11-03-2009, 07:24 PM
[size 2]Absence of bunker story of 2009
By Charles Walsh
CORRESPONDENT
Updated: 10/31/2009 05:53:53 PM EDT
If there is a big story about the 2009 fishing season in Long Island Sound, it is this: no bunker.
All summer, the lack of large schools of adult bunker has baffled anglers who endured an almost total absence of surface bluefish blitzes and meager bluefish catches in harbors and river mouths.
As any bait dealer will testify, not so long ago, Long Island Sound had so many bunker huge schools would regularly become trapped in dead-end harbors and estuaries, perishing by the million from oxygen depletion.
"Long Island Sound is famous for bunker," says Jimmy Orifice of Jimmy O's Bait and Tackle in Bridgeport. "This year, there has been no bunker between the Connecticut River in Old Saybrook and Greenwich Harbor. It's a mystery to me."
In the spring, the bunker appeared right on schedule in Hempstead Harbor on Long Island, but the fish never made their usual migration across to Connecticut's harbors. Basically the bunker (menhaden) just disappeared.
A number of theories, none backed by many facts, have been batted around on the bunker shortage. Here are a few:
n The schools of porpoise that entered the Sound in the spring, and that were spotted intermittently through the summer, spooked the bunker off. Instead of following their usual route into the Sound, the schools traveled off Long Island's south shore toward points north. This is somewhat supported by observations that traditionally bunker-shy places like Block Island Sound and Cape Cod saw increased numbers of bunker this summer.
n Something is affecting plankton levels in the Sound. Bunker feed strictly on plankton and when it not available, they will go where it is.
n Over-fishing by recreational anglers who use throw nets to capture live bunker depleted the schools.
n It was not so much a shortage of bunker, but a dearth of the kind of large bluefish that normally "lock' the bunker in the harbors and drive them into rivers and estuaries; in other words, a bunker prison break.
n The elimination of commercial bunker boats in the Sound eliminated the most commonly heard reason for past bunker shortages. On the other hand, it is possible that improved technology for netting massive bunker schools far out in the Atlantic Ocean has devastated the bunker biomass.
n It is just a seasonal quirk. The bunker will return in usual numbers next spring.
There are those who think that the big bunker may yet arrive sometime in November. But others think it's over at least for this season. I would like to hear other theories on where the bunker went. [/size][size 2]
SALTWATER LICENSES -- Rhode Island lawmakers have voted to match Connecticut and other states in instituting a recreational saltwater fishing license. The license will cost $7 for Rhode Island residents and $10 for out-of-staters. The license will be required as of Jan. 1 for anyone fishing recreationally in the coastal waters of Rhode Island. Violators will be fined $10 for the first offense, $50 for the second and $100 each for subsequent offenses. The money raised by sale of the licenses will, according to a legislature spokesman, "fund administration." [/size]
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By Charles Walsh
CORRESPONDENT
Updated: 10/31/2009 05:53:53 PM EDT
If there is a big story about the 2009 fishing season in Long Island Sound, it is this: no bunker.
All summer, the lack of large schools of adult bunker has baffled anglers who endured an almost total absence of surface bluefish blitzes and meager bluefish catches in harbors and river mouths.
As any bait dealer will testify, not so long ago, Long Island Sound had so many bunker huge schools would regularly become trapped in dead-end harbors and estuaries, perishing by the million from oxygen depletion.
"Long Island Sound is famous for bunker," says Jimmy Orifice of Jimmy O's Bait and Tackle in Bridgeport. "This year, there has been no bunker between the Connecticut River in Old Saybrook and Greenwich Harbor. It's a mystery to me."
In the spring, the bunker appeared right on schedule in Hempstead Harbor on Long Island, but the fish never made their usual migration across to Connecticut's harbors. Basically the bunker (menhaden) just disappeared.
A number of theories, none backed by many facts, have been batted around on the bunker shortage. Here are a few:
n The schools of porpoise that entered the Sound in the spring, and that were spotted intermittently through the summer, spooked the bunker off. Instead of following their usual route into the Sound, the schools traveled off Long Island's south shore toward points north. This is somewhat supported by observations that traditionally bunker-shy places like Block Island Sound and Cape Cod saw increased numbers of bunker this summer.
n Something is affecting plankton levels in the Sound. Bunker feed strictly on plankton and when it not available, they will go where it is.
n Over-fishing by recreational anglers who use throw nets to capture live bunker depleted the schools.
n It was not so much a shortage of bunker, but a dearth of the kind of large bluefish that normally "lock' the bunker in the harbors and drive them into rivers and estuaries; in other words, a bunker prison break.
n The elimination of commercial bunker boats in the Sound eliminated the most commonly heard reason for past bunker shortages. On the other hand, it is possible that improved technology for netting massive bunker schools far out in the Atlantic Ocean has devastated the bunker biomass.
n It is just a seasonal quirk. The bunker will return in usual numbers next spring.
There are those who think that the big bunker may yet arrive sometime in November. But others think it's over at least for this season. I would like to hear other theories on where the bunker went. [/size][size 2]
SALTWATER LICENSES -- Rhode Island lawmakers have voted to match Connecticut and other states in instituting a recreational saltwater fishing license. The license will cost $7 for Rhode Island residents and $10 for out-of-staters. The license will be required as of Jan. 1 for anyone fishing recreationally in the coastal waters of Rhode Island. Violators will be fined $10 for the first offense, $50 for the second and $100 each for subsequent offenses. The money raised by sale of the licenses will, according to a legislature spokesman, "fund administration." [/size]
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