.. """ . Technical Report New Jersey Estuaries Finfish Resource Assessment Phase I: Literature Summarv.., Kenneth W. Able and Susan C. Kaiser Det.-ember l W4 Marine Field Statiun . d Coastal St:tences [nstitute ot Manne a_n .. f New Jersey 1 Rumers. The State U mverstty l K087 • Tuckenon. New Jersey 0 Contribution g4-xx TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ii LIST OF FIGURES ii I?'JTRODLCTION SCOPE RESULTS 2 Finfish Literature Summaries by Estuary Fiufish Literature Re'View.~ by E~tullfy LITERATURE CITED 60 APPENDIX 1: Checklist of New Jersey Estuarine Fishes 69 APPENDIX II: List of Unavailable and/or Marginal Literurure 77 LIST OF T.-\BLES TJble i. List llf estuanne syo.;rems ror finfish literature summaries 3 Table 2. List ot common and scientific.: names of fishes in summaries 5 Table 3-1: Finfish literature summary for Hudson River 9 Table 3-2. Finfish literature summary for Newark Bay 17 Table 3-3. Finfish literature summary for Raritan River & BayiNew York Harbur 18 Table 3-..J.. Finfish literature summary for Sandy Hook Bay 20 Table 3-5. Finfish literature summary for Shark River 23 Table 3-6. Finfish literuture sununary fm Manasquan Ri'fer 24 Table 3-7. Finfish liter..tture summary for Barnegat Bay 26 Table 3-X. Finfish liter..tture summary for Little Egg Harbor 34 Table 3-lJ. Finfish literature summary for Mullic.:a River & Great Bay 38 Table 3-10. Finfish litemture summary for Brig-..tntine 45 Table 3-ll. Finfish literature :mmll14lry for Great Egg Harbor 47 Table 3-12. Finfish literature summary for Corson\ fnlet ..J.X Table 3-13. Finfish literJture summary for Townsend's Inlet 49 Table 3-14. Finf~h liter..tture sununary for Hereford Inlet 50 Table 3-15. Finfish literature sununary for Cape May Inlet 51 Table 3-Io. Finfish literature summary for Delaware River & Bay 52 LIST OF FIGURI<:S Figure l. Locations of estuarine systems for finfiSh literature summaries 4 ii INTRODlJCTION .\Jew Jcr.·.~y"s estuaries are under continued pressure as more and more people utilize rhe coasra1 zone tor housing. recreation and industry. This increased utilization is often accompanied by decreased water yualiry and degradation of habitat. At the same rime. rhese estuaries are important habitat for many finfishes that are economically important for borh commercial and recrearionaf fisheries. In fact. the finfish resources in New Jersey estuaries are composed of a diverse army of fishes represented by 9R species in 46 families (Appendix n. These species vary in their life hisrories and in rhe manner in which they use estuaries. They include residents. which spend their entire life cycJe.s in the estuary. as well as migrmts. The latter comprise an especially important component becau~e rhe~e ·s'f)ecies dominate the fisheries for the region (e.g .. summer tlounder. weaktish. ere.). This rich fauna with a diversirv of life histories and modes of estuarine utilization make management of . ~ these resources difficult without an adequate assessment of our current knowledge. [n addition. the variety of estuarine types that are found in rhe srare make gener.tfizations about finfish resources difficult. [n this report. we have assembled the available liremture (both gmy and primary) on finfish resources in New Jersey estuarine systems in order to provide resource managers with an easv-ro-use reference that identifies the literature available for ~ . each estuarine system. To this end. we have divided the esruarine waters of New Jersey into 16 systems (Table l. Figure I). For each estuary we describe each litemrure source wirh respect to rhe type of ;.tssessment. sample region. duration of study. number of stations. frequency of sampling. deptll sampled. environmental pammeters measured. gear used and the number of specimens collected. Throughout the report the common names of fishes are used. however scientific names are al~o provided in Table 2. SCOPE Our literature review focuses on papers that contain temporal and spatial information on New Jersey estuarine fishes. The extent of the covemge varies somewhat with each estuary. For example. only a small portion of the Hudson River is in New Jersey territorial waters. As a result. we emphasized the information from New Jersey waters but also listed papers that contained 1 1nformanon on migratory species that. of necessity. pass rhrough the New Jersey portion or the lower Hudson River on rheir way upstream. In other instances. the estuaries a,re discrete bodies of water te.g .. Shark River. J\:lana.squan Riven while others such as- back bay estuaries te.g .. Corson's Inlet and Townsend's Inlet csruaries 1 are somewhat arbitrarily defined. Pertinent literarure that we were nor able to obtain for review as well as papers that are marginal ro our focus tiacking ·'Patiat and tempomi information) are listed by esruarine system in Appendix II for the sake of completeness. Numerous genemi works on finfish in New Jersey waters that are nor estuarine specific are also listed in Appendix II. The available literature varied greatiy among estuaries. Those esruaries with nuciear power plants (i.e .. Delaware Bay. Barnegat ay were ex e s· of the required environmental impact statements and monitoring activities. Other estuaries have received additional attention because they are surrounded by large hwnan populations and associated impacts (i.e .