We are excited to invite you to the inaugural CFRF Captain’s Cup golf tournament fundraiser on June 28th, 2026 — a day of great golf, great company, and meaningful impact. Registration is open!
Thank you to everyone who picked up their passenger license plates this weekend! We hope you love your plates, and we can't wait to see them on the roads. Please feel free to spread the word that you can now order a CFRF passenger plate directly through the DMV!
If you did not make it to the distribution event, please read below for information on how to get your plates.
UPDATE: The pick-up window has been extended to April 30th!
Come along with us for a day of lab work 🧑🔬
We’re grateful to Dr. Eric Shultz at UConn for his help and laboratory access! We are working with the Shultz Lab and Dr. Max Zavell of SMAST to determine the lipid content of juvenile black sea bass caught in our winter fish pot survey. This information will help us study the potential overwintering of juveniles in Narragansett Bay 🐟
We look forward to seeing everyone who pre-ordered a CFRF charity plate for their passenger vehicle on Saturday, April 11th! We’ve got all the info you need to know before you go below!
If you pre-ordered the CFRF Charity Plate for your PASSENGER vehicle, they will be available for pick-up at our distribution event on April 11th. Scroll through the photos below for more information.
Please note that this event is only for passenger-registered vehicles. We are still collecting pre-orders for combination and commercial registrations.
Follow along with CFRF Data Manager Linus Stoltz for a look into a day in the life at the recent Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland!
Follow along with Jill and Jack as they conduct a beam trawl survey for our South Fork Wind Farm fisheries monitoring!
The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation is pleased to offer a part-time, paid summer internship for an undergraduate or graduate student or recent graduate.
This internship is offered from May through August 2026 with flexible start and end dates. The selected intern will receive at least $18/hour for 20 hours a week.
Visit the internship page to learn more and apply!
Applications are due March 27th.
We are excited to share our newest research paper on the results of our project to test the ability of the N-Viro dredge to reduce bycatch and increase fuel efficiency in the Atlantic sea scallop fishery. Scroll through the images below for a summary, or read the full paper here!
This paper is published in the Journal of Shellfish Research. If you do not have access through the link below, please email us to request a copy.
We are excited to release the CFRF Annual Impact Report summarizing the work we conducted during our Fiscal Year 2025!
We are thrilled to share our accomplishments with you, and we value your involvement as we collaborate towards our mission. Thank you for your time and interest in our efforts.
The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation is dedicated to increasing awareness of fisheries topics, educating others about our research, and training the next generation of fisheries scientists through outreach and education initiatives.
We are proud to launch our free, by-request workshop to introduce students to fisheries science and provide resources for students interested in pursuing an impact-driven, community-oriented career in science.
Formal and Informal Educators: Learn how you can request a workshop for your students here!
Our initial project to reduce small sea scallop and sand dollar catch through dredge bag modifications has officially concluded. Check out the final report submitted to the NOAA Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program here, and stay tuned for updates on the next phase of this project!
We recently completed a pilot project to implement a plan to improve boulder relocation practices during offshore wind development. Read below to learn what we did and what we learned!
Offshore wind energy development often requires the relocation of large boulders to provide scour protection, stabilize turbine foundations, and clear routes for cables. Relocated boulders can pose safety risks to fishermen by creating new 'hangs' in which gear may become caught, as well as potentially affect the habitat structure and fish communities in established fishing grounds. In April 2025, we co-hosted an event focused on these issues with Rhode Island Sea Grant, the University of Rhode Island, and the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island (CFCRI).
In response to the feedback from stakeholders at the event, we collaborated with CFCRI on a pilot project to identify relocated boulders that pose fishing hazards in the Revolution Wind Farm lease area and demonstrate a simple and effective path for future applications to reduce the negative impacts of boulder relocation on fishing.
Construction of the Revolution Wind Farm resulted in nearly 2,800 boulders being relocated. We interviewed mobile gear fishermen who historically fished within this wind farm lease area and used the information gathered to map previously towable fishing grounds within the Revolution Wind Farm. We found that only five of the relocated boulders were within these fishing areas (click map to enlarge).
These problematic boulders represent <1% of the nearly 2,800 relocated boulders, which indicates the issue of boulder relocation as it relates to fishing safety may be relatively easily overcome. In the future, this project’s approach could be conducted during relocation planning to identify boulders that need to be relocated strategically outside of towable fishing areas. This approach could minimize direct impacts on fishing vessel safety and contribute to a more positive and collaborative working relationship between offshore wind developers and fishermen.
In the newest post in our Scientists at Sea series, follow along with Vinny for a glimpse into a day in the life of a research biologist conducting a scientific survey aboard a commercial fishing vessel!
It’s time to put Rhode Island Seafood on your plate!
We are excited to debut a brand new charity license plate for Rhode Islanders that supports research on the fresh, local, and sustainable seafood species our state is known for! The plate, designed by Andrew Lloyd Goodman, Assistant Professor at the Community College of Rhode Island, features eight iconic seafood species that are sustainably harvested in Rhode Island state waters and enjoyed throughout the state, region, and world.
License plates are available for pre-order* now! Each license plate costs $42.50, with $20 going directly to the CFRF. Proceeds from the license plate will directly support research focused on enhancing the sustainability and value of Rhode Island state fisheries.
We had a great time hosting US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse for some black sea bass fishing and sampling to celebrate his help in securing funding to continue our Black Sea Bass Research Fleet project! 🎣
We were joined by long-time project collaborator Jason McNamee of RIDEM and spent the morning on one of our Research Fleet participant vessels, the F/V Priority Too. We had a beautiful day on the water and collected data on 100 black sea bass for the project! Thanks again to Senator Whitehouse and his staff to ensuring this data collection will continue until at least 2030! Check out the video below for a recap of our day!
In the newest post in our Scientists at Sea series, CFRF researchers Tori and Luca take you along for a glimpse into what it is like to sample on a typical day of the Revolution Ventless Trap Survey aboard the F/V Amelia Anne! Learn more about this survey here.
We are excited to share our newest research paper, led by Dr. Kevin Stokesbury at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology, titled "Anticipating the winds of change: A baseline assessment of Northeastern US continental shelf surficial substrates."
Click here for a summary of the paper.
The full paper can be found here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/fog.12693
