The Ocean Bottom Might be Healthy After All

Underwater study reveals N.J.'s coastal waters healthier than once thought
Published: Friday, September 28, 2012, 8:07 AM     Updated: Friday, September 28, 2012, 8:10 AM
By Richard Khavkine/The Star-Ledger
www.nj.com 

(A Slocum Coastal Electric Glider similar to this tested the waters off Sandy Hook this summer)

SANDY HOOK — For more than a decade, it’s been thought that shellfish and other sea creatures off New Jersey’s coast don’t have enough oxygen, which threatened their well-being and maybe even their continued existence.

State and federal authorities even classified the waters as impaired in 2002 and since then, state Department of Environmental Protection researchers and others have looked for a cause.

But scientists’ take on what their sea water readings meant were likely wrong. The ocean might be healthy after all.

As part of two-year effort, state and federal scientists have been taking account of the coastline and the waters beyond to conclusively prove low oxygen levels at the sea bottom — otherwise known as the benthic zone — are not a permanent feature of life there.

And they say they have found evidence the ocean is, in fact, home to a thriving and diverse community of organisms, none more important to the state’s economy than the $150 million in scallops, oysters, clams and other seafood harvested off New Jersey’s coast each year.

"From what we’re seeing, living in the benthic environment is healthy and good," said Robert Schuster, acting section chief of the DEP’s Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring, alluding to life at the bottom of the seas.

Earlier this month, in calm seas about 3 miles off Sandy Hook, the effort’s key player, a 6-foot yellow submersible that resembles a torpedo with wings, was plunged off the stern of the "Clean Waters," the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s 65-foot, twin-engine boat.

The tide-powered contraption, officially known as a Slocum Coastal Electric Glider, weighs about 100 pounds. It swims slowly — about a half-knot an hour — but can go for long distances. And it’s unfailingly obedient.

As of Thursday afternoon, the submersible had meandered 134 nautical miles, to the southern end of Long Beach Island. It has gone down to 120-foot depths and zigzagged its way to seas as far out as seven miles.

The glider has been taking constant readings of dissolved oxygen, salinity and temperature. It resurfaces every two hours, when it transmits recorded data to technicians at Rutgers University’s Coastal Ocean Observation Lab.

What the data have shown is that the ocean begins to stratify as warmer months approach. During the summer, surface temperatures can reach up to 80 degrees, but dip to 45 degrees about 50 feet below the surface. That chilly environment, isolated from the atmosphere above, contains low levels of oxygen.

But a census of sea creatures commissioned by the DEP and undertaken by Rutgers each of the last three years has shown ocean life that might be most compromised by a dearth of oxygen in those waters is in fact thriving, Schuster said. This has lead researchers to think the stratification, which is now breaking apart as climate patterns shift to cooler weather, is a normal occurrence and not attributable to otherwise adverse conditions.

"If it’s naturally occurring there’s no remedial action to take," Schuster said.

Darvene Adams, the EPA’s monitoring coordinator for the region, agreed, saying much of what is happening under the coastal waters "appears natural." But, she said, more data might be needed before state and federal authorities submit to getting the designation lifted.

"This is giving us a good idea," Adams said. "There’s not been much done in the ocean. So we’re kind of cautious."

Ocean water sampling used to be done by "grab samples," from boats or helicopters. But because they measured the waters at one point in time, rather than on a continued basis, the data collected gave incomplete pictures of the ocean’s overall health, said Josh Kohut, an assistant professor of marine and coastal sciences at Rutgers.

"You can’t always set a number, because it doesn’t accurately reflect what’s going on," Kohut said. "Now you can see the most recent data within minutes of (the glider’s) resurfacing."

But the project is not state vs. feds. In fact, the EPA grants helped purchase the $110,000 glider that’s combing the waters right now.

Rutgers has 18 gliders, each custom-equipped and tailored to its mission, with some tailored to reach ocean depths 1,000 feet deep. Two were deployed during the BP oil spill along the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 to help measure currents, gauge the direction of the spill and allow cleanup crews to move quickly.

The coastal project’s field component concludes next week.

It’s so far confirmed that the ocean "is constantly shifting and dynamic," said Bruce Friedman, chief of the DEP’s Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring.

He and other researchers want to show that’s ideal.