• Hud-;on River. Raritan Bay and River J. The small size of other estuaries probably accounted for the small amount of information available (i.e .• Shark River. Manasquan Riven. In some estuaries. the location of field stations associated with academic institutions. such as the Hereford Inlet estuary (Lehigh University) and Mullica River & Great Bay (Rutgers University). have fostered more intensive studies. ln general. the back bay estuaries south of Great Bav. have received less attention. Ft.!w svsrems. are so well known that the effect of human impacrs (i.e .. dredging. oil spills. ere. I could he easily assessed. We do not consider the listing of litemrure complete. In large part. this is due to the relative inaccessibilitv of much of the !!rJ.V litemrure. In order to make . ~ . this list a') complete as possible for future reference. comments on any errors or omissions in this report are welcome and may be addressed to the senior author. 2 f;Jble i. :...::-.ring of rhe l 6 'iew J~rsey estuarme systems ;J:-, defined r"11r rhe finfish literature 'ummary. I. Hudson River 1 lower pnnion adjacent w New Jersey 1 ll. \iewark Bay 1indudinl! Hackensack River. Passaic River. Arthur Kill. Kill van Kulll liL Raritan River & Bay 1 New York Harbor 1including Upper ami Lower New York bays) IV. Sandv Honk Hav lindudinu Swimrnini!/Navesink and Shrewsburv riversJ ... a. - .... • V. Shark River VI. \fanasquan River VII. Barnegat Bay 1induding Metedecunk River. Kettle Creek. Silver Bay. Toms River. Cedar Creek. Furked River. Oyster Creek! VIII. Little Egg Harbor 1including Mill Creek. Westecunk Creek. Tw.:kenon Creek) IX. \fullica River & Great Hav cindudinc Bass and Wudinc riversl . ~ - X. Brigantine cinduding Little Bay. Reeds Bay. Absecon Bayl XI. ( ;reat Egg Harbor River and Bay 1induding Lakes Bay. Scull Bay. Patc.:ong Creek. Great Egg Harbor River. Tuckahoe Riven XII. Corson's Inlet I including Ludlum.'i Bay) XIII. Tuwnsend's Inlet Cinduding Great Sound) XIV. Herefurd Inlet Cinduding Grassy Sound. Jenkins Sound. Taylors Sound) XV. Cape May Inlet finduding Jarvis Suundl XVI. Delaware River & Bay (including Dennis Creek. East Creek. West Creek. Maurk.-c River' Estuary. Dividing Creek. Oranoaken Creek. Cedar Creek. Back Creek. Cohansey River. Stow Creek. Madhurse Creek. Hope Creek. Alloway Creek. Salem Creek. Oldmans Creek. Woodbury Creek. Rancocas Creek. Crosswick Creekl 3 Figure I. Locations of sixteen (I-XVI) New Jersey estuarine systems identified for the finfish literature summary phase of this program. 4- Table 2. C.11nmon names or ri:-:hes mat appear in literature su111rnarv rabies and their scientific names 1i:>J.,ed on Rubbins et ;.d. llJLJ ll. COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME alewife AW.sa pseuds!harent,:us American shad AJ.asa sapjdissima Atlantic croaker ~~~,~Mjci-{lJj!'ll:onias"JJDfliililltfS-_~~- + • ·----- --~---- ~- --·----- -- ·--- -------- ------ Atlantic menhaden Breyonrria tyrnnnus Atlantic silverside Ylenjdja menjdja .-\tlantic scurgeon Adpenser oxyrbym;bus bay anchovy Ancboa mitrbi IIi black drum P<u:onjas ~ blueback herring A1us.a aestjyalb bluefish Pomammus !ialtatrjx brown bullhead Ameiyrus neby!osus channel carfish ktalums punrt;Jtus inland silverside Menjdja beryllina mummk:hog Fundulus beremr!jtus northern kingfish Menticirrhys ~ax:atilis nonhero pipefish Syn~nathys ~ northern puffer Sphoen,ides macu!atus northern seawbin Prionprus t:arn!jnus -.;hormose sturgeon .:\dpenser breyjn '"trum spot Lejoswmus ~aothurus spottin killifish Enndul us .lucia~! striped bass Morone saxatilis striped searobin Prionmus eyplans summer t111Under Jlaralit.:htbys deotatus tau tug Tautoga i.!IliJii toadfish Qpsanus liW three-spine stickleback Apcltes qwuiracus weakfish Cynosrion ~ white cattish Amcjurus WWlS white perch Mornne americana winter flounder Plcnronectes ameriranus 5 Finfish Literature Summaries bv Estuar:v file rntil~'.ving accuums broadiv chac.u.:rerize rhe finfish literature w~ ilave summarized for the tn ~'tuarme s\·srems listed in Table I. L Hudson River. Spedes-speciiic studies primarily focus on striped bass and white perch. lrnpmgemenr and entrainment mortalities in power plant st:reens are examined tor both species. as well as r'or Atlantic torncod. Ameril:an shad. alewife. bav anchovv. and bluebm:k herrinc . .'vlnreover. species composition and distribution. PCB a~cumulattun. population dynamics. and life history studies are presented for many of the aforementioned species. Other geneml studies include macrofauna! ichthyopiankton surveys and review studies involving fisheries and tish habitat use. .. II. Newark Bay. Species-specitic studies include the use of the Hackensack River by Atlantic tomcml and contaminants rn .~triped bass. Other studies are surveys or reviews of prior work that fucus on r'ish distribution and habitat use.