The ocean does not hand fishermen a single problem at a time.

A captain deciding whether to leave the dock may be thinking about wind and waves. Offshore, water temperature can help determine where the fish are. Back on shore, the working waterfront where that catch is landed may itself be vulnerable to flooding, storms, or development. Meanwhile, scientists are trying to understand how a changing Gulf of Maine is reshaping the ecosystem beneath it all.

At the 2026 Northeast Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) Annual Meeting, those issues were brought into the same room.

NERACOOS coordinates a network of observations, models, data systems, and partnerships across New England’s coastal waters. Throughout its annual meeting, speakers repeatedly returned to one question: How can all of that information become more useful to the people making decisions on and around the water?

For New England’s seafood industry, the answers ranged from familiar weather buoys to emerging environmental DNA technology, water-level sensors on working wharves, and better ways of getting information directly into fishermen’s hands.

The meeting also came as NERACOOS takes on a larger role in the region’s seafood economy through the National Science Foundation’s Seafood Engine in New England, a Regional Innovation Engine intended to connect research, technology, workforce development, and other investments across the seafood supply chain.

But much of the conversation during the annual meeting focuses on something more immediate. For fishermen, ocean observing has always been part of going fishing.

Every trip begins with a decision

One presentation boiled the value of NERACOOS down to the decisions made before a boat ever clears the harbor.

Is it safe to leave the dock? Where might fishing be productive? Should gear be moved or hauled ahead of a storm? Those questions depend in part on reliable observations of weather and ocean conditions.

NERACOOS supports a network of oceanographic buoys that continuously monitor conditions, including waves, wind, and water temperature. Some locations now have more than 20 years of observations, creating records that can help scientists, managers, and fishermen put present-day conditions into the context of a changing ocean.

The observations also feed weather and ocean models, extending the value of the information well beyond the physical location of an individual buoy.

NERACOOS works with the University of Maine, University of New Hampshire, Woods Hole Group, University of Connecticut and a growing collection of other organizations and industry partners to maintain and expand that observing network.

The challenge is not simply collecting more information.

It is getting it to the people who need it in a form they can actually use.

NERACOOS' Mariners Dashboard allows users to select a location and see recent wave, wind, water temperature and other surface observations, including how conditions have changed over the previous 12 hours. The mobile-friendly system is also undergoing upgrades that are expected to allow users to compare observations with forecasts.

That last piece came up again during discussions with fishermen.

Captains are already comparing forecasts against what they see outside the wheelhouse window and what they know from years on the water. Giving them observations and forecasts in the same place could make that process easier.

One panel discussion noted that fishermen effectively create their own "mental models" of the weather. The goal is not to replace that experience, but to give them another tool in their toolbox.

Data fishermen can use

That distinction became particularly clear when commercial fishing representatives joined the discussion. One panelist said he was less interested in simply collecting another category of information than in making existing information easier to access.

Sometimes the data he wanted was readily available. Other times, he said, accessing it meant being sent to a national website and drilling back down to find the local information he needed. The discussion quickly moved to what could happen if more detailed ocean information were delivered directly to fishing vessels.

Commercial fishermen have long used sea surface temperatures, in part because satellite information makes them relatively accessible. But conditions on the bottom can tell a different and potentially more useful story for fishermen targeting species that spend their time there.

The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation's (CFRF) work with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was mentioned as an example. The partnership has collected profiles from the surface to the bottom across fishing grounds, building information on temperature and other ocean conditions.

For fishermen, bottom temperature can be directly connected to where they expect to find certain species. "If you can find a certain profile on the bottom, you're going to find squid," Fred Mattera, a retired commercial fisherman and executive director of CFRF, said while describing a narrow temperature range associated with squid.

He envisioned a future in which temperature observations could be transmitted across fishing grounds and received aboard vessels while captains are underway, allowing them to better identify productive areas and potentially avoid areas dominated by unwanted species.

The possibilities extend to fuel use.

"I don't necessarily think that there's any more direct data that I've seen people need and ask for in this case, but I have noticed from years of getting to sit in round tables with fishermen and talking to mariners that if there was more data they'd find a way to use it," Mattera said.

Whether for safety, fishing efficiency or using currents to reduce fuel consumption, the message was that fishermen tend to find practical applications for good information.

Watching an ecosystem change

Other presentations looked beyond individual fishing trips to the larger changes occurring throughout the ecosystem.

