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Save the Date: Barnegat Bay Festival on June 5th
This year's Barnegat Bay Festival promises to be the best yet! Join us for a day of free family fun on Sunday, June 5th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m at the Wanamaker field in Island Heights. Enjoy a wide range of free programs and activities, including eco-tours by pontoon boat or kayak, seining demonstrations, Jenkinson's Aquarium touch tank, Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge live animals, environmental crafts, and music. Browse the offerings of local artisans, eat some delicious food, and take home a native plant for your yard. A full listing of programs, activities, and vendors will be available on our website in May.
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Surveying River Herring Runs in Barnegat Bay Streams
by Ceili Pestalozzi, Barnegat Bay Partnership Field Technician
The river herrings are running, and our field technicians are trying to catch them! This spring the Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP) is monitoring and assessing the spawning run of herring in coastal streams of the Barnegat Bay watershed.
River herring is a common name for two species of fish -- alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis). These fish species are "anadromous," which means they live as adults in the ocean and migrate up freshwater streams and rivers just long enough to spawn (release eggs) before returning to the ocean. Mature alewife start to run in freshwater streams when water temperatures reach about 50°F, which usually occurs in early March in New Jersey. The blueback herring run usually starts three to four weeks later.
Once the eggs hatch, the juveniles stay in freshwater streams and lakes during the summer. As water temperatures become cooler in the fall, they move downstream to coastal rivers and estuaries before migrating into the ocean.
Because they are anadromous, river herrings serve an important role in the food chain of both freshwater stream and ocean ecosystems. They have also been an important fishery in North America for hundreds of years.
Unfortunately, river herring populations have undergone a steep decline along the Atlantic coast in recent years. Contributing factors include spawning habitat (stream) degradation, dams that impede movement upstream, overfishing, and increased predation by striped bass. Due to concern about declining populations, New Jersey and several other states have closed their river herring fisheries, and NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service has listed both alewife and blueback herring as "species of concern."
One way to better understand river herring populations is through catch-and-release studies. Herrings are caught in nets while migrating upstream and information such as length, weight, and age recorded for each fish before releasing them.
This year the Barnegat Bay Partnership field crew is setting nets for river herrings in four streams and rivers that flow into the bay. The survey continues a monitoring study we conducted last year in streams which had documented runs in the 1970s. In 2016 we are changing some of our sampling sites and methods slightly to better assess whether or not herrings are still spawning in these streams.
Research like this will provide valuable information to fisheries managers about the current status of river herring populations in our region. The results could help us choose areas that are important for restoration or protection. With careful management informed by thorough research, we may be able to increase river herring populations in the Barnegat Bay watershed.
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Photo on left: BBP Field Technician gently scaping a few scales from a blueback herring. Rings on the scales are counted to determine the age of the fish. Photo on right: Taking a small clipping from the fin of a blueback herring. Clippings are mailed to a laboratory in California for DNA analysis.
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Annual Report Available Online
Want to learn more about the Barnegat Bay Partnership's research projects? Our Annual Report for 2015-2016 gives an overview of our latest efforts in scientific research, education, and restoration for the Barnegat Bay. Read it online.
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Volunteers Needed for
"Paddle for the Edge 2016"
Do you have a kayak, canoe, or stand-up paddleboard? The Barnegat Bay Partnership is looking for paddling enthusiasts to help collect important data about the condition of shorelines along the bay. With many miles of shoreline, our scientists can't do it alone -- we need the help of citizen science volunteers like you!
In 2015, the BBP launched the first "Paddle for the Edge" event. Volunteers paddled a total of 20 miles of shoreline and collected more than 650 data points with their smartphones. Visit our
website to see an interactive map of the 2015 survey points and to learn more about this study.
We are continuing our survey of the bay's shoreline in 2016. The time period for collecting data this year will be June 18th through July 5th. Spend just a few hours on the water anytime during these dates recording some basic information at a series of points and help us reach our goal.
Interested? Before being assigned a section of shoreline to survey, you will first need to attend one of the following training sessions:
June 8th 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Tuckerton Seaport
Register here
June 9th 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Ocean County College Southern Education Center
Register here
June 13th 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Toms River Library
Register here
Questions? Email Paddle4TheEdge@gmail.com.
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Young volunteer at a native plant demonstration garden in Jakes Branch County Park.
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Is Your Yard Jersey-Friendly?
As warmer weather entices us outdoors, we begin thinking about what to plant in our yards or maybe even consider starting a whole new landscaping project.
If your goal is to have a yard that's beautiful, low-maintenance, and friendly to the environment and wildlife, then look no further than the Barnegat Bay Partnership's
Jersey-Friendly Yards website for information.
Learn how to start with healthy soil, landscape with native plants, avoid invasive plants, reduce fertilizer and pesticide use, conserve water, provide habitat for wildlife, and much more. Try the site's "Interactive Yard" and experience the steps to Jersey-Friendly landscaping, search the
Plant Database and create a custom plant list for the specific conditions in your yard, and locate nurseries that sell native plants.
A Jersey-Friendly landscape is low-maintenance and friendly to our wallets, saving time and money. It's also the key to improving water quality in the Barnegat Bay. Stormwater runoff from our yards washes lawn chemicals and other pollutants into our streams and eventually into the bay. Jersey-Friendly yards help by capturing and absorbing more rainwater and reducing pollution at the source, resulting in cleaner water and a healthier environment for everyone in our watershed.
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