Read more at http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/nj_coast_ocean_healthy_study.html

Dolphin at Rockaway Beach, NY

Dolphin washes ashore alive at Beach 19th St. in Far Rockaway, dies short time later

 By Lisa L. Colangelo AND Joe Kemp / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Friday, September 28, 2012, 2:12 PM
Updated: Friday, September 28, 2012, 6:30 PM
New York Daily News

(Anthony DelMundo for New York Daily News)

Queens residents got a surprise on Friday morning when a live dolphin washed up on Beach 19th St. in Far Rockaway

Franly Estrella, 24, a porter at a nearby building, spotted the animal from a window about 9:30 a.m. and rushed out to help.

"I thought it was a shark," he said. "I was surprised it was a dolphin."

Estrella, of Rego Park, said he tried to push the 5-foot-long, 120 pound dolphin back into the water, but it only washed up again.

Officers from the NYPD’s emergency services unit and harbor patrol responded as did workers from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

The dolphin died at about 3:15 p.m., before workers were able to get it to a vet's tank.

There were growths on its tail fluke, indicating it wasn't swimming much before it was beached, said Robert DiGiovanni, senior biologist for the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

It was not immediately clear the dolphin was the same type that suffered a mass stranding off a Cape Cod, Mass., shore earlier this year.

Scientists reported 179 common dolphins were beached in Massachusetts in the first two months of the year, reports show. Only 71 of the animals were found alive and most were soon released back into the wild.

Read more at http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/dolphin-washes-ashore-alive-beach-19th-rockaway-article-1.1170465

The Last of the Shorebird Migrants

Cooler nights and decreasing daylight (already more than one hour shorter than at the beginning of September) have been sending a clear message to winged migrants. It's time to head south. 

For many shorebirds, autumn migration has by now hits its peak for much of New York and New Jersey. Thousands of sandpipers, plovers, yellowlegs, and related families of shorebirds usually fly in along the muddy or sandy edge of tidal waters to feed and rest in early to mid-September. The birds stop over for just a few hours or days in places like Sandy Hook Bay, Conaskonck Point, or Jamaica Bay around greater Lower New York Bay. After some downtime, the shorebirds take-off again, usually departing during the early morning hours, on a winged migration to far-away tropical places for the winter. For many, these birds will not be seen again until May.

They are heading south for the winter where food and water will ensure their survival, and the survival of their species.  It's a larger-than-life journey that has been going on for countless years. 

 

For people, many are happy if they are able to just see a small slice of this theater of traveling birds. For me, it's a sight I never get tired of seeing.

A few days ago, I was reminded just how serendipitous bird sightings can be when I was walking the bay beach at low tide after work. The weather had just cleared after an earlier thunderstorm. We've had a couple of cool nights and I was thinking that many shorebirds must have pretty much flown off for sunny, southern weather. Just then a sizable flock of 50 or more plovers and sandpipers flew in to declare the beach as their own. 

 

This was an appealing sight. Perhaps the last time I see migrating shorebirds this year.

The many birds were scattered about near the muddy edge of the beach. Some were foraging, others were resting. The whimsical shorebirds all came with interesting stories to tell of where they had spent the summer and where they might be going.

There were both adult and juvenile Semi-palmated Plovers, a cousin of the more celebrated Piping Plover. Unlike Piping Plovers though, these birds migrate far away from New York or New Jersey to raise a family. In the breeding season, they travel to remote places in northern Canada to nest mostly on open flats of sand and gravel near rivers or ponds. Here the Semi-Palmated Plovers will raise 3 to 4 young for most of the summer. Once August arrives, the birds will flock together with other Semi-Palmated Plovers to take wing and fly along the coast of the United States.  They will winter on southern beaches, as far south as southern South America. 

Down the beach a bit, there were large numbers of both adult and juvenile Semi-palmated Sandpipers too. Though small in size and simple in appearance, this bird, which is about the size of your hand, has a humungous, grueling journey each year. Come spring and fall, this little shorebird makes nearly a nonstop flight of over 2,000 miles to or from wintering locations in South America, then to or from breeding territories on low Arctic tundra, along the edges of lakes or marshes in eastern Canada. During migration, the birds often arrive to Lower New York Bay, a key stopover point, exhausted and fatigued, but in great need to build up fat reserves to continue their long journey. They only feed during a falling tide or a low tide, never during a high tide. The small birds don't have much time. They need to move on, subsequently to other familiar beaches and mudflats along the coast. The next great gust of wind will carry them off. 

