Anglers give nod to NOAA for reaching out

NOAA Fisheries reached out to anglers with a New England Recreational Fishing Roundtable earlier this month at the Providence Hilton Hotel and online.
The purpose of the meeting was to share updates from NOAA on steps taken to implement key components of their national recreational fishing policy and New England regional implementation plan. They also updated anglers on the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) that estimates angler catch and effort which in part is used along with stock assessments to establish annual recreational harvest limits.
Members of the fishing community appreciated the opportunity to comment and ask questions on a variety of issues in addition to agenda items. Members attending included fishing association leaders from the RI Saltwater Anglers Association, Connecticut Surfcasters, the Cape Cod Salties and a good representation from charter boat associations in CT, MA, ME and RI.
Highlights from my perspective were as follows:
Develop an engagement list for the recreational fishing community and its leaders on the programs, initiatives, committees, etc. that they can help with garnering their input to help implement regional plans. Opportunities to serve or participate may include comments at hearings, comment letters, meeting with committees or individual council leaders, advisory panels and oversight committees.
MRIP challenges were highlighted by most anglers at the Roundtable. Anglers collectively felt NOAA has done a poor job of estimating angler catch and effort (highlighted by a 30 percent over estimate found two years ago). However, identification of effort survey challenges and pilot study initiatives to explore how to correct it were seen as a positive.
Anglers expressed a desire to help facilitate the use of additional data to supplement MRIP data. Additional data such as surveys and studies conducted by States as well as electronic data from smartphone applications. Anglers called on NOAA to establish data standards for smartphone applications so data from multiple applications can be used as supplemental data.
Climate impacts on recreational fishing. The need for better recreational data was seen as paramount to get a handle on the exponential impacts of warming water on forage, the fish anglers target and habitat.
Anglers sighted the departure of cold water fish like winter flounder and American lobster and the arrival of abundant scup, black sea bass and summer flounder… the arrival of robust and abundant bait profiles attracting large animals closer to shore such as whales, abundant sharks, dolphin and tuna. Additionally, the arrival of exotic warm water fish such as cobia, mahi, tarpon and wahoo.
Growing fish to abundance was a key angler message at the meeting. The more fish in the water to catch the better. Anglers noted the value of recreational fishing is high and its vitality relies heavily on fish abundance. No substantive programs in the regional plan focus on fish abundance, however, there are programs to enhance extraction.
Ecosystem-based fishery management and forage fish. Anglers expressed the need to facilitate ecosystem-based fishery management, sighting the reliance and importance of forage fish to the fish anglers catch, eat and release i.e., Atlantic menhaden and herring vitally important to striped bass, bluefish, tuna and other fish targeted by anglers.
East Coast Scenario planning integration into plans and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) New England Fishery Management Council projects were also seen as input opportunities for anglers.
In summary, anglers felt that more needs to be done to engage them and their leaders on the programs, initiatives, policies and committees that are working through NOAA’s regional office and the New England Fishery Management Council. The hope is that NOAA and the New England Fishery Management Council will continue to cultivate ways to effectively communicate on above issues with recreational fishing leaders.

Great white at least 10,000 years old
Jon Dodd, Executive Director of the Atlantic Shark Institute (ASI), said, “Remarkably, a second fossilized great white shark tooth has washed up on Narragansett Town Beach in RI. It happened earlier this summer in what was thought to be a one in a million event. However, it has happened again which is both exciting and thought provoking.”
“We’ve never been asked to assess a tooth that size from RI waters, never mind two in matter of months,” he added. “Remarkably, it was determined that the new tooth found by Carline Shields of South Kingstown was also a fossilized great white tooth. “
Once again, the assessment by Dr. Moyer and the ASI confirmed the species, with an age range from 10,000 years to millions of years old. The size of the shark was estimated to be 18-20 feet in length.

Where’s the bite?”
Striped bass, bluefish, bonito. Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown, said, “This past week bass were still being caught off the beach and in the back of the ponds. The numbers are way down and it seems that most fish are school bass. Still fun and can be plentiful in the beach wash. Using a bucktail with a teaser above it is one of our favorite rigs to use this time of year.”
Vincent Castaldi of Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown, said, “We still have mackerel and bonito popping up with some striped bass and bluefish still being caught.”
Tautog. Capt. Frank Blount of the Francis Fleet said, “Tautog fish has been great before all this wind when we were able to get out. Customers were catching cod too, fairly regularly when fishing for tautog .” “Tautog and cod fishing are still good when anglers are able to get out and fish,” said O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle.
“The shore bite for tautog has slowed but angers on boats are still catching fish in 30 to 80 feet of water,” said Castaldi of Quaker Lane.
Bluefin tuna. The bluefin tuna bite was good last week around Block Island, which was a real treat for anglers this time of year. O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, said, “We heard of some exciting tuna opportunity’s this week very close to Block Island, neat to hear of them still in the water and feeding aggressively.”
“The squid bite picked up a lot this week with a strong bite at Goat Island in Newport,” said Cataldi of Quaker Lane.
Freshwater fishing. “If you are interested in trout, Silver Spring Lake has been outstanding for customers and the largemouth bass bite has been very good at Ryan’s Park along with pickerel,” said Castaldi of Quaker Lane. Trout stocking locations in Massachusetts are updated daily, visit Trout stocking report | Mass.gov for an interactive map. Visit www.dem.ri.gov/fishing for ponds stocked in RI.
Dave Monti holds a master captain’s license and charter fishing license. He serves on a variety of boards and commissions and has a consulting business focusing on clean oceans, habitat preservation, conservation, renewable energy, and fisheries related issues and clients. Forward fishing news and photos to dmontifish@verison.net or visit www.noflukefishing.com.