PRESS ROOM
NERACOOS in the NEWS
NERACOOS has been making headlines. Read about how our ocean observing system supports maritime safety and security, coastal preparedness, and strong economies. Want more information on a NERACOOS project? Reach out to Brenda Darroch, Marketing Communications Manager with questions or to be added to our outreach list.
2026
- National Fishermen: From buoys to boats: Turning ocean data into tools for fishermen
NERACOOS coordinates a network of observations, models, data systems, and partnerships across New England’s coastal waters. Throughout its annual meeting, speakers repeatedly returned to one question: How can all of that information become more useful to the people making decisions on and around the water? For New England’s seafood industry, the answers ranged from familiar weather buoys to emerging environmental DNA technology, water-level sensors on working wharves, and better ways of getting information directly into fishermen’s hands. - National Fishermen: Keynote Mel Allen: Telling the stories of New England’s Seafood Industry
Mel Allen has written stories about fishermen and island communities, sardine packers and chefs, and people whose livelihoods disappeared as fisheries and working waterfronts changed around them. So when the former longtime editor of Yankee Magazine stood before a room filled with ocean scientists, researchers, and industry partners at the 2026 Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) Annual Meeting, he came with a message that was surprisingly simple. Tell people a story. - National Fishermen: NSF Awards $15M to Launch New England Seafood Engine
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced July 14 that the NSF Seafood Engine in New England has been selected for funding through the agency’s Regional Innovation Engines program. Led by the Portsmouth, N.H.-based Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS), the initiative brings together seafood industry leaders, researchers, government agencies and technology partners across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island to strengthen the U.S. seafood industry. - The Cape Cod Chronicle: Weather Buoy Aims To Boost Safety, Science
Knowing real-time sea conditions can help the town respond to storms and protect vulnerable areas like the Little Beach neighborhood and the access road to Morris and Stage Island. But more importantly, the data it collects is logged over time and provides a trove of information showing weather trends. In fact, creating this dataset was the reason Chatham sought to have such a buoy in the first place. - Eos: How to Accelerate Advances in Ecological Forecasting
Developing shared cyberinfrastructure can enhance predictions of ecological change and enable improved decisionmaking for resource management and public well-being.
2025
- Inside Climate News:
Officials warn that if regional Integrated Ocean Observing System readings go dark, coastal forecasts will become less precise, endangering commercial fishermen, cargo ships and coastal communities. - U.S. National Science Foundation:
15 finalists are advancing to the next stage of the program’s second competition. The finalist teams are led by a range of organizations, including universities, nonprofits and private industry from across the United States. - PMEL: Coastal Weather Buoy Enhancement
A research-enhanced weather buoy was deployed at 40.50°N 69.25°W for an expected observing period of one year. - The Westerly Sun: Webcam monitors shoreline change, beach usage in Westerly
A webcam has been installed to observe shoreline change and beach usage in Westerly. - WMTW: Buoys in the Gulf of Maine, the floating science labs that provide an inside look into our waters
Bobbing quietly on the waves, these high-tech buoys are the unsung heroes of Maine’s coast-gathering vital data every second to keep mariners safe in and along the water, to tracking changes within the Gulf of Maine. - Bar Harbor Story: Proposed Noaa Budget Cuts Could Affect Local Mariners
Mariners depend on weather data gathering and forecasting apps to plan their day, whether it be where to fish, where to take the tourists, how best to approach a harbor, or if they should just not go out on any given day, every day, because it is too dangerous. - Mainebiz: Lobstermen say modern data collection essential to support resource
More than 30 lobstermen told fisheries observers that modern data collection technology is needed to monitor the lobster resource and habitat, along with trends that might be affecting both. - Frontiers: Modeling the advective supply of Calanus finmarchicus to Stellwagen Bank as an indicator of sand lance foraging habitat, and the climate vulnerability of a National Marine Sanctuary
The northern sand lance, a key species in the food web supporting the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, feeds primarily on the lipid-rich copepod Calanus finmarchicus. Declines in C. finmarchicus abundance could adversely affect sand lance populations - Saco Bay News: Webcam installation in Saco enhances coastal monitoring
Scientists and interested community members can keep an eye on Saco’s coastline from their computer screen with the recent installation of two new webcams in Camp Ellis and Ferry Beach.
Research Papers
- Supporting coastal flood forecasting and community-led adaptation with tide gauges, community science and youth engagement
- Evaluating the validity of using sea surface temperature as an alternative to bottom temperature in American lobster habitat suitability modeling
- New Hampshire Coastal Flood Risk Summary, Part 1: Science
- Seasonal trophic controls drive population variability in a foundational marine copepod