 

On the edge of the bay, in the distance, was another shorebird. It was not like the other birds. It was taller, nearly a foot in length, and alone. It looked brighter, more golden as it foraged for food in the mudflats. In fact, it was a juvenile American Golden Plover. What a surprise! Golden Plovers are a rare bird. This long-distance migrant normally flies through the Great Plains of America on its way to southern South America, stopping on pastures or flooded farm fields.  There were none of those places at the seashore, so why was this bird in Lower New York Bay? Occasionally, some birds stop along the east coast on their way south from the Arctic. Indeed, for the past few years, Golden Plovers have made Sandy Hook Bay a common resting stop during their long winged migration. A handful are spotted just about every migration season. Perhaps the pickings are good downstream from New York City, at least good enough for a small number of golden plovers!  

All of these birds will face terrible threats and challenges on their long winged migration south. Some birds will be shot by hunters, others will die of hunger due to the lack of suitable feeding habitat or too much human disturbance. Still others will die from oil spills or pollution. Threats to the survival of small shorebirds abound in the human world.

Still, Mother Nature has designed these birds to migrate and be on the move.  They don't tarry long in one spot. As they go, they take with them that what we might take pleasure in observing the last of the shorebird migrants for the year.

Record Ocean Temperatures in Northeast

Northeast ocean temperatures reach record high
CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press
Updated 1:21 p.m., Tuesday, September 18, 2012
SFGATE.com

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Ocean temperatures off the northeast United States reached a record high for the first half of 2012, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.

The average sea surface temperature for the waters over the Northeast continental shelf, from North Carolina to Canada, was a little over 50.5 degrees from January through June, breaking the previous record of 50.45 degrees for the same six months set in 1951. The average temperature for those months during the past three decades has been about 48 degrees.

The rising temperatures impact virtually all ocean life, said Kevin Friedland, a scientist who works in Narragansett, R.I., for NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Atlantic cod and other commercially valuable fish, for instance, have been shifting northeast from their historical distribution centers in recent years because of warming waters. Warm water was blamed for lobsters shedding their shells a month or more earlier than usual in Maine waters this past spring, leading to a strong early harvest that created havoc within the industry.

As cold-water species move north in search of colder waters, warmer-water species will do the same as their waters warm up as well, Friedland said. The rising ocean temperatures could also affect the biological clocks of many species, which spawn at certain times based on environmental signals such as water temperature.

"There's going to be climate winner and losers," Friedland said. "If it's too warm for a species, it opens up a niche for other species that are tolerant of warmer waters."

NOAA has been collecting ocean water temperature readings along the Northeast coast using ship-board measurements since 1854, and by satellite since 1982, Friedland said.

For the first six months of the year, above-average temperatures were found at all ocean depths, from the bottom to the surface, and throughout the range from Cape Hatteras to the Canadian Maritimes. They were also found beyond the continental shelf to the Gulf Stream, the warm ocean current that flows from the Gulf of Mexico along the East Coast beyond the shelf.

In some nearshore locations, such as the Chesapeake and Delaware bays in the Mid-Atlantic, the average temperature for was about 11 degrees above the historical average at the surface and 9 degrees above average at the ocean bottom.

Scientists say two possible factors to explain the water temperature rise are the above-normal air temperatures across the region last winter and the warming of the Labrador Current. The Labrador Current begins in the Labrador Sea, between eastern Canada and Greenland, and brings cooler water to the Gulf of Maine and points south along the eastern seaboard.

Some water temperature variations historically have also been attributed to long-term naturally occurring water oscillations.

Glen Gawarkiewicz, a scientist of physical oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Mass., was on a scientific cruise in May off North Carolina where the water temperatures were 9 degrees warmer than a cruise in the same location in 1996.

During the May cruise, scientists were unable to find bluefish and butterfish they were looking for, but instead found warmer-water fish, including amberjack and blue runners, that normally wouldn't have been there, Gawarkiewicz said.

It's unclear exactly why the ocean temperatures are rising as they are, he said. Perhaps more importantly, it's also unclear if the rise is long-term or a short-term anomaly.

"That's the $64,000 question," he said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Northeast-ocean-temperatures-reach-record-high-3874616.php#ixzz27LVUiOXW

Testing the Health of Lower NY Bay

Sunday, September 16, 2012. It looked to be the most perfect day to be in the bay. The sun was out, the tides were low and there was a gentle breeze coming out of the north. Both air temperature and water temperature readings were in the 70s.  A good day to test the health of the bay. 

