The Cooperative Research Branch has finalized a report describing a series of stakeholder engagement sessions held in August and September 2019. The report documents the major themes and topics that emerged from discussions with multiple regional stakeholders, and shapes the future direction for cooperative research in the Northeast. This year we are gearing up for the next step: cooperative research summits in the Mid-Atlantic and in New England to continue the conversation and expand on what we have learned.

A research track assessment for Red Hake Stock Structure will be peer reviewed from March 9-12. This assessment evaluates the biological stock structure for this species and the management units necessary to manage it. Management track assessments are also underway for Atlantic herring, Atlantic mackerel, butterfish, longfin squid, ocean quahog and Atlantic surfclam. The Assessment Oversight Panel met on February 25, 2020, and the assessments will be peer reviewed on June 22-26, 2020. The Assessment Oversight Panel for upcoming management track assessments for groundfish species, sea scallops, and Atlantic halibut will meet in May, and those assessments will be peer reviewed in September.

The Atlantic herring fishery has new at-sea monitoring coverage requirements for certain fishing vessels. Industry-funded monitoring establishes a 50 percent monitoring coverage target for at-sea monitoring aboard vessels with Category A or B herring permits using midwater trawl, bottom trawl, or purse seine gear on declared herring trips.

This report provides landings totals for both domestic recreational and commercial fisheries by species, and allows us to track important indicators such as annual seafood consumption and the productivity of top fishing ports. Here are just a few highlights for our region:

• For the 19th consecutive year, New Bedford was the top port by value at $431 million.
• Lobsters, grouped by species, were worth the most at $684 million.
• Out of 194 million saltwater recreational fishing trips, 67% of the trips occurred along the Atlantic coast.

The Maine Fishermen’s Forum is an annual gathering of commercial fishermen, gear suppliers, scientists, government representatives, and other stakeholders in the Northeast region. NOAA Fisheries staff participate in the forum to connect with industry and share information about Maine’s marine resources. They talk about how things like fishing regulations, climate change, offshore wind energy, and other factors might impact the day-to-day and long-term operations of the industry.

In February we released reports from an independent peer review of a scientific tool used to evaluate the risk of North Atlantic right whales getting entangled in fishing gear. The review panel, consisting of scientists from different research institutions, concluded that this tool provides a useful and open way for industry and managers to compare relative changes in entanglement risks for right whales under various scenarios.

Did you know we have a seal pupping season in New England? During this season, which runs from mid-December to early February, our scientists are busy working with colleagues to gather important information about seal abundance, distribution, and health from pups on Muskeget and Monomoy Islands off the southeastern Massachusetts coast. Our researchers have conducted these important studies for the past eight years.

To get an accurate estimate of how much fish is out there, we need to survey many different areas, including the more challenging rocky bottom habitats in the Gulf of Maine. This is where our Gulf of Maine Longline Survey comes into play. This survey uses a special sampling technique that gives scientists important information about the abundance and distribution of various fish species living in areas that are less studied and harder to reach with trawl gear.

Underwater technology is helping us find whales even when they can’t be seen. Two passive acoustic data collection efforts are underway in the Gulf of Maine to gather information on North Atlantic right whales. One will deploy fixed archival-acoustic recorders mounted on the ocean bottom for a specific period of time. The other will use autonomous underwater vehicles called gliders, equipped to record acoustic information and report it back in near real-time.

Our seal capture operations shifted 250 miles north of Cape Cod and the Islands to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Northeast’s Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge, a 65-acre island 22 miles off the shores of Rockland, Maine. The island hosts the largest gray seal pupping colony in Maine and the third largest in the United States. Our seal scientists and their colleagues are hoping to compare movement patterns and health conditions of gray seals in Maine with those of gray seals off Massachusetts, but first, they had a rescue on their hands.

Originally from Ohio, Kwanza came to Woods Hole back in 2016 through the Woods Hole Partnership Education Program (PEP). Kwanza now serves as our Academic Programs coordinator—helping to organize, plan, manage and develop center-wide student programs that focus on bringing students, particularly from underrepresented communities, into NOAA sciences.

February 11 was #WomenInScienceDay and we gave a very special #WhaleWeek shout out to our whale research women! These ladies take to the air and sea—above and below the sea—to better understand the biology and ecology of whales in our region. Meet a few of our #WomenInScience rockstars!

Did you see our Whale Week wallpapers? Spruce up your digital devices with five different incredible whale images. Wallpapers are sized for most iPhone, Android, computers, and Facebook banners. Now, we realize it may be hard to decide which wallpaper to download, overwhaleming even. No worries, just flipper a coin!

The official 2020 cutest couple at our Woods Hole Science Aquarium are our seahorses. It was a thrilling neck-and-neck race, but in the end seahorses took the lead with 42% of the votes on Facebook and Twitter! If you come to Cape Cod, be sure to see our #WHSACutestCouple. Science Aquarium hours of operation are Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed all federal holidays.