What are some types of tropical fish you folks start to see in the summer up north? We see a lot of triggerfish and sheepshead in the inlets and by the bridges.
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What are some types of tropical fish you folks start to see in the summer up north? We see a lot of triggerfish and sheepshead in the inlets and by the bridges.
Sent in by Finchaser, thanks.
There is something definitely out of balance in the BB. He and I were fishin there in April, and there was one night where hundreds of jellyfish were around. You can't blame the tropical weather, as it was still cold, in the 50's. Yet they had invaded the bay for some reason. The PH and nutrients in that bay have encouraged their growth over the years.
http://brick.patch.com/articles/acro...ging-jellyfish
Acropolis, Fellow Mayors to Get Tough on Stinging Jellyfish
Effort will prevent bay from becoming inhospitable for swimming.
By Don Bennett | Email the author | January 13, 2011
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Sea Nettle Exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium ExhibitCredit Laitr Keiows / Omegacentrix
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Surges in science, support and spending are needed if Ocean County is going to win the war against stinging sea nettles in Barnegat Bay, a scientist leading that battle told members of the Ocean County Mayors’ Association Tuesday.
The stinging jellyfish are most numerous from the Toms River north in the bay, and can leave swimmers with a “pretty good welt,’’ explained James Vasslides, program scientist with the Barnegat Bay Partnership.
“We’re going to lose our ability to swim in the bay’’ unless the tide turns in the war on jellyfish, predicted Brick Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis, president of the association.
The jellyfish have been in the bay for a century and a half, Vasslides said, but their numbers have increased recently, keeping people from swimming in the upper bay, and even causing some to seek cuts in their tax assessments because they can no longer rent their shore homes in the summer.
Vasslides said scientists think the increase is due to increases in the salinity and temperature of the bay.
Fresh water that once diluted the amount of salt and cooled the bay is being pumped offshore, 52 million gallons of it a day, by the regional sewer network.
David Friedman, director of the Ocean County Soil Conservation District said that is compounded by the compaction of soils all over the county by construction activities. That compaction also reduces the amount of water that flows to the bay after rainstorms.
Vasslides said increased bulkheading and the use of fixed and floating docks around the bayshore is also thought to give the jellyfish polyps places to attach themselves as the spend the winter in the bay. As the water temperature increases, each of those polyps can launch hundreds of juvenile jellyfish into the bay, he said.
The jellyfish not only sting humans, they eat fish eggs and larvae. Some fish that live in the bay eat jellyfish, but their numbers are being reduced, he explained.
Big doses of nitrogen flowing into the bay from lawn and golf course fertilizer increase the food for jellyfish.
“We hope to tackle that through the fertilizer bill,’’ Vasslides said, referring to the measure recently signed into law that will put the toughest restrictions in the nation on the amount of nitrogen fertilizers used in the bay’s watershed can contain.
What will be done this year to battle the jellyfish?
Vasslides said a warning system launched by the Ocean County Health Department last year will be expanded. Signs and cards containing information about the jellyfish will be distributed earlier and at more locations this year.
The Health Department Web site will be upgraded, perhaps to include daily jellyfish reports from lifeguards who send their reports via smart phones to the department.
Lifeguard training will be standardized to increase the number of reports to the health department of jellyfish counts at bay beaches. Last year reports to that system varied widely, from just three from Brick to 32 from Island Heights.
Acropolis liked the idea of using nets to keep the jellyfish off bay and river beaches. Vasslides said they have worked in some locations and not in others. Acropolis said Brick’s Windward Beach would be the place where one may be installed this year.
Vasslides said trawls may be used to capture adult jellyfish. By comparing the number caught with the salinity, water temperature and dissolved oxygen levels, it may be possible to forecast where the jellyfish will be most numerous.
“Where do they go?’’ Acropolis asked, saying they are numerous one day, and gone the next. Vasslides said the wind can move them and jellyfish can swim.
One suggestion that might launch a “cottage industry’’ in the county, Vasslides said, would be the requirement that docks and pilings be cleaned once a year to get rid of the jellyfish polyps. Floating docks may have to be removed during the winter to eliminate places for the polyps to cling, he said.
