Today, we look at the water. David Wright reports from Ocean State Media in Rhode Island, where the price of diesel fuel is about $5.75 a gallon.
(SOUNDBITE OF ICE SCRAPING)
DAVID WRIGHT, BYLINE: Mike Pugliese, known locally as Fishmonger Mike, starts his day scooping plenty of ice.
(SOUNDBITE OF ICE SCRAPING)
WRIGHT: The shelf life of his product depends on it.
What’s this?
MIKE PUGLIESE: That’s fluke. It’s a type of flounder. That was caught two days ago.
WRIGHT: Right now, fresh seafood is under pressure, in part because rough weather has made this a tough year for New England fishermen. Now they’re facing higher fuel prices, too.
PUGLIESE: I’m praying that the diesel prices don’t go any higher because right now, I think they’re at the pinnacle for particularly the local boats here that are doing the fluke offshore.
WRIGHT: Over the past month since the war in Iran kicked off, the cost of diesel here in Rhode Island has jumped nearly 50% at local gas stations and here at the dock.
Read the full transcript at NPR
March 31, 2026 — The Biden administration set out to spread 30 gigawatts of offshore wind on the coasts of the United States. While that goal wasn’t reached before President Donald Trump took office, several projects were approved and continued with construction.
Earlier this month, Vineyard Wind off the coast of Nantucket finished construction, The Nantucket Current reported. Shortly after, offshore wind developer Orsted announced that the Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island began providing intermittent power to New England. This week, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach began providing intermittent power to the grid, Virginia Business reported.
Despite concerns about the impacts of offshore wind to electricity rates and whales, Biden’s wind projects move rapidly ahead. The federal analysis of what caused a catastrophic blade failure on Vineyard Wind in July 2024 still hasn’t been published.
March 16, 2026 — A large offshore wind project off the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island that was repeatedly stopped by the Trump administration came online Friday evening, sending clean energy to New England’s power grid.
The project, known as Revolution Wind, is nearing the end of construction and will ultimately generate up to 704 megawatts of electricity — the equivalent of powering 350,000 homes. That’s about 2.5% of New England’s electric supply. Construction on Revolution Wind is expected to be completed later this year.
“This project is key to diversifying our energy supply and lowering utility costs for families and businesses,” said Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont in a statement.
“Today’s milestone marks an important step forward for Rhode Island’s energy future,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement.
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.
March 2, 2026 — A reseeding initiative from researchers, state, and industry leaders is looking to strengthen Rhode Island’s quahog fisheries in Narragansett Bay.
Led by researchers at Roger Williams University’s (RWU) Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED), the project integrates aquaculture, disease testing, and hands-on student training to support wild shellfish populations and the state’s seafood economy.
The project is funded through a Partnership for Research Excellence in Sustainable Seafood (PRESS) grant, and will be done in partnership with the Rhode Island Shellfisherman’s Association (RISA).
February 23, 2026 — Roger Williams University’s Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED) is guiding a research-driven initiative to strengthen Rhode Island’s quahog fisheries in Narragansett Bay. The project integrates aquaculture, disease testing, and hands-on student training to support wild shellfish populations and the state’s seafood economy.
Funded through a Partnership for Research Excellence in Sustainable Seafood (PRESS) grant at the University of Rhode Island’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences and supported by NOAA, the initiative supports research that advances sustainable seafood. Through the program, CEED is studying wild quahog populations in partnership with the Rhode Island Shellfisherman’s Association (RISA).
“The aim of this work is to address commercial and recreational harvester concerns about the declining clam population in Narragansett Bay,” said Robert J. Holmberg, a Shellfish Aquaculture and Hatchery Specialist, and RWU Assistant Professor of Marine Biology and CEED’s Shellfish Aquaculture and Hatchery Specialist. “They’ve declined over decades due to several factors, but this project specifically focuses on understanding how disease and reproductive health impact quahog populations.”
January 20, 2026 — President Trump’s efforts to stifle the offshore wind power industry suffered a third legal setback this week, after a federal judge ruled on Friday that an $11.2 billion wind farm off the coast of Virginia can resume construction.
The Interior Department last month ordered all work to stop on the Virginia wind farm and four other offshore wind projects under construction, citing unspecified national security concerns. The developers of the projects have all sued in various courts, arguing that the government failed to justify its actions and that any delays would cause irreparable harm to the companies.
So far, judges have sided with the companies. On Friday, Judge Jamar K. Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a preliminary injunction that would allow the Virginia wind farm to continue construction while its developer, Dominion Energy, pursues its legal case against the stop-work order.
Separate federal judges this week have already issued preliminary injunctions that allowed two other projects — Revolution Wind, off Rhode Island and Empire Wind, off New York — to restart construction.
January 16, 2026 — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum personally ordered the halt of an offshore wind project off of New England in August, but federal officials later downplayed his participation, according to emails obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.
Such direct involvement from a political appointee in an individual project is unusual, analysts and industry experts say. The sequence of events, shown in documents released to E&E News in a public records request, hint at the extent to which some of the most senior officials in the Trump administration are involved in the president’s anti-wind agenda.
Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop-work order for Revolution Wind in August. The $6.2 billion offshore wind project is expected to generate enough power for 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
January 14, 2025 — A federal judge ruled Monday that Revolution Wind can continue construction work as its legal appeal of the Trump administration’s freeze on federal leases for offshore wind projects progresses. Revolution Wind, located off Rhode Island, is one of three wind farms suing over the pause, which the Trump administration claims is necessary to mitigate national security concerns.
District of Columbia Judge Royce Lamberth said the federal government did not provide sufficient justification for the freeze and found that Revolution Wind was likely to succeed on the merits of the case.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum claimed that the pause “addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers.”
The Trump administration has been vague about the specific nature of its national security concerns, and some critics have alleged that the government’s actions are more related to President Donald Trump’s personal dislike of wind turbines.
Revolution Wind called the administration’s actions unlawful, saying it had consulted with the Department of Defense on potential national security issues and had even reached a formal mitigation agreement.