The 2025 State of the Ecosystem Reports are now available. They synthesize the ecological, oceanographic, and socioeconomic aspects of the Georges Bank, Gulf of Maine, and Mid-Atlantic Bight ecosystems as they relate to fishery management objectives. The reports highlight that the oceanographic conditions in 2024 were very different from previous years. They also highlight insights from the fishing community about unusual fishing conditions they experienced, including:

• Low abundance of some species in traditional fishing areas
• Observations of some species outside normal fishing grounds and in higher        abundances 
• Later than normal migrations into fishing areas, resulting in delayed fishing

Want to hear more about the reports and their findings? Tune in May 28, at 1p.m. ET, to hear data analyst Brandon Beltz’s overview webinar.

Stock Assessment Schedule Revised

We’ve been working with the Northeast Region Coordinating Council to revise and streamline the 2025 stock assessment schedule. The Council moved the Atlantic mackerel assessment from June to September 2025 and reduced the scope of several stocks planned for the September management track. The Council also paused work on the winter flounder, monkfish, and projections research track assessments. The management track community input session originally scheduled for May 21 has been cancelled.

Visit Us at Ocean Fun Days

Join us and others on May 18 at the Sandy Hook—Gateway National Recreation Area for New Jersey’s Ocean Fun Days. This annual event celebrates ocean discovery, stewardship, and energy conservation. There will be eco-tours, seining, crab races, face painting, scavenger hunts, and more. Come talk with our James J. Howard Marine Sciences Lab scientists and staff to learn about fisheries observers, our research on the effects of changing ocean conditions on lobsters, and make your own molecular models to take home. Learn how scientists disentangle whales and meet local fish and invertebrates at the Marine Academy of Science & Technology’s touch tank. This event is hosted by New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and New Jersey Natural Gas.

Preliminary eDNA Work Shows Interesting Pattern

Fish and other marine life shed DNA into the surrounding environment, making it possible to detect them without actually seeing them. Yet, few studies use environmental DNA—eDNA—techniques to detect marine life in offshore environments. Scientists at our Science Center have been analyzing eDNA from water samples collected during resource surveys across the entire continental shelf, from shallow, nearshore waters to deeper, offshore waters. Preliminary data show that species richness—the number of different species in an area—declined with distance from the coastline. That means they detected more fish species closer to the coast and fewer farther offshore. This is an interesting discovery because while it’s believed coastal environments are more species rich than offshore environments, it’s challenging to prove that using traditional capture-based survey methods. Environmental DNA demonstrates this species richness pattern clearly. By incorporating eDNA techniques, NOAA can conduct resource surveys more efficiently and economically.

Black Sea Bass Overwintering Research

Black sea bass are an economically important species found along the East Coast. Their range has been shifting northward in recent years. In the mid-Atlantic, this federally-managed species migrates seasonally as water temperatures change. They move offshore and south in the fall and return north to coastal areas and bays in spring. Scientists need to know how resilient adult black sea bass are to cold winter temperatures to improve stock assessment models and better manage the species. Using our Howard Lab’s recirculating aquaculture systems, our scientists studied the physiological effects of exposing black sea bass to their lowest known thermal tolerance. They found adult black sea bass to be more resilient to very cold temperatures than previously reported for younger fish. This suggests that more adult black sea bass may survive cold mid-Atlantic winter water temperatures than previously understood.

New Sights and Scenes from the Fall Bottom Trawl Survey

We’ve created a new Bottom Trawl Survey photo gallery for 2025. These photos capture some of the amazing fish and invertebrates in our region, survey operations, scientists, crew, and more. This survey is one of several comprehensive surveys that help us better understand the interactions between the environment, marine life, and people living and working in our region. It helps us monitor fishery stock abundance and distribution on the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf, from the Scotian Shelf off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, to Cape Lookout, North Carolina.

We value partnership and during times of change, partnerships are even more essential. One of the main goals of the Magnuson–Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation Act is to ensure the long-term biological and economic sustainability of the Nation's fisheries. Achieving this goal truly depends on partnership among science, management, and the fishing industry, including the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, fishermen, fishing businesses, the academic community, the environmental community, and others.

One way we’ve been working with our partners to ensure the sustainability of our Nation’s fisheries is the revision in the 2025 stock assessment schedule coordinated through the Northeast Region Coordinating Council. Another example is the most recent Northeast Cooperative Research Summit held in January 2025. The summit provides an opportunity to cultivate meaningful partnerships with fishermen, scientists, and managers. Together we discuss recent collaborative research projects, facilitate regional coordination, collect better data, and develop stronger markets. One more example is the development of the Recreational Demand Model. This supports recreational fishery management in our region. 

Building and maintaining partnerships requires communication, mutual respect, and trust. We will continue to work on these elements of partnership while working toward the goals of the Magnuson–Stevens Act.