That would be a big undertaking, Acropolis said, pointing to personal watercraft docks that “are all over the place.’’
To better understand the growing jellyfish population and what can be done to reduce it, Dr. Stan Hales of the Barnegat Bay Partnership said “additional resources are needed.’’
The Partnership’s budget has been cut $300,000. Vasslides said local officials can help because a $1 to $1 match is available for federal projects. The time lifeguards spend counting and reporting jellyfish can count toward that match; so can the cost of nets, he explained.
For projects funded by the Sea Grant program, he said the match is $2 for every $1 in local funds.
Hales said $170,000 is available for three years from the Sea Grant program.
“I know everyone’s budget is tight but we need $85,000," he said.
Friedman asked if local permits are required for floating docks.
Acropolis said they are not. Friedman suggested requiring them. Former Pine Beach Mayor Russell K. Corby said because tidal waters are involved, local officials have no jurisdiction to require them.
Friedman suggested that the mayor’s association and the county’s freeholders get behind a request to have the state Department of Environmental Protection regulate the docks and send a letter to the Partnership’s Policy Committee seeking its support.
The water temps are really high, do you think they will be here early this year? I want to go to shark river inlet and throw some clam rigs and try to catch them.
Friends who dive the inlets and rockpiles tell me they are in Ocean and Monmouth County for at least a week now...:HappyWave:
We were out on the Axel Carlson last week and got one.
Sent in by the OGB, thanks! :HappyWave:
I have friends who spear fish.
They tell me the jetties and inlets are now hosting a healthy population of exotics.
Triggers, pinfish, lookdowns, houndfish, etc.
Mostly around high tide, and they move from place to place with the tides.
They will take clams at times, but will more consistently hit crabs, like the sand fleas, fiddlers, calicos, or asians.
Some of these triggers are big and friends have reported them to 5#.
Higher tides and deeper water are the key.
They are mostly very tight to the rocks.
Courtesy of the Brick Patch...why not check out their reasonable subscription when you get a chance....
http://brick.patch.com/articles/warm-water-fish-invade-jersey-shore-waters?ncid=newsltuspatc00000001
Ocean water temperatures have remained consistent in the high 70s all week, meaning anglers who fish the local waters may find themselves hooking into some fish species more associated with areas south of the Jersey Shore.
The warm water temperatures have most certainly accounted for a rise in grey triggerfish catches this week, as the fish – often relegated to the bays of the southernmost portions of the Shore this time of year – have been chomping on baits at both Manasquan and Barnegat inlets.
Anglers have caught the delicious warm-water fish species while fishing the jetty rocks at both inlets. Triggers will chomp on a number locally-popular baits, ranging from fiddler crabs to clam and squid strips. Bait should be presented on #1 style hooks. Just make sure to be careful if you decide to fish from the rocks, as always.
Triggers are out at the Shrewsbury rocks too. We got a few while fluking the other day.
Here is an article talking about the warm water fish.
Long stretch of above-normal ocean temps off NJ
The Press of Atlantic City
Published Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Ocean temperatures along and near the New Jersey coast have averaged between five and 10 degrees above normal since late last year, a phenomenon that has intrigued some scientists and has excited area residents and fishermen.
The mild winter meant that water retained much more heat than usual. When the weather warmed quickly this spring, it took significantly less time for the ocean's temperature to rise.
Despite the heat, there are two missing negative side effects: jellyfish and algal blooms.
Few, if any, stinging jellyfish have been reported along the ocean; however, large groups of nettles have been reported in Ocean County and Monmouth County bays. And the DEP's weekly aerial survey measuring the amount of chlorophyll A in the water, which indicates the amount of algae, has consistently stayed in the good range, Schuster said.
Typically every spring an algal bloom begins to form in New York Harbor and moves south from Sandy Hook. Last year, in fact, had a record bloom that was highly visible along the entire New Jersey and Long Island coast from satellite photographs.
This year? Nothing.
"Even though the water temperature is up, we haven't seen any algal blooms," Schuster said. "It's the first time in 15 years. It's really unusual."
Any news of triggers yet?