Marine Fisheries Field Research Group

08/18/2026

Wondering what *just some* of our summer days look like? We have been booked and busy in the field!

Not pictured: endless hours behind the computer digitizing, image checking, data entry, long days of data analysis, days behind the microscope sorting larvae, to keep these projects going!!

08/18/2026

At UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAS...

08/12/2026

Will we see you at Scallopalooza?! We hope so! SMAST will host a table and come check out all the activities!!!

07/29/2026

A bittersweet farewell and see you soon to Capt. Dr. Nick Calabrese! After eleven years in the lab, Nick is transitioning to NOAA as a Fish Biologist – Surveyor in the Advanced Technologies Group. Nick started as a digitizer in the lab, earned his masters, became a technician and ran the groundfish program, and graduated with his PhD all during his time here! Not to forget, he is the office prankster. We will miss his advice for gear and survey design across all projects, stories about reeling in giants, and his sense of humor. Nick is a joy to work with and we can’t wait to see the growth in the rest of his career.

Congratulations Nick! Sea you soon!

07/17/2026

Summer is in full swing! We snapped this pic at the start of summer before everyone was out in the field, deep into digitizing scallop images, processing larval samples, and more! We have a stellar group this summer including our summer hires, and Blue Economy and New Bedford High School interns (not pictured)!

Like this post if you're having a great summer!

07/17/2026

Check out SMAST feature in "Built on Cod" featured at the Tall Ships in Boston!! Nick Calabrese speaks about the collaborative nature of SMAST with the fishing industry and for our open codend video trawl survey.

Dir.: T.S. Pfeffer Prod.: Jennifer Blake Fitch, Mike Carroll, Robert Nagle Boston Fisheries Museum: The Boston Fisheries Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and organizing New England’s fishing history—directly from fishermen, families, and communities. For more information, please vi...

05/05/2026

🚨New paper alert! 📝 Check out this work published in the Journal of Visualized Experiments by our groundfish team. Optical trawl surveys offer a non-invasive method of sampling groundfish populations and provide finer-scale data than traditional trawl surveys. This article provides a generalized procedure for an optical trawl survey of groundfish in New England. Cameras and lights were mounted within the codend of a modified commercial trawl to record fish as they passed through the open net.
You can check the paper on our website and the video is coming soon…

https://www.jove.com/t/70366/optical-trawl-surveys-groundfish-video-trawl-survey-western-gulf

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Optical trawl surveys offer a non-invasive method of sampling groundfish populations and provide finer-scale data than traditional trawl surveys. This article provides a generalized procedure for an optical trawl survey of groundfish in New England.

04/15/2026

Check out this feature on our Master student and MMA alumnus Helena Norton! Helena primarily works on our open codend video trawl survey and is always happy to help across projects. We are grateful for all she contributes to our lab! Keep up the amazing work 👏👏👏

MSSEP students continue to make waves in marine research. MSSEP graduate Helena Norton (MSSEP ’22) is currently a Master’s student at UMass Dartmouth, working alongside research faculty on innovative projects, such as video trawl surveying. This research uses underwater cameras within trawl nets to observe, count, and measure fish in their natural habitats, eliminating the need for capture.

Helena’s Master’s research focuses on the demographics of spiny dogfish on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine, exploring how environmental and biological factors shape their distribution and population dynamics. Helena recently published articles in American Fisheries Society and Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture.

The hands-on research skills Helena learned at the Academy in field courses and the EL trip to Bermuda not only inspired her to continue doing this kind of work, but gave her a strong technical foundation and the confidence to independently design, execute, and communicate impactful field research in her continued studies and publications.