The Narragansett Laboratory is located at 28 Tarzwell Drive across from the URI Bay campus in Narragansett, Rhode Island. The Narragansett Laboratory is one of five research laboratories in the Northeast Science Center, which is the science arm of NOAA Fisheries in the Northeastern United States. Marine scientists and engineers at the Narragansett Laboratory study sharks, monitor the long-term health of Narragansett Bay, and develop new fishering gear that is safer for whales and other marine mammals. Other areas of research at the laboratory include studies of currents, nutrients, temperature changes, and fish populations. Research at the Narragansett Laboratory contributes to a better understanding of the complex ecology of the ocean and provides data fisheries managers need to make good decisions.
Sharks are important to the ocean's ecosystems and to both recreational and commercial fishermen.
A small group of scientists at the Narragansett Laboratory studies how sharks migrate, how long they live, how fast they grow and how they reproduce. To date, more than 130,000 large Atlantic sharks have been tagged, and the results used to answer some of these questions. Most sharks the scientists study are tagged and released alive. Once a month, this special instrument is towed behind a research vessel through the waters of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Sound, Mount Hope Bay and the Providence River, measuring factors such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen concentration, light penetration, and the amount and growth rates of plankton. Fisheries engineers are also testing and developing fishing gear less likely to entangle whales and other marine mammals.