July 17, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
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NEW JERSEY: Christe Administration Announces $2.1 Million in Federal Grants to Help Fishing-Related Businesses Impacted by Superstorm Sandy
July 16, 2015 — The Christie Administration announced that 266 fishing-related businesses will share more than $2.1 million in federal grants to help them recover some costs resulting from damages sustained as a result of Superstorm Sandy.
The grant program focused on helping smaller businesses. Owners of bait-and-tackle shops, commercial dealers, commercial fishermen, for-hire party and charter boat operators, marinas and those involved in shell-fish aquaculture businesses were eligible to apply to the DEP for grants of up to $10,000 to help offset some of the costs of the storm on their operations.
“The DEP and our Marine Fisheries staff have worked tirelessly since Sandy to help these businesses get back on their feet,” said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. “Our economically vital commercial and recreational fishing industries are coming back after the devastation caused by Sandy. This grant program will help our smaller fishing-related businesses recover some of their losses.”
Grants were provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a federal fishery disaster declaration for states impacted by Sandy.
Applicants had to document a minimum of $5,000 in losses as a result of Sandy. Grants were awarded to help with repair or replacement of equipment that was not covered by other programs. Activities already paid for out-of-pocket as part of a business’ or individual’s recovery effort also were eligible.
Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald
NEW JERSEY: Shellfish mother lode found off Cape May
LOWER TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Press of Atlantic City) — July 10, 2015 — It may be fortunate that nobody has asked Dvora Hart to count the Atlantic sea scallops recently captured by camera images off the New Jersey coast.
Hart, a mathematical biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, knows numbers. She could count that high. The problem: It would take awhile.
“Ten billion is my best guess. It’s probably conservative and it’s very preliminary,” said Hart.
It’s being called one of the biggest scallop sets ever recorded, eclipsing one in 2003 fishermen harvested for years. The estimate of 10 billion is only for the most concentrated area, scallop grounds called the Elephant Trunk just southeast of Cape May covering more than 1,500 square nautical miles. The set actually extends as far north as Long Island and Block Island and as far south as the Delmarva Peninsula. Hart is still working on the overall numbers.
“The big concentration is southern New Jersey, a little north of Cape May, down to Delaware. You start to see them at 35 meters and the highest density is 50 to 60 meters. They drop off at 70 to 80 meters,” said Hart.
NOAA’s underwater camera recorded about 4 million images off the Mid-Atlantic coast earlier this year. Each picture is one square meter of ocean floor and Hart was seeing up to 350 scallops per image. Hart, the chief scallop assessment scientist with NOAA, puts that into perspective.
“Normally we’d see one scallop per square meter, which is actually good recruitment. We had a wide range of more than 100 per square meter and several places where they were on the order of 350 per square meter. This is an extreme event. It’s pretty amazing,” said Hart.
The find is great news for the Port of Cape May, where scallops are still the No. 1 catch but recent East Coast harvest cutbacks, about 20 percent averaged over the last two years, hurt the industry.
Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City
N.J. ocean blasting research completed; Fishermen halt fight to stop it
July 9, 2015 — Seismic testing that involved blasting the ocean floor off the New Jersey shore with sound waves has been completed, and fishing groups have stopped seeking a court order to halt it.
Five fishing groups had sued to stop the research, led by Rutgers University and involving the National Science Foundation, and the University of Texas, claiming it disturbs and possibly harms marine life including dolphins, whales, turtles and many fish species.
But in a joint court filing Wednesday, both sides acknowledged the testing had been completed on Monday, and that a restraining order shutting it down is no longer needed. The lawsuit itself remains active.
Gregory Mountain of Rutgers, the lead researcher, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the survey teams managed to cover 95 percent of the target area off Long Beach Island.
The project used sound waves to study sediment on the ocean floor dating back 60 million years to see how sea level rise has changed the coastline. They also say the research can help coastal communities understand sea level change over millions of years to better protect against storms like Superstorm Sandy. The findings could be used to help make decisions on where to elevate houses, build protective barriers, relocate critical infrastructure or retreat from certain spots.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at NorthJersey.com
Gender-bending fish under Rutgers microscope
July 7, 2015 — We’ll say this for the sea bass: It’s sure good at keeping its options open.