Members of the Bayshore Watershed Council, an all volunteer group dedicated to restoring Raritan and Sandy Hook bays, were on hand along with several local residents to seine and monitor water quality by the side of four bayside beaches: Cliffwood Beach in Aberdeen Township, Conaskonck Point in Union Beach, near the mouth of Pews Creek in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown Township, and near the mouth of Many Mind Creek in Atlantic Highlands. 

The goal was to see if water quality in Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay, a gritty urban-suburban estuary downstream from New York City, was healthy during a late summer day. To do this watershed members had to find out what might be living along the shallow edge of this estuary. For it is along the edge of a sandy beach where most people swim and fish, and a good diversity of aquatic life should be found. 

(Seining Sandy Hook Bay in NJ, located downstream from NYC)

One way to discover how healthily a natural body of water might be is to conduct a biological test.  One of the best ways to carry out this test is through a seining program. Two people pull a long net through the shallow part of the water to capture fish, crabs, and anything else that lives along the shallow edge of the bay, mostly small and juvenile animals. After recoding and taking a close look at what was found, participants then release the animals back into the water.

Seining is like a taking a brief health check to see the abundance and diversity of who's swimming in the water. In general, the more variety of life in the water, the healthy it is.

(Scanning the seine net for life)

Watershed  volunteers were using a 50-foot long, hand-woven seine net with a five foot pole on each end. A seine is a net with a float line on top and a lead line on the bottom. The word seine is French, from the Latin sagëna, which means a fishing net designed to enclose fish. A seine net is an excellent tool for collecting fish, crabs, and aquatic animals with minimal injury to the animals. All  fishes, crabs, and other aquatic creatures can be easily identified, cataloged, and returned to the water.

(Menhaden)

Among the catch was herring, including bluebacks and shad, by the hundreds, a half-a-dozen 4" snapper blues, Atlantic silversides and striped killifish by the handful, some born just a few weeks earlier, a northern pipefish, several species of drums, lots of comb jellies, mole crabs, and mud snails, and a few skillet fish and juvenile blennies . There was also an assortment of crabs and shrimps: blue crabs, lady crabs, spider crabs, mud crabs, mole crabs, snapping shrimp and shore shrimp. It was a varied bag for sure. 

(The mouth of a Menhaden)

For some people, this was their first time exploring the bay for which they live so near. Yet everyone had fun discovering what interesting life lives in the bay. Many people also had a good time holding different species of fish, such as snapper blues and pipefish before releasing them into the estuary. Each haul of the seine net brought something new to reveal.

(The mole crab or Sand Crab)

In spite of the diversity, though, the turbidity was poor. The water was cloudy and turbid, so much so that in some places you could only see a few inches down. Perhaps thsi was due to recent rains that had washed in an abundance of sand, sediment, and other substances, some possibly toxic. There could have also been an abundance of algae floating in the water. Whatever the reason, the water didn't look fit for swimming. 

(juvenile species of Drum fish)

Below are the details of the event. Species found and data collected are listed beneath each seine location. The weather was partly sunny with air temperatures in the low 70s. Winds were breezy out of the northwest. In addition to seining, water temperature and turbidity information were documented by volunteers at each site. 

(adult Snapping Shrimp)

Thanks and appreciation goes to Frank from Aberdeen, Ron and his son from Hazlet, the Martin family from Oceanport, the Sheridan family from Keyport, and Kathy and Don. Much obliged for all your wonderful help, time, and good spirits.  

(A net full of Menhaden)

10:00am Cliffwood Beach/Near the mouth of Whale Creek

Water Temperature: 72 degrees

1.5 ft turbidity

Outgoing tide

(Spearing or Silverside fish)

First Haul

22 Silversides or Spearing

2 Striped Killifish

1 Snapper Bluefish

Second Haul

1 Cunner

5 Sand Shrimp

13 Striped Killifish

7 Silversides

1 Pipefish

Third Haul

7 Bay Anchovies

10 YOY Silversides

Lots of Comb jellies

(juvenile Spider Crab)

12 noon Conaskonck Point/Union Beach

Water Temperature: 74 degrees

1/2 foot turbidity

Outgoing tide

(the face of a Snapper Blue)

First Haul

24 Silversides or Spearing

1 Snapping Shrimp

4 Hermit Crabs

4 Lady Crabs (all males)

1 Comb Jelly

1 Blue-claw Crab (male)

Lots of Shore Shrimp

Second Haul

4 Lady Crabs (male)

20 Silversides

1 Snapper Bluefish

1 Blueback Herring

2 juvenile blennies

10 Hermit Crabs

1 YOY Blue-claw Crab

(Juvenile Blue-claw Crab)

