Annual Report and Statement of Program Direction - 1995

9 Mar 1996
UMass/NOAA Cooperative Marine Education and Research Program

New Projects Supported With Extra-Curricular Funding

 

Habitat Requirements of Important Fish Species Inhabiting the Hudson River Estuary (95-01, Year 1 of 1)

J. Boreman, Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, UMass-Amherst (funding provided by the NMFS Office of Habitat Protection)

The purpose of this study is to assemble available information sources from the open literature, gray literature, and private collections that relate to understanding habitat requirements of eleven important fish species inhabiting the Hudson River estuary: striped bass, white perch, American shad, alewife, blueback herring, Atlantic tomcod, Atlantic sturgeon, shortnose sturgeon, largemouth bass, bluefish, and bay anchovy. The assembled data base will be used to assess the feasibility of a full-scale study of the habitat requirements of the species in anticipation of a major habitat restoration program that will occur in the estuary.

 

Limits to Recovery of Shortnose Sturgeon Populations (95-11, Year 1 of 3)

J. Boreman, Graduate Program in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, UMass-Amherst (funding provided by the NMFS Office of Protected Species)

The purpose of this study is to integrate life history strategy, genetics, and habitat preference and use into criteria for determining the limits to which shortnose sturgeon populations along the Atlantic coast can be expected to recover. Since little data are available on shortnose sturgeon, as compared to other, more abundant estuarine species, theoretical approaches will be combined with empircal ones to develop standards that can be incorporated into the species recovery plan now being prepared by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

 

A Simulation of Predation Effects on Out-Migrating Atlantic Salmon Smolts in the Merrimack River Estuary (95-13, Year 1 of 3)

F. Juanes, Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, UMass-Amherst (funding provided by the Population Dynamics Branch, NEFSC, NMFS)

The project involves a review and compilation of information on factors potentially affecting survival of smolts entering the Merrimack River estuary, such as seasonal variation in potential fish predator numbers; size, diets, and consumption rates of predators; variation in timing and numbers of smolts passing the Essex dam; smolt residence time in the estuary; and seasonal variation in water temperature and flow through the estuary. The investigators will use the historical data to examine the relationship between rates of return of known-age salmon and seasonal variation in water temperature and flow rates. They will develop a simulation model to investigate variation in smolt survival relative to abiotic factors and characteristics of smolt and predator populations, and use the factors explaining variation to predict predation and develop management strategies for restoration.


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CMER
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University of Massachusetts
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 Telephone: (413) 545-2842
Fax: (413) 545-2304
E-Mail: jboreman@forwild.umass.edu
URL: http://www.umass.edu/tei/cmer/annual.report.4.html