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Use of Gill Nets and Telemetry in Tracking Movements and Feeding Of 14 3 Abstract—The hypothesis that striped bass (Morone saxatilis), blue- Use of gill nets and telemetry in tracking fish (Pomatomus saltatrix), weakfish movements and feeding of striped bass (Cynoscion regalis), and species of forage fish would be associated close- (Morone saxatilis), bluefish (Pomatomus ly with a salinity transition front was tested through sampling and tagging saltatrix), and weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) efforts. In a small New Jersey estu- at a salinity front in a small estuary ary, a station at a salinity front and another in a nearby channel were sampled weekly with gill nets. Abun- Linda L. Stehlik (contact author) dance of bluefish was significantly John P. Manderson greater at the front, and abundance Jeffrey Pessutti of weakfish was significantly greater at the channel. Forage fish were col- lected at both stations, and the diets Email address for contact author: [email protected] of bluefish and weakfish overlapped in all seasons. Ultrasonically tagged Fisheries Ecology Branch striped bass, weakfish, and bluefish Ecosystems and Aquaculture Division were tracked concurrently, and their Northeast Fisheries Science Center home ranges, or the 95% probability National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA of their occurrences were computed. James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory Home ranges of tagged striped bass 74 Magruder Road occurred upriver and also near river Highlands, New Jersey 07732 kilometer 1. Home ranges of weak- fish were located in the midriver channels, and those of bluefish were located midriver and upriver at river kilometers 5–12. Home ranges for these 3 species were not limited to the area of the salinity front, con- trary to the initial hypothesis. Small tributaries of temperate-zone predators (North and Houde, 2001; estuaries have vital but incompletely Martino and Houde, 2010). understood roles as sources of energy The Navesink River, a flood-dom- for growth of many sought-after com- inated small tributary of the Hud- mercial and recreational fish species. son–Raritan Estuary in New Jersey In flood-dominated estuaries, tidal that borders the Mid-Atlantic Bight, movements and freshwater discharg- is used by predatory fish, forage fish, es create a salinity transition zone and invertebrate species (Shaheen et or front, where saline and riverine al., 2001; Stoner et al., 2001; Meise waters mix, with a salinity gradient and Stehlik, 2003; Scharf et al., 2004; forming both horizontally and verti- Manderson et al., 2006; Manderson cally. Turbulent mixing in this zone et al.1). Previous hydrographic stud- may produce a turbidity maximum, ies have delineated a convergence where inorganic and organic par- zone or salinity transition zone in ticulates are suspended. The frontal the upper river (Chant and Stoner, boundary allows retention of nutri- 2001; Fugate and Chant, 2005). In ents, phytoplankton, microbes, and this river system, 3 of the domi- Manuscript submitted 4 November 2015. zooplankton (Grimes and Kingsford, nant pelagic predators are bluefish Manuscript accepted 8 December 2016. 1996; Epifanio and Garvine, 2001). (Pomatomus saltatrix), striped bass Fish. Bull. 115:143–154 (2017). High freshwater discharges stabi- Online publication date: 24 January 2017. lize the duration and volume of such 1 doi: 10.7755/FB.115.2.2 Manderson, J. P., J. Pessutti, J. Rosen- a nutrient-rich habitat (Morgan et dale, and B. Phelan. 2007. Estua- al., 1997; Roman et al., 2001). It has rine habitat dynamics and telemetered The views and opinions expressed or been hypothesized that, with such movements of three pelagic fishes: scale, implied in this article are those of the complexity, behavioral flexibility and author (or authors) and do not necessarily mixing, food is concentrated for con- the development of an ecophysiologi- reflect the position of the National sumers, including larval and small- cal framework. ICES Council Meeting Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. size fish, which in turn attract larger (C.M.) Documents 2007/G:02, 36 p. 14 4 Fishery Bulletin 115(2) (Morone saxatilis), and weakfish (Cynoscion regalis). Materials and methods In estuaries, these 3 species are predators of fish and invertebrate species in varying proportions depending Study area on season and availability (Lankford and Targett, 1994; Buckel and Conover, 1997; Collette and Klein-MacPhee, The Navesink River is approximately 12 km long, ≤1.5 2002; Nemerson and Able, 2004; Rudershausen et al., km wide, and around 10 km2 in area (Fig. 1); it flows 2005; Ferry and Mather, 2012). They are frequently eastward into the Shrewsbury River, then north to sympatric and are competitors for the same prey (Hart- Sandy Hook Bay and Raritan Bay. It is a flood-domi- man and Brandt, 1995; Uphoff, 2003). In a study in nated estuary, with a 1.4-m average tidal range (Chant which gill nets were used in the Navesink River in and Stoner, 2001). The salinity