2pm Near the Mouth of Pews Creek in Port Monmouth

Water Temperature: 72 degrees

1 foot turbidity

Low Tide

First haul

250+ Herring (a mixture of Menhaden, Blueback Herring and Hickory Shad species)

Second Haul

100+ Herring (a mixture of Menhaden, Blueback Herring and Hickory Shad species)

13 Silversides

4 Shore Shrimp

7 Lady Crabs

3 Comb jellies

Lots of Mud Snails

Lots of Hermit Crabs

25 Mole Crabs

(Lady Crab face)

4pm Near the Mouth of Many Mind Creek in Atlantic Highlands

Water Temperature; 76 degrees

1/2 foot turbidity

Incoming tide

(Pipefish face)

First Haul

1 Pipefish

2 Skilletfish

10 Blueback Herring

25 Silversides or Spearing

30 Striped Killifish

Lots of Comb Jellies

Lots of Hermit Crabs

(adult male Striped Killifish)

Second Haul

5 species of Drum fish

3 Snapper Bluefish

40 Silversides

20 Striped Killifish

5 Black-tipped Mud Crabs

Lots of Comb Jellies

Lots of Mud Crabs

Birders Flock to Sandy Hook for Rare Bird

For the last several weeks it has been one of those extraordinary times at Sandy Hook, an approximately seven-mile long peninsula that juts into Lower New York Bay and is part of Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey. Some people have been lucky enough to see a truly rare bird. 

It all started in August. New Jersey Audubon issued a rare bird alert.

An Elegant Tern was spotted near the tip of Sandy Hook. This medium-size seabird  normally belongs to the Pacific coast along southern California and Central America. In the last dozen years the bird has only been seen a few other times along the entire length of the East Coast. This is the first NJ state sighting for this species, and it was found and photographed right here at Sandy Hook, downstream from New York City. How exciting! 

I first noticed something was unusual soon after Labor Day weekend. There was more than a few cars parked near the northern end of Sandy Hook. In fact, the lot was jam-packed with cars. This was odd, because the walk from the gravel parking lot out to the false hook is not easy. More often than not only hardy birders and people that fish ever make this 1.5 mile trek out to the northern most point of the New Jersey coastline. It's a strenuous hike on a sandy trail with shifting soils and a good deal of biting insects. Not for the feeble or easily tired. 

Yet, after lots of web alerts, text messages and cell phone calls, droves of birders have descended onto the area. This ordinarily serene stretch of beach has been busy and bustling  all hours of the day with people armed with high-powered spotting scopes, binoculars, or long-lens cameras, hurried about to find their target, almost like a celebrity sighting.

Instead of looking for a human celebrity, though, these avid birders are looking for a very rare bird. They don't want to miss out on an opportunity to see something uncommon. 

(An Elegant Tern)

For the casual visitor, though, the Elegant Tern has not been very easy to find. Sometimes it's there, sometimes not. Sometimes the bird disappears, only to reappear hours later. It also doesn't help that the beach has been crowded with other species of terns, including Common and Forster's Terns, and additional species of migrating shorebirds.  If you are not sure of birds, it can be tricky to find this Elegant Tern among a sea of shorebirds. 

(Can you find an Elegant Tern among this large gathering of shorebirds?)

Still, with a little bit of luck and a good field guide, it's possible to see it. The Elegant Tern looks similar to a Royal Tern, but it's smaller and slimmer in size with a long orange-red bill that looks slightly droopy.  The bird looks elegant, hence the name, especially when in flight as it thrusts its wings forward with something of a Black Skimmer-like appearance.  

Still no luck, you can always check out online pictures of the Elegant Tern at Sandy Hook from veteran birders.  Some of my favorite pictures are from Larry Scacchetti at his Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/larrybird13/7924252576/in/photostream

(An Elegant Tern at Sandy Hook taken by Larry Scacchetti)

How this Elegant Tern arrived to Sandy Hook is anyone's guess. Most professional birders suspect the bird was blown off course or became confused, perhaps as it flew far out to sea before winging north. Like some people get lost, it's possible that some birds lose their way in flight and go the wrong way sometimes flying far away from the flock. 

Who knows how long this bird will stay. So get out now to see the Elegant Tern at Sandy Hook before it flies away for good. Without a doubt, it's a wonderful experience to see something that has never been seen before in New Jersey or Lower New York Bay.