Saving Seafood

Rutgers Scientists Help Shore Fish Harvesters Implement Adaptive Strategies to Climate Change

October 18, 2023 — New Jersey’s coastal fishers vulnerable to some of global warming’s harshest effects

For hundreds of years, business owners engaged in New Jersey’s commercial fisheries industry have weathered adversity, from coastal storms to species shifts. Recognizing this resilience, and acknowledging the challenges posed by global climate change, Rutgers scientists have come to their assistance.

One of the results of recent efforts is a guide that researchers have developed for marine businesses, A Resilience Checklist for New Jersey’s Commercial Fishing Industry.

Lisa Auermuller, director of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and based in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), worked with a number of Rutgers scientists on the effort, including Douglas Zemeckis, a marine extension agent, and Eleanor Bochenek, the retired director of the Fisheries Cooperative Center, and Richard Lathrop, director of the Rutgers Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis.

Read the full article at Rutgers

Rutgers Cooperative Extension to Host Introductory Fisheries Science for Stakeholders (IFISSH) Course

January 11, 2022 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Rutgers Cooperative Extension is offering an introductory fisheries science course for stakeholders of New Jersey’s marine fisheries. The Introductory Fisheries Science for Stakeholders (IFISSH) course covers topics related to fisheries biology, oceanography, surveys of marine fishery resources, collection of commercial and recreational fishery catch data, stock assessments, and fisheries management.

Classes will be held weekly via Zoom on Tuesday evenings (6:30 – 9:00 p.m.) from February 1 through April 5. The program fee is $30.00 per person. Register by January 27 at this link or by contacting Kelly Jurgensen at kjurgensen@co.ocean.nj.us or 732-349-1152.

Visit the IFISSH web page or download the course flyer for additional details.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Douglas Zemeckis (County Agent III – Assistant Professor), Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Rutgers University at zemeckis@njaes.rutgers.edu or 732-349-1152.

 

Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund Data Proves Anglers’ Concerns

November 28, 2016 — The results of a recent collaborative study between researchers at Rutgers University and Stockton University of New Jersey, the University of Rhode Island, and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, NY and Cornell University may hold the key to bold new management changes in the summer flounder fishery.

The research project, Sex and Length of Summer Flounder Discards in the Recreational Fishery, NJ to RI, spanned the 2016 summer flounder recreational season beginning May 23 and continuing through September 16. Samples were collected aboard for-hire recreational fishing vessels from selected ports in New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island, and were supplemented by a series of back bay, shallow water trips.

Samples were collected from stations ranging in depth from 5 to 95 feet and spanning a latitudinal range from just off the coast of Delaware to coastal Rhode Island. According to the survey results, sex-at-length data was collected for a total of 2,243 discard-sized fish and 842 legal-sized fish.

Researchers say lab analysis findings confirm prior observations that female summer flounder dominate the recreational catch, although it was also demonstrated that this does not hold below the legal size limit where fish smaller than the legal limit were predominately male. On average, across all ports, dates and depths, the sex ratio approximates 50:50 at 15.35 inches in length, with males dominant in the size classes less than that mark and females dominant above the 15.35-inch (39 cm) mark.

Read the full story at The Fisherman