front is near this upper 1998 and 1999 (Scharf et al., 2004), abundance of blue- or western end of the river (Fugate and Chant, 2005), fish was greatest at a station in the upper river in the and practical salinity ranges from ~1 in the upper Red Bank basin and was significantly correlated with Navesink River during spring freshets to ~28 at the areas of fine sediment. mouth of this river (senior author and J. Manderson, From May through October in 2006 and 2007, Man- unpubl. data). To the west, the Swimming River is the derson et al. (2014) conducted a weekly hydrograph- primary freshwater source. The upper river depth for ic study of the Navesink River from river kilometers the Navesink River averages ~2 m at high tide, and 1–12. On 12 of those weeks, they also conducted a hy- substrates are fine sand and silt with high organic con- drographic study limited to the area around the sa- tent (Chant and Stoner, 2001; Stoner et al., 2001; Meise linity front in the upper or western end of the river, and Stehlik, 2003). The lower Navesink River is char- together with fish collection and diet analysis. Con- acterized by shallow sandbars and channels (depths currently, acoustically tagged bluefish (age 0 and age up to 4 m). High-velocity tidal currents and coarse to 1+), weakfish, and striped bass were monitored by us- medium sands are found in the channels. Shallows ing receivers throughout the river to determine days and embayments in the summer and fall are vegetated of continuous occupation and movements by individu- with sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca) and other macroalgae. als of these 3 species (Manderson et al., 2014). Medi- For our studies, we designated the confluence of the an residence times in 2007 were 8 d for striped bass, Navesink and the Shrewsbury rivers as river kilometer 29 d for age-1+ bluefish, 29 d for age-0 bluefish, and 0. 47 d for weakfish. Manderson et al. (2014) concluded that the seasonal residencies of these predators in Hydrographic measurements and station locations the Navesink River were affected by 2 direct factors: variation in day length and temperature. Freshwater Weekly hydrographic surveys were made the length of discharge also affected predator residence times indi- the river from April through October, in 2007, along rectly, possibly through prey availability (Manderson transects that intersected with an array of ultrasonic et al., 2014). receivers (see Telemetry section). An SBE 25 Sealogger2 On the basis of the analyses reported in Manderson conductivity, temperature, and depth recorder (Sea-Bird et al. (2014), we hypothesized that, when freshwater Electronics Inc., Bellevue, WA) was cast at the location discharge was moderate to high, biophysical mecha- of each receiver, to measure temperature, conductivity, nisms supporting the salinity transition zone and con- pressure, dissolved oxygen, photosynthetically active centrating food resources would be maintained and radiation, turbidity, and concentration of chlorophyll- predators would chiefly reside there. We hypothesized a. Similar work was completed in 2006 with the same that, when discharge was low, the salinity transition equipment and methods (see Manderson et al.1). zone would be disrupted, resulting in a reduction in Hydrographic mapping and gill net sampling at the food resources and emigration of predators from the upstream end of the Navesink River, near the salinity zone or the entire estuary. Manderson et al. (2014) front, were conducted during 12 weeks in May through did not examine evidence extensively for testing this October 2007. Hydrographic mapping took place twice hypothesis, including examining within-estuary move- a day during daylight hours at the end of flood and ments of predators, occurrence and distributions of at the end of ebb tides, once a week on 4 consecutive prey, and diets, or the potential relationship of the weeks during each of 3 periods: spring (May), summer biota to hydrographic features in the estuary. (late July–early August), and fall (late September–ear- The objective for this study was to test the hypoth- ly October). We integrated data from a global position- esis that striped bass, bluefish, and weakfish are more ing system (GPS), the SBE 25 Sealogger, and a Hy- abundant in the vicinity of the main salinity transition drolab datasonde (OTT Hydromet, Kempten, Germany) zone or front of the Navesink River than away from that measured temperature and salinity at 1-s inter- it. We used data from hydrographic surveys, gill net vals 0.5 m below the surface. After the salinity front collections, predator diets, and telemetry to evaluate was located by using the SBE 25 Sealogger, the site of the available evidence that supports or disproves our hypothesis. The telemetry data were used to generate 2 Mention of trade names or commercial companies is for iden- daily and composite home ranges of the 3 predator spe- tification purposes only and does not imply endorsement by cies in this river. the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA.
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