Narragansett Bay's fisheries overall are in pretty good shape, according to a report released today by the Bay Window Monitoring Program. The program is a partnership between state and federal agencies and researchers, and provides a ongoing assessment of the bay's health. Aerial and seine surveys show an estimated 24 million -- yes, million -- menhaden in the Bay this year, predominantly in the Providence River and Upper Bay. The menhaden are the bottom of the food chain for many of the bigger fish popular with anglers and fishermen, and their abundance is seen as a good sign.

Quahog populations are stable. Lobster, winter flounder, summer flounder, sea herring, scup, and squid numbers are up compared to June of 2007, some of them up significantly. However, low oxygen levels in the Upper Bay remain a concern. For more details, click on "More..."

BAY WINDOW SEES POSITIVE TRENDS FOR 2008 IN FISHERIES
CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION’S FUNDING SUPPORT FETED JUNE 23 IN JAMESTOWN

via Chip Young, URI Coastal Institute

JAMESTOWN, RI – Early readings from the Bay Window Monitoring Program, a partnership of state and federal agencies and academia that provides a ongoing broad data-gathering, research and assessment of the health of Narragansett Bay, indicate positive signs in the Bay fisheries to date, while the warming of the Bay and incidences of low oxygen levels in the Upper Bay remain an area which needs constant oversight.  Bay Window scientists and researchers were joined by members of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation at the DEM Fisheries site at Ft. Wetherill in Jamestown to fete the legislators for their joint acquisition of $916,000 in federal funding for the program, which is a national model for research, data collection and assessment.

“All of us at Bay Window are very proud and grateful to have the wholehearted support of our delegation members in Washington, who realize the importance of keeping an around-the-clock eye on the health of Narragansett Bay,” said Mark Gibson, a Bay Window Steering Committee member who is deputy chief of the R.I. Department of Management’s (DEM) Division of Fish and Wildlife.

The Bay Window partnership includes researchers from DEM, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service, the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Ecosystem Research Reserve, the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, Roger Williams University, and Brown University.  It was begun in 1997 by Senator John Chafee, responding to significant gaps in scientific data on Narragansett Bay needed for assessing resource damage from the North Cape oil spill, and was a cooperative project jointly managed by DEM and NOAA Fisheries. It has since received $5.16 million in funding, including the 2008 support.

Senator Jack Reed, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee stated: “The Bay Window program is a smart investment in protecting Narragansett Bay, which is a critical part of our economy and our environment.  The Bay Window program is like a security system for Narragansett Bay, using sensors and environmental data to constantly monitor the water quality and health of the Bay.  If pollutants get too high or oxygen levels get too low, the Bay Window sounds the alarm so that coastal managers can effectively address the issue.”

The Bay Window partners noted that Narragansett Bay’s current observed menhaden population was nearly double that at this time in 2007, a year which drew public attention as the fish were sighted in large numbers well up into the Upper Bay and Providence River.  This is very good news on many fronts, as the current location of the fish in Upper Bay areas is helping greatly by reducing high-rising fuel costs for the commercial fishing boats.  It is also encouraging for the rest of the summer, because menhaden are an important fish for other food supplies, and they are bringing striped bass and bluefish into Bay after them, as in 2007, which was a tremendous season for recreational fishermen.

“As Narragansett Bay changes from year-to-year, we have seen how important it is to keep our fingers on its pulse and adapt accordingly,” said Representative Patrick Kennedy, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee. “In Mt. Hope Bay and Upper Narragansett Bay our research still detects the threat of low oxygen in the water during summer months, but we are also seeing the return of large numbers menhaden and other fish, and a stable quahog population.  The ability to discover why both are occurring is what the Bay Window offers us.”

The Bay Window ongoing surveys and monitoring show that the Narragansett Bay quahog population remains stable compared to 2007, which is an encouraging environmental and economic sign. An abundance of clams is a valuable indicator of good Bay health.  It is believed that a combination of management area actions, use of spawner sanctuaries (driven by Bay Window monitoring input), and fewer rainfall closures and quahoggers, has contributed to this stability.  This is encouraging for shellfishermen, but rainy days mean shellfish closures, so hopes remain for a dry summer.  But overall in recent years, shellfish closures are flattening out, which Bay Window scientists see as a good sign for all involved.

“With the new funds, Bay Window will be able to continue monitoring the health of our treasured Narragansett Bay around the clock, looking at everything from temperature changes in the water to the health of the fish and shellfish that live in it,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  “The data Bay Window's team collects helps us better understand not only the forces at work in the Bay today, but the impact of those forces on the Bay tomorrow and for years in the future.”

Bay warming and climate change have been a growing concerns in recent  years, as they have many wide-ranging impacts. The average temperature is up 2 degrees Fahnrenheit in the past 20 years, winter average temperature is up 4 degrees  Fahrenheit, and Narragansett Bay is moving towards becoming like a southern estuary. This will not only affect fisheries, but is a major catalyst for possible fish kills, because warm temperatures are a contributor to a of lack of oxygen for marine life, which becomes depleted in part due to large nutrient loadings.  Bay temperature and other factors such as chlorophyll and salinity are monitored on a real-time, 24/7 basis by a network of 13 monitoring stations and buoys spread throughout the Bay, with a focus on identified “hot spots.”

