Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Scientists and fishermen join forces to study Atlantic cod

June 4, 2026 — After ten days at sea, researchers from the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) have returned from the Spring 2026 Gulf of Maine video trawl survey with encouraging early signs for one of New England’s most iconic fish species: Atlantic cod.

Conducted in partnership with commercial fishermen and supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the survey uses a unique open cod end video method developed by SMAST researchers to observe fish populations with minimal impact. The collaborative project reflects the growing role of industry-science partnerships in fisheries research while generating data that can help improve understanding and management of Gulf of Maine fish stocks.

The team departed May 6 and returned May 15 aboard the F/V Justice, owned by New Bedford commercial fisherman Danny Eilertsen. The vessel crew included Captain Robert Kohl, First Mate Tim Barrett, and Andrew Earle, who served as cook and deckhand. SMAST’s scientific team included Chief Scientist Dr. Nicholas Calabrese, PhD student Stephanie Merhoff, and MS student Helena Norton. On the first day of the survey, a film crew joined the expedition to collect footage for a documentary film about the historical and ongoing importance of the fishing and seafood industry in Boston and Massachusetts. This short film will be a centerpiece for the Boston Fisheries Museum’s upcoming exhibit during Sail Boston.

Read the full article at UMass Dartmouth

MASSACHUSETTS: Collaborative research group from SMAST, COE, and CCB wins $1.4M grant from Mass Tech Collaborative

June 4, 2026 — A UMass Dartmouth team spanning the School for Marine Science and Technology, the College of Engineering, and the Charlton College of Business recently received a $1.4M grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to create a “digital twin” for the MA shellfish aquaculture industry.

A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system. Using state-of-the-art tools like smart sensors, autonomous vehicles, and predictive artificial intelligence, the digital twin will provide real-time data insights for oyster growers about their operations, allowing them to make proactive management decisions. Beyond increasing shellfish aquaculture productivity, safety, and sustainability, the digital twin system also aims to turn data into a consumer-facing narrative that will position Massachusetts oysters as a premium sustainable seafood product.

“This academic/industry partnership is a key part of our mission at UMass Dartmouth as a public university,” said Professor of Estuarine & Ocean Sciences Miles Sundermeyer.  “It is especially important as many of these growers are small businesses who may not otherwise have the resources to invest in this level of data collection and analysis.”

Read the full article at UMass Dartmouth

 

Monkfish are there- fishermen say the science is missing them

January 20, 2026 — If no one catches fish in the ocean, are they still there? Commercial fishermen say yes, but fisheries science has been saying otherwise.

The disconnect between what fishermen experience on the water and the information regulators use to manage stocks has always been a bugaboo, but it’s a particular problem when it comes to monkfish.

Since scientists can’t age monkfish, they tie the total allowable landings to an incomplete federal survey and fishermen’s landings over the last few years – which plummeted during COVID when the markets shut down.

When fishermen began targeting the ugly, yet delicious, big-mouthed fish again, they were faced with drastic cuts because the stock assessment model assumed there were less fish because landings were down.

Seeing the problem, Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance teamed up with School for Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth and commercial fishermen to use a competitive federal grant program to better incorporate fishermen’s effort into the stock assessment.

“Our goal for this project was to provide a way to expand the the stock assessment model to include fishing effort,” said Melissa Sanderson, chief operating office at Fishermen’s Alliance, who noted that local gillnet fishermen have told her that they are less likely to target monkfish when prices are low or when the skates clog up the nets excluding the monks.  “Because monkfish landings are low, the amount fishermen are allowed to harvest keeps going down.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

UMass: valuable independent science for region’s fisheries

May 19, 2025 — Anyone who doubts the value of having UMass Dartmouth’s Center for Marine Science and Technology in New Bedford should take a look at the situation developing in the scalloping industry.

Directly because of survey data collected by CMAST, government regulators are being forced to do some hard re-thinking of their plans to cut back even further on the number of fishing days scallopers are allowed. It’s not a moment too soon Unless something changes, next year the fishing limit will be down to 51 days from the current 121 days. Sebastian O’Kelly, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s new ombudsman, was in New Bedford for a visit this week and said, “It would be a substantial cutback if that goes into effect and will have a substantial impact on New Bedford, no question.”

Read the full article at South Coast Today

SMAST studies on wind and fisheries poised to begin

April 8, 2019 — Fisheries scientists at the UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology will begin a series of studies this spring to evaluate the effects of large-scale offshore wind farms on fish populations and habitat.

As part of an agreement with a wind farm developer, Vineyard Wind, SMAST scientists will monitor commercially fished species during construction of the company’s 84-turbine project south of Martha’s Vineyard. The school will also launch longer-term research to evaluate the regional fishery implications of offshore wind.

The research will begin later this spring, according to Vineyard Wind. SMAST has already conducted a Vineyard Wind-funded trial of video trawling in the wind energy area.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology Seeks Fisheries Input Via Public Workshops

November 6, 2018 — The following was released by Vineyard Wind:

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) will host four workshops with the region’s fishing industry to identify priorities for assessments of impacts on fisheries and ecological conditions that are associated with offshore wind development. These priorities, which focus on effects before, during and after construction, will be used to aid the design of studies of the Vineyard Wind project, which will be the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind project.

