Abstract
The offshore waters of southern New England (SNE) serve as feeding grounds, migratory corridors, and essential fish habitat for numerous highly migratory species (HMS), such as tunas, billfish, mahi mahi, and sharks. Hundreds of recreational fishing vessels also target HMS at popular SNE fishing areas, including those that occur within and around the federally-designated Rhode Island/Massachusetts and Massachusetts Wind Energy Areas, which are collectively referred to as the “WEA” in this report. To improve our understanding of how recreational fishing activities for HMS may be impacted by offshore wind development, this study collected baseline data on the timing, nature, and extent of recreational fishing effort in SNE by: (1) surveying recreational fishermen from the private and charter/headboat sectors to characterize their fishing effort for HMS in SNE over the past five years, and (2) mining and analyzing both direct and indirect data on recreational fishing effort for HMS in SNE over recent decades.
For (1), a four-question online survey was created and hosted on Survey Monkey from August 23, 2019 to March 15, 2020 (205 days). A total of 171 respondents (136 private anglers, 34 charter/headboat captains, 1 unknown category) reported using mobile fishing tactics (e.g., trolling, drifting) to target several HMS, particularly bluefin tuna and mahi mahi, in SNE on an average of 37 – 65 days per year (range: 1 – 190 days per year). Respondents exerted effort throughout SNE with the highest amount occurring at fishing areas locally known as Coxes Ledge, The Dump, The Lanes, The Fingers, and The Claw. Within the WEA, the highest amount of effort was exerted at Coxes Ledge, The Fingers, and The Claw. For (2), fisheries-dependent data in the form of responses to the National Marine Fisheries Service Large Pelagics Intercept Survey (LPS) and conventional tagging data (CTD) provided by four sources were compiled and analyzed over a 36 (W) by 28 (H) cell grid (referred to as the “SNE grid”) to directly and indirectly characterize recreational fishing effort for HMS in SNE. LPS data from 2002 – 2018 documented 2,393 directed recreational trips and 16,760 catch records for 22 HMS in the SNE grid; 290 trips and 2,281 catch records for 13 HMS occurred within the WEA. ‘Sharks’ and ‘tunas’ were the primary species complexes targeted; shortfin mako and bluefin tuna were the most commonly-targeted HMS. Data from 53,991 conventional tagging events within the SNE grid were compiled from 1954 – 2019, 10,548 of which occurred within the WEA. A total of 12,537 and 2,313 tagging events occurred from 2002 – 2018 in the SNE grid and WEA, respectively. The majority of tagging events were of blue sharks (~70%) and bluefin tuna (~20%).
Together, fisheries-dependent data indicated that recreational effort for HMS is widespread in SNE from June to October (peaking June to September) and is primarily focused to the west of the WEA in the waters south and east of Montauk Point and Block Island. Within Vineyard Wind lease areas (OCS-A 0501 and OCS-A 0522), the available data indicated that recreational fishermen primarily target bluefin tuna, shortfin mako, and ‘any tuna species’, with trips originating primarily from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Lease area OCS-A 0501 experienced 0.75 – 5.13% of total effort in the SNE grid and 6.21 – 27.80% of total effort within the WEA, while comparatively less effort was exerted in OCS-A 0522 (0.08 – 0.36% of all effort in the SNE grid and 0.69 – 2.63% of all effort within the WEA). Combined effort in the two leases represented 0.84 – 5.20% of all effort in the SNE grid and 6.90 – 28.19% of all effort within the WEA. Effort in OCS-A 0501 is concentrated near the 31 Fathom Hole and Gordon’s Gully; effort in OCS-A 0522 is sporadic. Additional work is required to assess potential impacts from offshore wind energy development on recreational fishing for HMS; this report is not intended to imply that such development will preclude future recreational fishing activity in the SNE WEA.