December 10, 2018

Fishing for a Cleaner Barnegat Bay

by S-FX.com

derelict-crab-traps

by Emily Heiser, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Conserve Wildlife Blog  (December 8, 2018)

Derelict fishing gear continues to plague the depths of Barnegat Bay. Often lost through storm events or due to boat traffic, lost or abandoned crab pots (ghost pots) become an unintentional deathtrap for a variety of marine species and reduce otherwise harvestable resources. Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) and partners at the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (MATES), Stockton University, and American Littoral Society have been working together to recover lost pots in Barnegat Bay since 2015.  (Editor Note: This project grew out of a pilot project which was funded by the Barnegat Bay Partnership in 2012.  Stockton University and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve received the 2012 BBP grant to identify and map derelict crab traps via side-scan sonar surveys and to remove and dispose of derelict pots with the help of commercial crabbers.)

Over the course of the last three field seasons, 1,300 crab pots have been recovered and their bycatch (animals caught unintentionally along with the targeted species) has been extensively documented. Notably, CWF and MATES have been focusing on how to further help northern diamondback terrapins who often find themselves caught in ghost pots. In 2016, one pot contained the remains of 17 terrapins!

As the project partners enter the fourth field season of ghost pot collections, they hope to not only recover as may pots as possible, but also to glean further information on how the pots move in a variety of substrates and under a variety conditions.  To bring further awareness to the issue, CWF teamed up with Citizen Racecar to produce a short informational film about ghost fishing and its effects on Barnegat Bay.  Visit the CWF Facebook page to view the video.

This project is funded primarily by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with additional support by the New Jersey Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Covanta and Schnitzer Steel also support the project by recycling the metal in the retrieved crab pots.

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UNKNOWN

There is limited data available to quantify Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation, or updated data to quantify Wetland Acreage. The BBP has obtained funding and will begin assessment efforts for both targets, in the next few years.

 

 Hard Clam abundance has not been updated since 2012. Recovery of the stock will be guided by the Fishery Management Plan for Hard Clams, which is under development with the NJDEP, BBP, and other organizations. Reclam the Bay and other partners have continued to plant clams for restoration purposes. Continued plantings in strategic locations which maximize survival and reproduction is one strategy to pursue in the coming years. This work can use a model developed by Rutgers with BBP funding which identified areas where planted clams could have the greatest dispersal of their larvae and thus potentially maximally contribute to the recovery of the stock.

 Water Withdrawals were over the target in the 2021 report; USGS has not yet completed its latest update, so a definitive determination of status is not available. However, additional NJDEP data show that it is likely that we continue to not meet the target. Per capita water use has gone down, demonstrating the effectiveness of water-saving appliances and practices, but that decrease has been offset by population gains. 


IN PROGRESS

New maps quantifying Submerged Aquatic Vegetation extent were developed, but poor image clarity resulted in a high degree of uncertainty in the total acreage. NJDEP and Rutgers are working to resolve the uncertainty of these maps, and improve the total acreage estimate. Funding has also been obtained for further research and restoration activities. Several groups are developing potential restoration actions.

The USGS has completed the first phase of its study to identify minimum ecological flows in select Barnegat Bay tributaries. USGS scientists compared streamflow statistics between historical and current time periods to better understand trends in watershed flow conditions. This work provides a foundation for developing ecological flow targets in the Barnegat Bay watershed.  Similar to SAV extent, funding (approximately $450K) has been obtained by the BBP to complete the remaining phases necessary for threshold determination.

 

TARGETS ACHIEVED

No targets can be considered “Achieved” at this time.

 

NOT ACHIEVING

Several Public Swimming Beaches exceeded their safe swimming standards more frequently than during their baseline time period (2016-2018).

While most beaches are routinely safe for swimming, several problematic areas such as Beachwood, Hancock, Windward, and several lake beaches need track-down studies and restoration to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

Acres of Approved Shellfish Waters decreased from the last report. While this decrease was small, it represents a loss of previously approved waters. Similar to public beaches, track-down studies and restoration work are needed to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

 

Fishing for a Cleaner Barnegat Bay

by Emily Heiser, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Conserve Wildlife Blog  (December 8, 2018)

Derelict fishing gear continues to plague the depths of Barnegat Bay. Often lost through storm events or due to boat traffic, lost or abandoned crab pots (ghost pots) become an unintentional deathtrap for a variety of marine species and reduce otherwise harvestable resources. Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) and partners at the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (MATES), Stockton University, and American Littoral Society have been working together to recover lost pots in Barnegat Bay since 2015.  (Editor Note: This project grew out of a pilot project which was funded by the Barnegat Bay Partnership in 2012.  Stockton University and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve received the 2012 BBP grant to identify and map derelict crab traps via side-scan sonar surveys and to remove and dispose of derelict pots with the help of commercial crabbers.)

Over the course of the last three field seasons, 1,300 crab pots have been recovered and their bycatch (animals caught unintentionally along with the targeted species) has been extensively documented. Notably, CWF and MATES have been focusing on how to further help northern diamondback terrapins who often find themselves caught in ghost pots. In 2016, one pot contained the remains of 17 terrapins!

As the project partners enter the fourth field season of ghost pot collections, they hope to not only recover as may pots as possible, but also to glean further information on how the pots move in a variety of substrates and under a variety conditions.  To bring further awareness to the issue, CWF teamed up with Citizen Racecar to produce a short informational film about ghost fishing and its effects on Barnegat Bay.  Visit the CWF Facebook page to view the video.

This project is funded primarily by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with additional support by the New Jersey Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Covanta and Schnitzer Steel also support the project by recycling the metal in the retrieved crab pots.
Contact Fishing for a Cleaner Barnegat BayContact Fishing for a Cleaner Barnegat Bay
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