AndyS

[Almaink]

I was reading the latest F&G council minutes and low and behold they were talking about Andy and his clean up work on page 4. Congrats glad to see your work is recognized and thanks for all you do Andy. They also discussed the dam removals and return of Strippers.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2016/minutes/fgc06-14-16.pdf

[AndyS]

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
NJ FISH AND GAME COUNCIL
Central Region Office
Robbinsville, New Jersey June 14, 2016
Councilman Agust Gudmundsson had no Federation report but did report on Andrew Still who has been running river cleaning ups on the Raritan mainstem. During the last few weeks Mr.
Still has posted pictures of striped bass in the Raritan River between New Brunswick and Bound Brook. He has taken people out and they have caught between 50 and 60 striped bass, sizes of
12 – 16 inches in an hour. Some were collected as samples for part of a study being done by Rutgers. Apparently the removal of the low head dams is making a big difference.

Chief Lisa Barno, Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries, agreed that the cleanup done by Mr. Still on the Lower Raritan River has no doubt helped increase angling in that section of the river. She noted she did not share Councilman's Gudmundsson's enthusiasm for the increase in reports of Striped Bass in the river as they do not help the struggling shad population.

[SPEARFISH]

Great work!

[AndyS]

So Lisa is upset the native fish like Striped Bass are eating fish like native American Shad, I feel like a cat chasing my tail. NJF&G is scared of the Raritan river and I don't know why. Maybe address the fact that the 20 year old fish ladder doesn't work instead of worrying about a robust Striped Bass population.

[Taco Blanco]

So Lisa is upset the native fish like Striped Bass are eating fish like native American Shad, I feel like a cat chasing my tail. NJF&G is scared of the Raritan river and I don't know why. Maybe address the fact that the 20 year old fish ladder doesn't work instead of worrying about a robust Striped Bass population.

I think njf&g feels that American Water has interests in the Raritan from Spruce Run down to and including the fish ladder. More evidence of shad and stripers in the Raritan might push njf&g to put pressure on American Water to do something with the existing dam.
Does Lisa realize the stripers Andy caughf were smaller than the shad ?
I nominate Andy to take over that job, he and August would make a good team.