The Bay Window monitoring guides Narragansett Bay’s future planning and management, which ensures that this financial investment helps provide an economically and environmentally healthy Bay.  The Bay Window partners had accurately predicted from its past timeline of research information and that summer’s data the infamous 2003 fish kill in Greenwich Bay, which sparked a concerted state and federal effort to pinpoint the causes of the event and take management steps to avoid a repetition in the future.  Based on Bay Window research, Rhode Island is investing millions of dollars into upgrading wastewater treatment plants and increasing storm drain protection to reduce nutrient loadings, a $400 million investment in mitigation in Upper Bay alone.

Representative James Langevin, who is a cosponsor of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act, said “In Washington, I have been proud to fight for efforts to improve Narragansett Bay, and the Bay Window Program has proven to be an effective project worthy of Congressional support. The expertise of the best scientists and researchers at URI's Graduate School of Oceanography and NOAA's Marine Fisheries center in Narragansett, combined with the commitment and skills of our state agencies, is a tremendous team effort that has shown how top-notch information gathering leads to to-notch management of the Bay."

The continued monitoring and assessments of the Bay Window Program are the principal source of science-based information on Narragansett Bay productivity, fish and fisheries, and pollution and ecosystem health. Results from the various elements of the Bay Window Program are systematically synthesized and reported to the local, state and federal agencies responsible for governing and protecting the Bay. For information on Bay Window and its data, people are encouraged to go to: www.NarrBay.org, which is designed to serve as a clearinghouse for scientific and general information on Narragansett Bay.

“If you presume that any one year in Narragansett Bay is going to be just like the one before, that is both false and foolhardy,” explained Kenneth Sherman, chair of the Bay Window Steering Committee, who is director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Narragansett Laboratory and Office of Marine Ecosystem Studies. “One of the most critical elements of the Bay Window partnership is its continuous timeline of information, one of the longest data sets in the U.S. for an estuary, and that reminds us time and again that every year brings new challenges and we have to be ready to adapt to them.”


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BAY WINDOW MONITORING PROGRAM
Quick Overview of 2008 Emerging Trends

OVERALL:  Picture is good to date.  Narragansett Bay is holding steady if not improving with its fish populations, it’s just that the species have changed.  Where most of the fish used to be bottom dwellers in the past (1980s - e.g., winter flounder), they are now those that swim in the water column (scup, menhaden).  That is likely to be the case as long as low oxygen levels in upper Bay and climate change (Bay water warming) continue.

Change from bottom to water column fish has commercial and recreational impacts.  Winter flounder (once so abundant they were “the first fish you caught in the spring and the last fish you caught in the fall”) are no longer there for fishermen, commercial or recreational.  This has an economic impact, as winter flounder are worth $2 per pound to commercial fishermen, while menhaden and scup only get $0.10 to $0.75 per pound

BAY WARMING:  Yes, that’s climate change, and we are seeing it in Narragansett Bay.  Average Bay temperature is up 20F in past 20 years, winter average temperature is up 40F, and we are moving towards becoming like a southern (South Carolina, Georgia) estuary.  This will not only affect fisheries, but is a big catalyst for possible fish kills, because of lack of oxygen which gets depleted due to large nutrient loadings. Rhode Island is investing millions of dollars into upgrading wastewater treatment plants and increasing storm drain protection to reduce nutrient loadings ($400M investment in mitigation in Upper Bay alone)—all actions driven by Bay Window data on temperature, nutrient level and oxygen levels after disastrous 2003 Greenwich Bay fish kill, which Bay Window scientists predicted down to the actual date, but could do nothing about at that time.  That is why new management actions were immediately begun.  We cannot eliminate or predict the possibility of a major fish kill (minor ones are the norm every year) at this point due to the number of variables involved.  Bay Window uses 13 fixed and floating buoy monitoring stations (with 24/7 coverage) and the Mariner Shuttle to get this data.

MENHADEN: Bay Window trawls and aerial checks show menhaden presence remains extremely strong in the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay, at roughly two times the amount as last year, which was exceptional in its own right and drew heavy media attention in 2007. Combined with last year’s abundance, there is good feeling that this shows improved water quality, and their presence also contributes to a healthy ecosystem which can be appreciated by non-consumptive users, conservationists, and the general public. Menhaden are also in the Bay early as in 2007, and that effects commercial fisheries movement. The location of the fish (Upper Bay areas) is helping greatly with fuel costs for recreational and commercial boaters alike.  It is also good sign because menhaden are an important fish for other food supplies, and they are bringing striped bass and bluefish into Bay after them, like last year, which was a tremendous season for recreational fishermen.

QUAHOGS: The population remains stable compared to 2007, which is an encouraging environmental and economic sign. Abundance of quahogs is an indicator of good Bay health.  It is believed that a combination of management area actions, use of spawner sanctuaries (driven by Bay Window monitoring input), and fewer rainfall closures and fewer quahoggers, has contributed to this stability.  This is encouraging for shellfishermen, but rainy days mean shellfish closures, so you hope for a dry summer.  But overall over recent years, shellfish closures are flattening out, a good sign for all involved.

LOBSTERS AND OTHER FISH TO DATE:  Looking up.  The Bay Window trawl survey in June 2008 provided a mixed bag of highs and lows.  But mostly highs. Lobster, winter flounder, summer flounder, sea herring, scup, and squid numbers were up compared to June of 2007, with sea herring and scup up considerably.

UP TO THE MINUTE INFO:  Overall, all species of recreational (and commercial) importance are present throughout Rhode Island coastal waters, with the Sakonnet River offering the widest diversity of both predator (stripers, bluefish) and prey (menhaden, scup) species.  Time to get the rod and reel out.