Environmental DNA, or eDNA, was among the emerging technologies discussed.

Living organisms leave DNA behind in the environment through cells, mucus, waste, and other biological material. By sampling water, scientists can use that material to identify species that have recently been present without relying solely on traditional sampling with nets or traps.

That information could eventually complement the continuous environmental observations already being collected. Sensors can measure temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll, and other conditions. Environmental DNA can add another question: Who is there?

The idea is to combine those information streams to better understand what is happening in an ecosystem and potentially move from reacting to changes toward anticipating them.

"You can maybe start moving away from being reactive and more towards being proactive or forecasting," David Goethel, a longtime retired commercial fisherman and fisheries manager, said.

Potential applications discussed during the meeting included harmful algal bloom alerts, pathogen monitoring, site selection, disease and predator detection, and other tools for fisheries and aquaculture.

The discussion is particularly relevant in a region where year-to-year conditions have become increasingly difficult to assume.

During a later question-and-answer session, the conversation turned toward whether some of the changes seen across the ocean system and its marine organisms in recent years will persist. The moderator asked whether tools such as eDNA might eventually provide an earlier indication of "what's happening this year" so industry and researchers can get "a little bit ahead of it."

That may ultimately be one of the larger promises of a more connected observing system: not simply documenting what happened, but providing enough information early enough to make a different decision.

Science at boat speed

The meeting also highlighted the difference between how ecological information moves through formal management systems and how it is used directly on the water.

Stock assessments and ecosystem reports provide pathways for scientific information to reach fisheries managers. Long-term observations of temperature, salinity, and other conditions can be incorporated into models and indicators that eventually inform those processes.

But fishermen and aquaculturists may use similar information much faster.

"A lot of fishermen, they're ecologists too, and aquaculturists, they're ecologists as well," NERACOOS ecologist Cameron Thompson said.

A fisherman watching water temperature to locate fish does not need to wait for that observation to appear in an assessment. An aquaculturist deciding when to plant or harvest can use conditions at the farm that day.

Oliver Dixon of Blue Acres Aquaculture described how temperature data influences decisions throughout the growing season for kelp and oysters.

A few degrees can make the difference between harvesting a clean kelp crop and returning days later to find it covered with snails, algae or other organisms a buyer does not want.

"Each and every day, you make such a big impact six months later," Dixon said of decisions early in the growing season.

The examples showed a recurring theme throughout the meeting: scientific information becomes much more valuable when it can be translated into a decision.

Bringing observations onto the waterfront

NERACOOS is also moving some of its observing infrastructure onto shore.

Working waterfronts are where seafood is landed, loaded, fueled, and serviced, but those properties face pressures ranging from development and loss of access to sea level rise and coastal storms.

NERACOOS and regional partners are deploying water-level sensors on working waterfronts to create more localized information about tides and flooding.

The observations can serve several purposes.

Before a storm, long-term information can help communities understand their local tidal patterns. During flooding, sensors can provide real-time measurements and improve models. After a storm, the same information can document what occurred, assist with damage assessment and potentially support insurance or disaster-relief applications.

The approach was summarized during the meeting with four words: listen, observe, deliver, and improve.

"We listen to the seafood industry and coastal communities," Tom Shyka, Technology Director at NERACOOS, said. "We observe through our regional network of partners. We deliver effective data management and decision support tools, and we're always trying to improve the system to respond to existing needs and emerging needs as well."

That listening component may become increasingly important as NERACOOS' role in the New England seafood industry expands.

The next chapter

The annual meeting offered plenty of examples of what ocean observing looks like today: buoys measuring waves offshore, fishermen checking temperatures, sensors recording water levels at the waterfront and scientists examining DNA left behind in a bottle of seawater.

The next challenge is connecting those pieces.

NERACOOS is entering that period with the Seafood Engine in New England creating a much larger framework around innovation in the regional seafood economy. The initiative will be the subject of work stretching far beyond a single annual meeting, and fishermen's participation will be important in determining whether new technologies solve problems that actually exist on the water.

The meeting suggested that the starting point does not need to be complicated.

Listen to the people using the information.

Collect observations they can trust.

Make those observations easy to reach.

Then keep improving them as the ocean, fisheries, and waterfronts change.

For an organization built around observing the ocean, the message coming out of the meeting was increasingly about what happens after the observation is made.

The value is in what somebody can do with it.