NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

Not sure if anyone has seen this.. its pretty lengthy, and quite interesting...
bob


http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mfr524/mfr5241.pdf

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

Great read thanks for posting this here.. I really like reading about the history of our area and fisheries.

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

I don't even know how I stumbled across it. Its just kind of sad when you see the commercial poundage figures of 100 + years ago. This bay/estuary complex was absolutely stiff with life.. The shellfish pic from Keyport is mind boggling... bob

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

Got my first boat in the mid 80s and back then the bay was practically a cesspool. Lots of towns without any treatment centers dumping raw sewage in all the rivers leading into the bay, oil spills were common place. Thankfully that changed and the water has improved a lot, so has the fishing.

Interesting to know the channels are not natural and how they effect the fishing.

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

I will have to respectfully disagree about the improved fishing Gerry.. I lived right on top of Raritan Bay in the town of Union Beach in the 80's and the amount of fish caught in the bay during those years was staggering.. We didn't have the stripers in the numbers we see today, but masses of weakfish, fluke, blues and flounder made up for it.. I even had good fishing in the bay for blackfish, porgies, kingfish and blowfish if you knew where to go. The water had a lot of life in it, but at times, I will concede there was a LOT of floating garbage during that time frame, which I always thought came from the Fresh Kills landfill across the bay. I don't doubt there were water quality issues i was unaware at the time, but geez, there were so many fish I guess we just weren't thinking along those lines. There was just a ton less pressure on the fish in the bay 30+ years ago as well, and I imagine that played a part in the big numbers we used to see .. bob

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

I hear you on the Weakies and Flounders. Seems like they are non existent now.

It would be interesting to know what the fishing pressure is now compared to back then.... Last several years I think the fishing pressure has actually lightened up. The economy, boat Boat prices, fuel prices, kids don't seem as interested etc.

I would guess if you asked the party boat captains, they carried a lot more fares back in the 80s then they do now but I could be totally off here.

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

I got an old book on offshore fishing from the 30's and it said they put out the cedar plugs for tuna as soon as they got to the end of the hook.

There was a lot more fish back then including species we never see anymore like sheepshead.

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

Great read, very fascinating stuff.

Re: NOAA- History of Raritan Bay fisheries...
 

I wonder what the bay was like in the 50's and 60's... Thats before I fished it much.. My earliest memories in the mid 60's were of the Shrewsbury River and the ocean not the bay so much, although I do recall LOTS of weaks to about 15 inches and lots of small porgies in a rental skiff on Staten Island in about 1965.. Mostly flounder and eels in the river, and scads of blowfish off the jetties.. In the days the Hacky and Passaic, as well as the Hudson and Raritan Rivers were poison.. I can recall years as a kid when only killies lived in the Passaic River... It could not have been good for the Bay, but there was still life there, and from what I can recall, a lot of life...
I often wonder whats worse,,, Pollution or extreme pressure?... Seems pollution was a bigger problem until the 80's or so, and then as the water cleaned up, the NY/NJ population exploded and high pressure became more of an issue.. Yet the bay still has a lot going for it.. Its a very productive expanse of water. I doubt there is any bay anywhere that has the fish populations of SH/RB, even with the pressure it gets... bob