Survey for South of the Vineyard Recreational Fishermen

Vineyard Wind and the New England Aquarium Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life are partnering to document the presence of highly migratory species (HMS) and HMS recreational fisheries in the southern New England wind energy lease areas. 

Do you fish offshore for highly migratory species (HMS) such as tuna, sharks, marlin, mahi, wahoo, etc, in southern New England from Montauk to Nantucket?  To better understand how recreational fishing for HMS may be impacted by offshore wind development, the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium has developed an online survey to quantify the nature and extent of recreational fishing effort for HMS that occurs in this region. 

If you’ve fished for HMS in southern New England over the past 5 years and have 2 to 5 minutes to spare, please consider following the below link to take the survey.

About:

Dr. Jeff Kneebone will lead the project and work with colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Maine, NOAA Fisheries HMS Management Division as well as representatives from the recreational fishing community to perform the work from June – December, 2019.

Project synopsis

The offshore waters off southern New England have long supported populations of HMS, including tunas, billfish, and sharks, and extensive recreational fisheries that target them. With the recent prospect of wind energy development in southern New England, there has been considerable effort put into addressing the potential impact of wind infrastructure development on fish species and the local fisheries that target them. However, alarmingly little attention has been paid to the potential impacts on HMS and recreational HMS fisheries. To address this knowledge gap, the objectives of this study are to mine existing fisheries-dependent data and engage with key members of the recreational HMS fishing community to document the presence of HMS and HMS recreational fisheries in the southern New England wind energy areas in both space and time. Through extensive outreach with key members of the HMS recreational fishing community in southern New England, information will be collected on past and current fishing activity in the wind energy lease areas, and mechanisms will be established to monitor recreational fishing effort during and after the construction activities. Deliverables will include maps of HMS distribution and recreational fishing effort, and testimonials from HMS fishermen.

For more information on the project or to become involved, please contact Jeff Kneebone: jkneebone@neaq.org.