Shark researcher Michelle Passerotti led a small but persistent crew for just over 40 days in April and May to tag and track sharks in coastal waters from Florida to South Carolina. They tagged just over 1,700 sharks with conventional, acoustic, or satellite tags. The catch was dominated by sandbar sharks but in all, they encountered 11 species. Weather was a challenge, but they gathered significant data nonetheless. Our Large Coastal Shark Bottom Longline Survey occurs every two to three years. The survey samples coastal sharks just prior to their northward migration along the coast, beginning in early to mid-April and ending around Memorial Day. Over time, weather delays have been more of a factor, resulting in fewer completed stations.

Biologist and ace shellfish ager Sandy Sutherland recently paid a visit to Dale Parsons’ shellfish farm in Tuckerton, New Jersey, to see a shellfish farm in action. Staff at our Milford Lab are helping Dale figure out if his clams might grow faster. Sandy was called in to establish just how fast they are growing, so she decided to have a closer look at the operation. Dale raises Northern quahogs and Eastern oysters on 20 leased acres in Barnegat Bay and owns a seafood market on Tuckerton Creek. At the farm, Sutherland culled oysters, visited a shellfish nursery, and learned about the challenges facing the shellfish farming industry and how science can help.

After our initial success with the pilot survey this spring, NOAA Fisheries and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission are extending it. We are seeking proposals from vessels to conduct similar work this fall and in spring 2025. The deadline for applications to ASMFC is August 5. Visit their site for more details.

Areas developed for offshore wind farms will be difficult or impossible to survey using towed gear such as trawls. To address this challenge, the pilot hook-and-line survey will continue to gather information on how this type of gear can be safely deployed in close proximity to offshore wind turbines and in other untowable habitats.

Fenway is an endangered female North Atlantic right whale who is at least 28 years old. We’ve been sharing a little about her movements and migrations through a series of blogs written by our marine mammal scientists. Last month, marine mammal observer Alison Ogilvie and others spotted Fenway and her calf in the feeding grounds in Canada during their aerial surveys. Read Alison’s latest blog to learn all about Fenway and her calf’s latest activities!

A report is now out that documents presentations and discussions at the On-Demand Interoperability Workshop, which was held last fall. Participants focused on the technical components of on-demand (“ropeless”) gear systems and discussed future steps for implementing on-demand (“ropeless”) fishing. This report summarizes ways to reliably deploy, retrieve, and avoid on-demand gear while on the water. This is key to making these systems usable in regular fishing operations and allowing fishermen to access areas closed to fishing to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The 2024 Spring Ecosystem Monitoring Survey completed nearly 80 percent of its planned research activities. A summary of the cruise is now available. The survey traces its history back to 1977, collecting nearly 50 years of data on the oceanographic and seawater conditions as well as plankton and larval fish on the continental shelf off the Northeast U.S. Among the highlights of this spring’s cruise were a leaping basking shark and a pilot whale escort. See more photos from this year’s EcoMon surveys.

Mark your calendar for the Woods Hole Science Stroll, an annual outdoor open house featuring marine science institutions located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts—including our center’s Woods Hole Laboratory. Visitors learn about the big science that goes on in this small village on Cape Cod. Exhibits and demonstrations are arrayed all along the main street and waterfront park, from the Post Office to our laboratory. Nearly 20 entities will participate, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Chicago Marine Biological Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey, Woodwell Climate Research Center, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

During the summer, more people are on the water and have a chance to observe the large whales that occur off our coast. That includes endangered North Atlantic right whales, a species that is approaching extinction. At our science center, we are finding new ways to track the numbers and health of right whales. Here’s a brief overview of how our science makes major contributions to the nation’s mission to conserve and recover these rare animals:

• Aerial surveys are a key part of how we monitor the species. Large numbers of right whales have been observed by our team off of New York in recent weeks. These observations as well as those made by other researchers and citizens in the region are available through WhaleMap, an interactive website where you can plot sightings by year, detection method, and species.
• Working with a number of partners we are building out a pilot passive acoustic monitoring network, detecting animals by listening for the calls they make. These data are displayed on another interactive website, the Passive Acoustic Cetacean Monitoring Map. 
• We are conducting research to develop new technologies to improve right whale detection. These include tagging and very high resolution satellite imagery. 
• We are improving right whale distribution models, and plan to update the assessments of right whale population numbers in the fall. 
• Our work with on-demand gear development continues. We have described the results of the 2023 and 2024 experimental fisheries in closed areas. We just released the Interoperability Workshop Report, documenting progress toward technologies and standards needed to implement “ropeless” fishing, which could significantly reduce entanglement risks for these whales.

Multiple NOAA Fisheries offices are working together to improve prospects for North Atlantic right whales, and I am proud of our center’s ongoing contributions to this effort.