In 2024, we mark the 61st year of our Fall Bottom Trawl Survey, the longest running survey of its kind in the world. On November 12, Northeast Fisheries Science Center staff finished the 2024 Fall Bottom Trawl Survey aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. They conducted resource survey tows and temperature and salinity sampling at 371 of 377 planned stations (98 percent completion). They sampled for plankton at 115 of 116 planned stations (99 percent completion).

Cooperative Research Branch Completes 2024 Fall Bottom Longline Survey

Our Cooperative Research Branch completed its 11th year of the Gulf of Maine Cooperative Bottom Longline Survey. This annual survey collects data on the abundance and distribution of groundfish and other species. Two commercial fishing vessels surveyed 45 stations across the Gulf of Maine.

The data collected will be used to inform stock assessments and other fisheries management decisions. It will also be used to study the long-term trends in fish populations and ecosystem dynamics. Starting in mid-October and completed at the end of November, this year's fall survey trips were often delayed due to unfavorable wind and sea conditions.

Second Season of the Pilot Hook-and-Line Survey Completed

The Cooperative Research Branch’s Pilot Hook-and-Line Survey team and industry partners wrapped up a successful fall season in early November. Our scientists collaborated with five fishing vessels based out of ports stretching from Point Judith, Rhode Island, to Virginia Beach, Virginia, to sample 134 stations using automated jigging machines, traditional hook and line gear, and a stereo video camera system. This first successful fall season incorporated adjustments to protocol and operational improvements based on the results of the inaugural spring season. The Pilot Hook-and-Line Survey collects biological and environmental data while operating in areas where surveys conducted with trawl gear would be difficult or impossible, including at offshore wind farms.

Working Group Members Sought for Monkfish and Projections

Our science center is looking for new members to participate in two research track stock assessment working groups in 2027: Monkfish and Projections. Applications are due December 20, 2024. Ideally, we’re looking for 6-8 members. Selections will be based on the candidate's overall expertise and ability to contribute to one or more of the Terms of Reference. We want balance in the working group to address the high-priority Terms of Reference identified by the Northeast Region Coordinating Council.

In November, members of the National Observer Program Advisory Team gathered for their biannual meeting in Santa Cruz, California. The team visited Greg Wells, Gear Innovations Manager at the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, who shared insights on their work with on-demand gear in West Coast fisheries. The advisory team, which represents 18 observer programs across five regions, includes members from regional observer programs, NOAA Fisheries offices and the U.S. Coast Guard. The visit focused on sharing on-demand gear initiatives, lessons learned, and strengthening relationships across regions.

Holidays got you feeling crafty? Enjoy an all new set of paper snowflake templates inspired by the ocean and celebrate these four Woods Hole Science Aquarium residents:

• Black sea bass
• Northern sea robin
• Planehead filefish
• Short big-eye

Decorate your walls, windows, ceiling, holiday tree, and even your holiday cakes with these four designs. Want to create your own snowflake? We’ve got you! There’s a blank template for you to create your own. Happy cutting!

On November 21, scientists from our Milford Lab and Connecticut Sea Grant held a virtual workshop about the new Aquaculture Nitrogen Removal Calculator. The recorded webinar is now available on YouTube. The scientists who built the calculator shared how they developed the tool to estimate the ecosystem services provided by oyster aquaculture and demonstrated how to use it. They led an interactive discussion and answered questions about the tool.

Marine mammal observer Alison Ogilvie shares her most memorable highlights from this year’s North Atlantic Right Whale Shipboard Survey, including muddy right whales in the Bay of Fundy, abundant plankton samples, and a mom named Dog-ear with her 2024 calf. The goal of the survey is to collect important data on the endangered whales, including monitoring the population, conducting behavior and health assessments, taking biopsies for genetics and health metrics, studying their movements, and sampling prey density. The survey returned to port with hard drives full of images and data, frozen biopsy samples, and so much plankton they ran out of jars to hold it all.

In her blog, field scientist Maura Flynn tackles the challenges of working at sea during the fall Gulf of Maine Bottom Longline Survey. While her highlights include sunrises and sunsets, sightings of common dolphins that frequently visit commercial vessels, and shades of blue that you simply will not see on land, she acknowledges there are less glamorous parts of the job, too. Fall in the Northeast can bring high winds, challenging sea conditions and frosty wind chills. Despite the sometimes bumpy ride, she finds it rewarding to work at sea and collect data needed to understand the health of our fish stocks.

During 2024, I have seen a lot of science, and I have talked to a lot of people about their perspectives on science. Reflecting on these experiences, it is clear to me that our work is more important than ever to sustaining our marine resources.

Here’s a great example, and one of 2024’s most striking pieces of science from my perspective. It is a plot of sea surface temperature from the 2024 State of the Ecosystem Report (Figure 31). It shows annual sea surface temperature in the Northeast U.S. Shelf Ecosystem from 1854-2023.

What I find most striking are the temperatures from 2012 to 2023. The 2012 “Ocean Heat Wave” was marked as an exceptional event at the time (see Mills et al. 2013), affecting the distribution and abundance of many species on the Northeast U.S. Shelf.

However, this figure also shows that this exceptional event was repeated in 2016 and 2021. Further, the years 2015, 2017, 2020, 2022, and 2023 were not quite as warm as 2012, 2016, and 2021, but were warmer than any year since 1955. Finally, we see that all years since 2010 have been above the long-term increasing trend in temperature (the yellow-orange line). No period in the past is similar—the closest is 1942–1954.

Temperature has an enormous effect on marine species and these warming waters are changing marine species and ecosystems rapidly. The impacts of these changes will be substantial.

The science that we conduct helps ensure the nation’s fisheries and aquaculture are sustainable, and that protected species and important marine habitats are conserved. Thus in 2025, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will continue improving our science and providing it to managers to help all of us adapt to the rapidly changing Atlantic Ocean.