COVID-19 Pandemic had Big Impact on Commercial Fishing in Northeast

With restaurants and supply chains disrupted due to the global coronavirus pandemic, two-fifths of commercial fishermen surveyed from Maine through North Carolina did not go fishing earlier this year, according to a Rutgers study that also documented their resilience and adaptation. Of those who kept fishing, nearly all reported a decline in income compared with previous years, according to the survey of 258 fishers in the Northeast published in the journal PLOS ONE.

High-Performance Computing Aids in Predicting Oil Dispersal During Spills

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, thousands of oil spills occur each year in the United States. Although the majority of incidents involve less than one barrel, the spills have wreaked economic and environmental devastation for decades. Researchers recently created supercomputer simulations to better understand the fate of oil droplets for effective countermeasures.

Study First to Show Tiger Sharks’ Travels and Desired Hangouts in the Gulf of Mexico

Using sophisticated satellite telemetry, a study is the first to provide unique insights into how tiger sharks move and use habitats in the Gulf of Mexico across life-stages. Data provide an important baseline for comparison against, and/or predicting their vulnerability to future environmental change such as climate variability or oil spills.