CTFishTalk.com: The Search for Megalops Program Report #1 - July 2014 - Connecticut Saltwater Reports ( CT Saltwater Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

BlueChip

ISSP and Capstone Project
The Sound School Regional Vocational Aquaculture Center
The Search for Megalops – Program Report #1
July 2014
You Do Not Need to Be a Scientist to Report

• Introduction – Blue Crabs Move West After a Slow Start
• Good numbers of Crabs in Central Connecticut Survive the Winter
• Cold Weather May Reduce Blue Crab Catches
• New York Crab Habitats – Evidence of Past Habitat Conditions
• New Haven Harbor Shore Survey – Ceondice Johnson

Introduction
I am going to echo Masspi’s comments (Blue Crab Forum Crabbing Resources Thoughts on This Season, July 3, 2014), the cold has had an impact this past winter and the one before it. It is still early to predict the rest of the 2014 season, but it doesn’t look like the great season we had in 2010. In fact, the slow start this year may be offset by large numbers of small blue crabs – moving west from the eastern sections. If you caught weakfish around the Thames River or the Mystic River area, the last two weeks of June most likely they were feeding upon small blue crabs. It appears as though large numbers of the late fall Megalops have survived in eastern Connecticut (Megalops 2013 reports #10 and #11). The numbers of small crabs in the central and western areas remained low until just a few days ago. Increasing numbers of small blue crabs only arrived in New Haven Harbor a week ago, so the 2014 blue crab season verdict is still out. It all depends on the amount of small crabs that make it west which it appears they are doing on recent moon tides. I agree with Masspi – the cold took its toll it seems and one explanation for east of the Connecticut River is that there is more saline waters prevented a larger winter kill.
The run in central Connecticut on the most part has been adults and show none of the distribution characteristics of July 2011 (July 11 Report # Cool

with some 65% undersized in three distinct sets: One to two inch, three to four and five inches and up. Most of the crabs caught this year are adults and legal size; very little appears to be on the way.

With that being said crabbing has picked up in the past week in the area between Old Saybrook and New Haven. Blue crabs arrived July 7th at the Baldwin Bridge, July 9 at Old Saybrook and July 10 at Clinton Harbor. Blue crabs made it to Essex July 12 in small numbers. High tide catches are the best but catch rates remain two to five crabs per hour. If large numbers of blue crabs move west, look for crabbing to improve. A change in the run will be apparent by August 1st.

Thanks for all the reports and observations so far. See you crabbing.

Tim

Good Numbers of Crabs in Central Connecticut Survived the Winter

Despite a slow start, water temperatures are starting to climb. On June 21, it was 59° (bottom temp) and on June 30th, 71°, July 10th, 74 at Essex town dock. It is still cool – 30 days approximately later than 2012. All dredged basins in central and eastern Connecticut now contain crabs, no doubt really remains that these deep holes can winter over crabs, but raises questions about hibernation. Most researchers give crabs 120 to 150 days without food and if we use May 30 as the week, some crabs were reported (May 15 for the Branford River) crabs were active until January. In 2012, crabs were observed actively feeding in mid-April (Megalops Report # April 23, 2012) which agrees with the 30 to 40 day delay from our very cold spring and long winter. Shallow areas are suspected of sustaining winterkill, and the outcome of the late (also a cool spring in 2013) Megalops set from last fall continues.
From the reports last fall, the shellfish beds between New Haven Harbor to Stonington should have been covered by small crabs as they were in April 2010. Blue crabs in the past few summers have reached Essex between July 9 to July 22 dependent upon temperature and a building salt water wedge with cooler temperatures the best crabbing might be later this year. The USGS has a monitoring site at Essex town dock which shows building salt water wedge. The website is http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getwatershed?01060003 and is a great resource to check the Connecticut River –flow salinity and tides into the Essex area.

After a “1957” type winter any reports of blue crabs was a relief this spring. The first reports included the Mystic and Branford Rivers (sightings) but the first good crab catches were from the Black Hall River, which has been consistently the site of one of the first spring and last fall catches. The areas that may still hold small crabs would be the western Connecticut salt ponds. The fate of last years late blue crab set is still uncertain in the west and now it appears the oyster set was late as well. When you examine fisheries history you do see this strong blue crab/oyster association. The blue crab Megalops set was very late and the best blue crab years have a strong showing in March-April. But what makes a good Megalops set especially with climate energy and predator variables? A great article written in 2012 titled “The Blue Crab Conundrum” (Michael Fincham, Chesapeake Quarterly) attempts to describe what explains a good blue crab year. Good management, good weather or good luck? I contend it is all of them and more. Blue crabs react quickly to habitat changes but long term catches do reflect habitat trends.

A Long Term Habitat Cycle
A long term fisheries history sheds some light on the highly variable blue crab abundance. One of the first things is a need by the public to shed a shared bias – one of which that craves habitat stability (why fishers often return to the same spot every year) and the other that continued high catches are possible always without change. The long term view in fisheries history is this belief is just not possible, populations come and go; species have periods of abundance, then scarcity. This appears to largely “natural” and in the case of the blue crab in fact, normal.

