MAINE PUBLIC • August 11, 2025
Maine fishermen and scientists are collaborating on a new tool to help study a warmer water fish species and assess its potential as a future commercial fishery in the rapidly warming Gulf of Maine. Anecdotally, Maine fishermen say they've seen more and more black sea bass in their traps and nets for at least a decade. But "we don't have any real data that is showing us that," says Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association. This summer, that's starting to change, because the association and the science nonprofit Manomet have teamed up with local fishermen to launch a new app. Martens says, all they're asking of fishermen is: "if they see a black sea bass, to take a picture of it." That way scientists and managers can find out more about what's actually happening with black sea bass in the Gulf of Maine — and whether it could be an emerging commercial fishery.