The SMAST studies, which are part of a collaborative agreement between the school and Vineyard Wind, seek to further public understanding about the effects of offshore wind development and inform future permitting and public policy decisions regarding wind energy facility siting. The fishing industry has raised important questions about the impacts of offshore wind development on the marine environment and on sea life. The comprehensive research effort by SMAST will help establish a robust body of knowledge to benefit the American offshore wind industry and the fishing community long after the first Vineyard Wind project is completed.

Information that is collected by SMAST will be publicly available to help inform future offshore wind permitting and public policy decisions.

SMAST’s scoping workshops for the fishing sector are scheduled as follows:

New Bedford, MA; Thursday, November 8th, 6-8 p.m.
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST)
836 South Rodney French Boulevard

Kingston, RI; Thursday, November 15th, 6-8 p.m.
Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island
East Farm Campus Building 61B URI

Chatham, MA; Monday, November 19th, 6-8 p.m.
Chatham Community Center
792 Main Street

West Tisbury, MA; Monday, December 3rd, 6-8 p.m.
West Tisbury Library
1042 State Road

Vineyard Wind was selected in May 2018 to negotiate long-term contracts with Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies (EDCs) for construction of an 800-megawatt (MW) wind farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard; these contracts have now been signed and are pending before the Department of Public Utilities for approval. Vineyard Wind remains on scheduleto begin on-shore construction in 2019 and become operational by 2021.

The Vineyard Wind project continues to move ahead with public and regulatory review through more than 25 federal, state, and local approval processes. These include Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (federal Environmental Impact Statement), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, Massachusetts DEP and CZM, the Cape Cod Commission and local conservation commissions.

MASSACHUSETTS: 50 people who met at SMAST believe they can change the fishing industry

May 25, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — About 50 people assembled inside a classroom at UMass Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology on Wednesday night.

They formed the first Ocean Cluster meetup, merging the worlds of fishing and Internet of Things.

Those in the room believed the collaboration, small at its inception, has the potential to revolutionize the industry.

“This night, while there are only 50 of us here, is exactly how this happens,” said Chris Rezendes of CONTEXT LABS, ImpactLABS and Spherical Analytics.

Those who spoke at the event included: Ed Anthes-Washburn and Eli Powell of the New Bedford Port Authority, Cassie Canastra of BASE New England and the Whaling City Display Auction, Mike Carroll of LegitFish, Jeff Young of Advanced Marine Technologies, Liz Wiley of Spherical Analytics and Kevin Stokesbury of SMAST.

Each discussed the importance data plays in their respective organization.

Canastra and Carroll are working together to allow the fish auction to include blockchain technology for fishermen and purchasers.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

‘The government is what created Carlos Rafael’

January 18, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Bill Straus saw the writing on the wall years ago.

In 2009 — eight years before Carlos Rafael went to prison — the representative of Bristol’s 10th District spoke out during the establishment of the current catch-share system in the Northeast fishery. And even with Rafael behind bars, Straus says the threat of another Codfather emerging is ever present.

“The risk is still there,” Straus said. “And that’s why what comes out of the different remedies is so important.”

NOAA defines catch shares as a portion of catch for a species that is allocated to individual fishermen or groups. Each holder of a catch share must stop fishing when his/her specific share of the quota is reached. It’s often also looked at as quota. Fishermen and organizations can buy and sell quota.

Like any industry, the largest organization buys the smaller entities, whether it’s Disney purchasing Fox, AT&T attempting to acquire Time Warner or Rafael acquiring more quota.

“Catch shares are complicated things; there’s pluses and minuses,” SMAST Professor Dan Georgianna said. “Almost every study of catch shares shows decline in employment.”

Straus echoed that in a letter to the editor published in 2009 and in a conversation with The Standard-Times on Wednesday.

“The system encourages one owner or permit holder to gobble up the permits, and that it really works to that effect in a stressed fishery like New England groundfish,” Straus said. “What Rafael was able to do was approach people who had tiny bits of shares, and say, ‘I’ll just take it off your hands because you can’t afford to be sending your boat off to get that tiny amount.’”

In buying permits from across the Northeast, Rafael became one of the biggest organizations on the East Coast, not only catching the fish but also using Carlos Seafood Inc. as the landing’s dealer, which masked the act of misreporting.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito: Massachusetts, SouthCoast working to ‘unleash’ region’s potential

November 17, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — For about eight hours Thursday, the SouthCoast replaced Boston as the state’s hub for Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito led the administration’s cabinet to the region beginning with an 8 a.m. stop at the SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting in Westport and ending with a ribbon cutting of the new refrigeration system at State Pier in New Bedford.

“This is an area of our state that has tremendous natural assets and has great leadership assets,” Polito said. “Together, state and local, we can work to catalyze private development to unleash even more potential.”

Polito also visited UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology, where she held a cabinet meeting, cut ribbon at the New Bedford Regional Airport and noted the progress of Noah’s Place Playground on Pope’s Island.

“I come away knowing that this area of the state should be a center for marine sciences,” Polito said. “And I believe that coupled with their manufacturing base, they can create a lot of opportunity right here locally.

So happy, so cold

Coats were required indoors as state Reps. Tony Cabral, Robert Koczera, Chris Markey and Bill Straus joined Polito in the refrigerated section of State Pier, which was filled with pallets of clementines.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times