Bonnie Audino’s 31.5 pound Taunton
River striped bass caught when trolling a T-man tube & worm with her
husband Larry. As required on 34” or larger recreational fish the right
pectoral fin has been cut.
Warm water moving fish in and out of region
Climate
change and warming water is impacting the location and numbers of important
fish species on the east coast.
A
study published in Progress in
Oceanography titled “Marine species distribution shifts on the
U.S. Northeast Continental Shelf under continued ocean warming”, shows that some fish species
are gaining more natural habitat in northern regions and others are losing
suitable habitat.
Those
gaining habitat include spiny dogfish, summer flounder, black sea bass, and
lobsters. Yet we are losing suitable habitat
for such species as American cod, haddock, thorny skate and Acadian redfish
because the water is too warm and the fish are moving to deeper water.
The
projections indicate that as species shift from one management jurisdiction to
another, or span state and federal jurisdictions, there will be an increased need
for collaboration among management groups to set quotas and establish
allocations.
“Species
that are currently found in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and on Georges Bank may have
enough suitable habitat in the future because they can shift northward as
temperatures increase,” said lead author Kristin Kleisner, formerly
of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC)‘s Ecosystems Dynamics and
Assessment Branch and now a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund.
“Species
concentrated in the Gulf of Maine, where species have shifted to deeper water
rather than northward, may be more likely to experience a significant decline
in suitable habitat and move out of the region altogether. Given the historical changes observed on the
Northeast Shelf over the past five decades and confidence in the projection of
continued ocean warming in the region, it is likely there will be major changes
within this ecosystem.” said Kleisner.
In
a press release this week, the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) said, “Scientists used a high-resolution global climate model and
historical observations of species distributions on the Northeast U.S. Shelf and
found commercially important species will continue to shift their distribution
as ocean waters warm two to three times faster than the global average through
the end of this century. Projected increases in surface to bottom waters of 6.6
to 9 degrees F from current conditions are expected.”
It
is important to note that sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have
warmed faster than 99 percent of the global ocean over the past decade.
Northward shifts of many species has already occurred from one management
jurisdiction to another. These changes will directly affect fishing
communities, as species now landed at those ports move out of range, and new
species move in.
A copy of the article can be
found at www.sciencedirect.com
.
Black sea bass regulations changing
NOAA
Fisheries announced revised 2017 and projected 2018 catch limits for black sea
bass taking effect May 25, 2017 for both recreational and commercial
fisheries. The revisions were instituted
because of the recent benchmark stock assessment completed in December, 2016.
Based
on the new stock assessment information, NOAA is implementing revisions to the
2017 black sea bass specifications that represent a 53-percent increase in the
2017 commercial quota, and a 52-percent increase in the 2017 recreational
harvest limit.
Additionally,
NOAA is removing an accountability measure that
was applied to the 2017 commercial fishery at the beginning of the fishing year
to account for a previous overage in 2015. At press time Rhode
Island commercial quotas and recreation fishing harvest limits had not been
revised.
Trout Unlimited meeting May 31
The Narragansett Chapter of Trout
Unlimited (TU225) will hold its monthly meeting and seminar on Wednesday, May
31, 6:00 p.m. at the Arcadia Management Area Check Station, Rt. 165, (Ten Rod
Road), Wood River, Exeter, RI.
Members and guests are invited to
come at 5:00 p.m. for hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, chips, and soda/water. Park Regulations for the Arcadia Management
Area do NOT permit consumption of alcohol.
At 6:00 p.m. a short meeting will
be followed by a spey casting demonstration by Vinny Diodato. Those wishing to
participate are invited to bring their own equipment. A limited supply of loaner gear will be
available.
Contact Glenn Place at
1-401-225-7712 or TU225President@gmail.com for information.
Where’s the bite
Freshwater fishing held up well last week with a variety of species
being caught. Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait
& Tackle, Warren said, “Anglers are catching smallmouth and largemouth
bass, trout and everything in-between at Stafford Pond and other ponds in the
area.” Mike Wade of Watch Hill
Outfitters, Westerly said, “With the cooler weather the fresh water fishing has
held up pretty good. We have actually extending
the trout season with good numbers of fish being caught in waterways stocked by
DEM.” Dave Henault of Ocean State
Tackle, Providence said, “Carp fishing remains very strong as well as the large
and smallmouth bass bite. Customers are
buying shiners to fish for bass and then coming back for more.”
Squid fishing. Capt. Frank
Blount, owner of the Frances Fleet, reported some improved squid fishing this
past Friday Night with a really nice shot of good size tubes later in the
evening and a few anglers filling upwards to a half of a four or five gallon
pail apiece.
“Striped
bass fishing for school bass in the ponds has been very good and
anglers are catching 28” to 32” bass at the north end of Block Island using
Diamond jigs. And last night Andrew Crocker, an associate here, caught a 22”
squeteague in Salt Pond using a Ronz lure.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor
Marina. Large numbers of fish being caught
in the Bay with larger ones just starting to be caught. Bonnie Audino caught a 31.5 pound striped
bass on her husband Larry’s boat when trolling a T-Man tube and work in the Tauton
River. Jeff Ingver of Ocean State Tackle, Providence said, “We have reports of
customers catching 34” and 35” fish right at the Hurricane Barrier in
Providence with fish even being caught inside the Barrier. The bite is all on pogies most are chucking
rather than live lining with success.” “Customers
caught 42” and a 44” fish in the Bay, one was caught trolling a Niner umbrella
rig and the second on a pogie.” said Macedo. “School striped bass are being caught from
southern coastal beaches and in South County ponds where worm hatches have
occurred on warm days last week. Not many fish over 28” are being caught but a
volume of school bass are in the area.” said Mike Wade of Watch Hill
Outfitters. Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait
& Tackle said, “The bass bite is on in the Bay, we landed six nice fish in
the 20 to 30 pound range one day with a modest effort when fishing the East
Passage of the Bay.”
Fluke
fishing has been pretty good in the Bay with anglers landing fish to 22”
in the Greenwich Bay/Warwick Light area.
Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters said, “Fisheries Island and
Misquamicut have been pretty good with customer catching a 21”, even a 24” fish
last week.” “Customers fishing for fluke
are saying it has been hard to catch a 19” fish in the Bay, but things are just
starting so fluke fishing should improve this week as the water warms.” said Manny
Macedo of Lucky Bait. Reports of fish
being caught along the south shore on the RISSA blog from several anglers,
places like Green Hill, Nebraska Shoal are yielding shorts with keepers mixed
in to 21”. Matt Conti of Snug Harbor
said “Customers are catching fluke on the southwest side of Block Island and in
the Green Hill area.”
Scup
and black sea bass. “The scup bite is just
starting to heat up with customers catch nice sized fish at Colt State Park.”
Said Manny Macedo. The black sea bass
bite has been slow put is expected to get better this week as the water warms
with a season start date of May 25 with a three fish/person/day limit.
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