If it surveys the mating landscape and fails to see enough prospects, it simply switches gender.
Problem solved.
This ability bodes well for New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fishing industry, for it offers natural protection from over-fishing, says one Rutgers researcher.
A fish may begin life as a female, only to switch to male if that looks like it will improve its chances of reproduction. Smaller males, called “sneaker males,” may impersonate females so they can fertilize eggs on the sly without attracting hostile attention from other males.
“The relative benefit of being male or female changes throughout their lives,” said Olaf Jensen of Rutgers’ department of marine and coastal science.
But until lately, no one has really known how often sea bass switch genders, or when that switch typically takes place.
And why should anyone but a marine biologist care?
Because without understanding what’s happening, state fishing bureaucrats have no firm idea on how to set catch limits for the fishing industry.
New Jersey fugitive arrested for unlicensed fishing
July 2, 2015 — A Middletown man considered a fugitive of New Jersey was arrested and charged with unlicensed fishing near St. Georges, Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police said.
Robert J. Ballinghoff, 22, was charged with unlicensed fishing on the C&D Canal on June 23, in addition to undisclosed charges from New Jersey, Cpl. John McDerby said.
The last of the Jersey Shore fishing piers
VENTNOR, N.J. — July 2, 2015 — Some days on the fishing pier, all you catch is a breeze, some sunburn and bloodworm guts on your pants.
No matter how much you emulate the old-timers, copying their baits and mimicking their little twitches with the rod, sometimes you just haul in seaweed while “Harold the cement guy,” “Father Frank” and “Kenny the cop” are killing kingfish left and right.
That’s why they call it “fishing, not catching,” one saying goes. If that one doesn’t make a flustered fisherman feel better, the regulars and ringers who can’t seem to miss a fish will tell you “a day out fishing always beats a day at work” and that’s hard to argue against – unless you’re Lou Kanter.
“Some guys are here an hour and that’s it. That’s me. If I’m not catching nothing it’s like golf. I can’t hit the ball for nothing. It’s so aggravating when I golf and to me fishing is the same way. Some people think it’s relaxing. Yeah, it’s relaxing if you’re catching something,” Kanter, the affable piermaster at the Ventnor Fishing Pier, said on a recent weekday morning.
“You’ve got the same people here every day, usually. Some guys just come out here to put a cigar in their mouth and talk to their buddies. Other guys can fish. I’ll ask Harold, ‘How many fish you catch today?’ and he’ll say ‘Oh, I caught about eight kingfish today.’ Harold does cement.”
There are a million reasons to visit the Jersey Shore, although millions of tourists and residents do the same few things: beach, boardwalks, clam bars, regular bars and roller coasters.
There are also, according to New Jersey’s Division of Fish & Wildlife, about a dozen saltwater fishing piers in the state that don’t see the same crowds but offer unrivaled views, fish stories, an ocean of stars at night and sometimes even fish, depending on the tides.
Fishing groups ask court to halt Atlantic Ocean seismic testing
POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. (AP) — July 1, 2015 — Five fishing groups are asking a federal court to stop a research program that blasts the ocean floor with sound waves, arguing it’s disturbing marine life off the coast of New Jersey.
The lawsuit filed Friday seeks a halt to the program being carried out by Rutgers University, the University of Texas and the National Science Foundation.
The project uses sound waves to study sediment on the ocean floor dating back 60 million years to see how sea level rise has changed the coastline, and better plan for storms like Superstorm Sandy.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at My9 New Jersey
Rare Amazonian Fish With Human-Like Teeth Caught in a New Jersey Lake
June 23, 2015 — This fish has a great smile.
Ron and Frank Rossi caught the non-native Pacu at Swedes Lake in New Jersey on Sunday, ABC affiliate WPVI reported.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before in the lake. It was different,” Frank Rossi told WPVI.