Our economists found that approved offshore wind lease areas in our region, as configured through September 2023, are expected to have relatively small impacts on the sea scallop fishery. The study suggests that the lease approval process was predominately adaptive in reducing the potential impacts. It also identifies some caveats regarding reduced options for fishing in and around wind energy areas, displacement of effort, and impact on costs and revenues. 

44th Milford Aquaculture Seminar a Success

150 members of the Northeast aquaculture community gathered in Shelton, Connecticut, from January 13–15 for the 44th Milford Aquaculture Seminar. The conference included a diverse group of aquaculture industry members, academic researchers and students, professionals from local, state and federal agencies, and representatives from non-profit organizations. At least 17 aquaculture companies were represented along with 24 students from high school to graduate school. The seminar began in 1975 as a forum for technology transfer. Held every January, it will next occur in conjunction with the 2026 Northeast Aquaculture Conference and Expo in Portland, Maine.

New Pinniped Distribution Query Tool

A new Pinniped Distribution Query Tool provides an interactive platform for users to query and download results from our harbor and gray seal surveys. Our seal research program has spent decades working with their partners to monitor the abundance and distribution of both populations in U.S. waters. The new tool highlights seal haul-out and pupping sites, as well as counts or estimates of abundance from various surveys in coastal Maine and Massachusetts. 

New Exhibit Highlights New Bedford’s Immigrant Fishing Communities 

Planning to visit Massachusetts’ South Coast soon? Then be sure to check out New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center’s exhibit “Casting a Wider Net.” It shares stories from immigrant communities that are integral to New Bedford’s commercial fishing industry. Visitors can hear interviews with Cape Verdean, Vietnamese, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran members of New Bedford’s working waterfront. The exhibit also includes videos, photographs, and quotes from oral history interviews. We’re proud to contribute funding and support for this exhibit because it helps us to learn first hand about the unique lives of immigrant populations living and working in our regional fishing communities. Oral histories like these can also help inform fisheries science and management. This exhibit is a great example of research and data collection that enriches and empowers local and underrecognized communities. Their voices and access to the data will be available for generations to come. Exhibit content will become part of the Heritage Center’s archive and NOAA’s Voices Oral History Archives.  

Our Apex Predators Program has wrapped up their first year of blue shark tagging. The goal of this project is to better understand the movement ecology of blue sharks in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean. Some of the highlights in 2024 include:

• 2,200 conventional tags deployed by recreational anglers
• 5 satellite tags deployed by research collaborators
• 17 recaptures reported so far
• Longest distance traveled: 617 nautical miles in 21 days

We thank our seven U.K. scientific and angling organization partners, the international body that manages these sharks, and all the recreational fishers for making this project a success!

Sharks in our region are more likely to wash ashore during winter. If you see a stranded shark, please take a few photos and report it  by calling 401-782-3281. Details on what kinds of information to report can be found here. Scientists from our Apex Predators Program collect important data and biological samples from reported sharks that help us better understand shark biology and ecology.

The latest Current Conditions report is live! These biannual reports are led by our science center and use data collected during seasonal scientific surveys and from other data sources to help show changes and trends in the Northeast U.S. continental shelf ecosystem. The fall report focuses on the first half of 2024 and includes sections on temperature, spring thermal day transition, and chlorophyll concentration.

Internship applications for the Diadromous Ecosystem Research Program are now being accepted! This joint program with Maine Sea Grant helps undergraduates gain experience in fisheries science. Students will be based at one of several mentor locations in Maine, including the University of Maine Orono and Maine Department of Marine Resources offices in Augusta, Bangor, and Jonesboro. The anticipated start date is May 12, 2025, with the positions running 12 weeks. Applications are due February 28, 2025.

A new blog from fish biologist and eDNA program lead Yuan Liu dives into how she uses eDNA side-by-side with passive acoustic monitoring technologies to track marine life in our region. In her blog she talks about teaming up with other scientists in our Passive Acoustics Branch to collect samples during the deployment and retrieval of passive acoustic devices in the Southern New England Wind Energy Area. They started this work in September 2023 and Yuan and others have been going out with the passive acoustic monitoring team every 5 months ever

2024 Wrapped!

We created and promoted a variety of digital content this year. We also launched a joint Instagram account with our Regional Office. Check out the content that resonated with you most.

We created 22 feature stories. The top three: 

• 2024 paper snowflake template designs
• Uncrewed vehicles hold promise for ocean data
• Oyster nutrient calculator

Our scientists and staff wrote 32 blogs. The top three: 

• Delicious Draw of Hudson Canyon
• Continuing to Follow Fenway—Her Southern Journey and New Calf
• Observing—Not Your Typical Job 

Want to see our favorite photos taken by our bloggers? Check out our 2024 blog photo gallery! We also created six new photo galleries highlighting a few of our surveys and our Woods Hole Science Aquarium.

Here’s our top Instagram photo (marine species “Elf on a Shelf”) and video (clam survey’s Ice Age find) in 2024.

On January 12 and 13, 2025 a New England Aquarium aerial survey detected more than 75 North Atlantic right whales in the vicinity of Jeffreys Ledge in the Gulf of Maine. This represents about 20 percent of all known individuals in one small area off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. In December 2024, right whales were detected in the Gulf of Maine by a slocum glider operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. These gliders are equipped with passive acoustic sensors to listen for whales. 

We and our partners use a variety of methods to detect right whales along the entire East Coast, including airplanes, passive acoustic moorings, shipboard observations, and uncrewed systems. This information is displayed on WhaleMap—a public website dedicated to communicating the latest whale detections to a broad range of interested parties. 

Many right whale detections trigger short-term voluntary slow zones for vessels in the area. This type of dynamic management, albeit voluntary, helps prevent vessel strikes and is made possible by the growing network of right whale detection efforts. This type of dynamic management can protect and recover right whales while reducing the impact of management actions on ocean users to the maximum extent possible.

Our intent, and the intent of NOAA Fisheries, is to continue using and developing technological solutions to support more dynamic and adaptive management options.