Thank you for tuning into the SeaBros Fishing Podcast! On this episode we were excited to host Ben Gahagan and Bill Hoffman from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF).

Ben Gahagan is the Recreational Fisheries Program Leader at DMF.  In his career he has served on multi-jurisdictional technical committees, stock assessment teams, and used a variety of techniques to understand the migratory movements and stock composition of fish as small as river herring and as large as Atlantic bluefin tuna. Ben is a lifelong angler and outdoorsman, he has been lucky enough to spend many hours pursuing those same fish and many other finned, furred, and feathered critters.

Bill Hoffman is a senior fisheries biologist for the state, where he has been working for 26 years. He manages the Fisheries Research and Monitoring project which includes leading a team that collects critical data, both at sea and dockside, for a variety of Massachusetts commercial fisheries to support stock assessment analysis and fisheries management decisions. On the fisheries research side, Bill specializes in tagging fish using acoustic telemetry. He has conducted multiple studies focusing on questions that range from understanding basic fish migration patterns of cod and striped bass to fishery-induced mortality for striped bass, cod, cusk, and haddock. When he is not at work, he can be found on his own boat fishing for giant bluefin tuna or in a tree archery hunting for whitetail deer on the Northshore of Massachusetts and in New Hampshire.

Last fishing season we collaborated with Ben, Bill, and the rest of their team, in helping them collect data for their recent efforts in analyzing post release mortality for striped bass. In doing this, we are working towards establishing healthy release best practices for this species. Ben and Bill are developing these resources for recreational anglers that target striped bass and they include proper fish handling upon landing, how to use circle hooks, fishing tactics, etc.

In this conversation we discuss this research program and our fishing trips from last season. We also discuss other ongoing research projects for striped bass and for several other species, including Atlantic mackerel and bluefin tuna. As always, our guests share a lot of stories, laughs, and some incredible knowledge.

We hope you enjoy this podcast as much as we did!
Stay Tight,
The Sears Brothers

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