April 29, 2016 — With winter flounder said to be almost nonexistent, Anne McElroy of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences asked the East Hampton Town Trustees at a meeting on Monday to endorse the collection of data this summer in Napeague Harbor to find out why.
Ms. McElroy said not only were recreational landings of adult winter flounder in New York’s inland waters almost nonexistent but mortality for juveniles appears higher in Long Island waters than elsewhere. The study being planned would be funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service and include a random survey of waterways from Napeague to Jamaica Bay. The goal, she said, is to incrementally rebuild the stocks.
Genetic studies in 2010 and 2011 had found that winter flounder in Long Island waters come from a very small parental stock, she said. As few as 1,200 fish contributed to the individuals at six study sites across the island, with fewer than 200 contributing in some bays. “This was very troubling. The more diversity in the gene pool, the more ability to respond to changes in the environment,” she said.
The Stony Brook team is to count and measure all winter flounder to estimate mortality and to take samples from up to 50 fish to assess responses to stress, among other factors affecting the fishery. A caging study in three areas of Shinnecock Bay will collect up to 450 additional fish in an effort to determine optimum locations for caged fish, an effort to shield juveniles from predators. Mortality rates in and outside the cages will be measured, along with dissolved oxygen, salinity, and temperature.