In The News | January 2026

Shrimp fishery remains closed

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission shrimp board voted in December to extend the shutdown of the Northern shrimp fishery. The fishery was first closed in 2014. Maine fishermen once caught millions of pounds of small pink shrimp in the winter. Rising temperatures in the Gulf of Maine caused the shrimp, which are at the southern limit of their range, to drop is too low to fish sustainably. Shrimp abundance remained “poor” this year despite slightly improved environmental conditions. The decision came after shrimp harvesters Maine and Massachusetts were allowed to shrimp last winter as part of an industry-funded sampling and data collection program. The fishermen caught only 70 shrimp totaling less than three pounds.

A true long distance traveler

A right whale last seen in Donegal Bay Ireland in the summer of 2024 traveled 3,000 to Cape Cod Bay and was spotted by scientists during an aerial survey in November. It appears to be the first documented case of a whale initially sighted in the eastern North Atlantic and later resurfacing off the U.S. Scientists said the new discovery could suggest that historical habitats for the North Atlantic right whale may still be important as feeding grounds change due to climate change. “Seeing a whale photographed in Ireland reappear off Boston is extraordinary,” said Dr. Daniel Palacios, director of the Right Whale Ecology Program at the CCS. “Encounters like this highlight both their resilience and the importance of international cooperation to support their recovery.”

New white shark web site unveiled

The Highly Migratory Species program at the Department of Marine Resources recently published a new interactive webpage – the White Shark Data Portal. Through this tool, members of the public can learn about the ways in which state scientists are tracking white sharks and see where scientists have observed white sharks along the Maine coastline. The webpage also provides information about shark safety, and how anyone can help to improve understanding of shark presence in Maine by reporting seal predations. To get started, visit mainedmr.shinyapps.io/IWSM/, or go to the Department’s Highly Migratory Species website (maine.gov/dmr/science/ecology-environment/hms-research) to learn about this and our other shark and tuna research.

UMaine student develops way to track deadly algae

University of Maine graduate student Sydney Greenlee, alongside researchers Robin Sleith and Peter Countway from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, have developed a faster, more accurate way to detect a toxic species of algae known as Pseudo-nitzschia australis. In 2016, the algae bloomed along the East Coast for the first time. Its neurotoxin contaminates shellfish, causing amnesic shellfish poisoning in humans. It can be deadly to people and cause aggressive behavior in marine mammals. Shellfish farms from the Bay of Fundy to Rhode Island halted harvesting for weeks and recalled products. The team uses eDNA to quickly identify P. australis in water samples. With the new methods, water can be tested more often and with a quicker turnaround time for results.

Trump administration freezes five East Coast offshore wind projects

In late December the Trump administration paused the leases for five wind farms under construction off the East Coast. Citing unspecified national security concerns, the Trump administration said it would freeze those leases, effectively blocking construction or operations and jeopardizing billions of dollars that have already been invested. Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior, said in a statement that “the prime duty of the United States government is to

Two Dominion Wind turbines off Virginia

protect the American people.”

He said the decision “addresses emerging national security risks as well as “vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our East Coast population centers."

In a letter to the wind farm developers, Matthew Giacona, the acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, declined to explain the national security concern but wrote that the danger posed by the projects could only be averted by suspending them.