Black Sea Bass Research

In recent decades, black sea bass populations have surged off the coast of Southern New England, likely related to climate change. This resulted in data gaps for the fishery, so the Black Sea Bass Research Fleet was established in 2016 by the CFRF and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to help fill in these gaps. This project partners with fishermen to collect important data on black sea bass in Southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic region. Participant fishermen collect data at sea during commercial fishing activities using the CFRF’s custom-designed tablet application, On Deck Data. The data is being used to characterize the composition of discarded and landed black sea bass and to improve the stock assessment for this species.