The agricultural community also places great weight upon habitat stability but suffers from similar unknowns, rainfall, temperature, predators, pests and diseases. That is often why predictive fisheries population models are often so “brittle” when they “age” and fail predictive outcomes; it often leads to frustration from fishers and the public. There is also a sense or belief after the 1950s that such blue crab changes in abundance is largely from us- that declines can be solely attributed to negative human intervention and water quality increases from pollution abatement or fisheries management. We had an example of that happen in Connecticut with our lobster population- and something I have mentioned many times in previous Megalops newsletters- fishers have struggled with a lobster die-off here and management options increased restrictions upon the fishery. When the fishery failed to rebound, frustration ensued. The truth of the matter (my view) is it just got too hot for our lobsters here. The bias comes in as dozens of reports articles and media reports about the decline of lobsters but very few (until recently) about the increase of blue crabs.

We can do certain things, beneficial for fishery management of course, but they may or may not work, increased fisheries management here did not prevent lobster populations from falling nor did it contribute to the rapid rise of blue crabs. Much of the rise and fall of fisheries has a habitat clock, largely dependent upon habitat quality. The largest factors being climate (temperature) and energy (storms) and not “us.” Although pollution is locally significant and contamination is a huge issue, it has a shared role in this long term view.

Some fisheries have soared during tremendous pollution events (oyster industry New England 1880-1920) or declined after pollution controls were enacted (soft shell clams 1970-1980s). A southern example is the soft shell clam, the Chesapeake is the southern range (read habitat capacity) for the soft shell clam and after large cultivation events (1950s and 1960s hurricanes) marine soils were rinsed of organic acids which now sustained huge clam sets. The 1950s and 1960s colder and storm filled were also tough for oysters – sets came late or were destroyed from burial here. However in the same northern areas hard clams now set heavy – “the Great Sets” and in those sandy soils in the 1950s of Narragansett Bay would also occur in the Chesapeake Bay only as the great sets of soft shells. The fact of the matter is that worked or cultivated marine soil tends to allow better clam sets. A loose cultivated marine soil with shell pieces obtains the best clam sets. The surge in soft shell clam habitat capacity would create a new hydraulic soft-shell clam fishery. Decades of high heat and few storms would transition (habitat clock) these marine soils and would reverse them back to acidic and sets would fail. Were fishers responsible for the increase of these Chesapeake Bay soft shell clam sets in the 1950s, no, nor was largely responsible for the decline in the 1970s. When it comes to fisheries management the emphasis upon reproductive capacity needs to include habitat quality. It is easy to point in the direction of fishers, but habitat quality is not within our ability to alter over large geographic regions. In 1912, New England saw very high blue crab catches but declined as the colder negative NAO occurred. 1962 saw blue crab catches fall to almost negligible amounts.
We have had two cold winters in a row; it was three cold winters that dropped blue crab populations before.

This Long Island Sound blue crab year, we might find that the large adult offshore movements are over; instead we may find that blue crabs here have “retreated” to salt ponds and rivers areas of habitat conditions they prefer and in times of cold, a refuge. The Megalops sets might tell us more this crab season as the NAO continues to generally be negative.

Crabbers find slow start to 2014 season
For most of the month of May, crabbers looked for any crab signs after the long NAO winter (The Northeast Atlantic Oscillation). The NAO has been the subject of recent study and review; the NAO pattern since 2010 has resembled the weather pattern of 1959 to 1965: colder and stormier. Crab shells and clams are often seen in parking lots along the shore in early spring as seagulls often drop and eat them on these hard surfaces. (The sightings of blue crab claws in Niantic were soon followed by reports of crab sightings in the Branford, East and Black Hall Rivers.)

Niantic Bay residents may recall after serious storms in the 1960s being “bombed by quahogs’” when they were dislodged on beaches there and dropped by gulls on Niantic streets. The parking lots along the beach can provide a quick view to what’s around thanks to gulls dropping and cracking shellfish. Two years ago the amount of bay scallop shell pieces at Niantic was very high and bay scallop catches that fall were good. I’m sure the “parking lot” survey would not pass scientific muster but I have found it to be a good indicator of “what’s around” thanks to the gulls. When sizable amounts of blue crabs shells were not observed this spring, I had doubts.
As would also the first official catches I believe occurred in the Black Hall River suspected of a winter sulfide kill of hundreds of striped bass last January. What makes the Black Hall so good for crabs also it seems may lead to the sulfide production in those soft organic bottoms of fresh Sapropel (mostly rotting leaves) that is what stains the crabs yellow and why overwintering bottoms often have that matchstick sulfur smell. Agriculture/interests harvested Sapropel for fertilizer a hundred years ago and soon learned the difference between the “old Sapropel” sulfur or sulfide enriched mud which was very deadly to plants. Fresh accumulations of marine mud were sold to farmers as marine fertilizer and it’s an underwater compost mostly of oak leaves.

One of the largest sources of marine mud at the time was the river and coves of the Connecticut River, North Cove in Essex. Some shallow mud deposits are thought to help crabs but deep accumulations do transition to sulfur rich habitats – toxic to most marine life. Sapropel and leaf accumulations occur after floods as organic matter by the tons is washed from streams into the estuarine areas. That is now suspected to have occurred after 2011 in western Connecticut bays and rivers.

Cold Weather May Reduce Blue Crab Catches
In colder weather, blue crabs seem to be eliminated in shallows. Ice immediately comes to mind, but perhaps more than just cold. One of the areas that can provide some clues to habitat refugia is the salt ponds and bays of New York and Massachusetts located at the northern edge of blue crab habitat stability (formerly called “range”). They were the first to “hold” blue crabs in the 1960s (Army Corps Baymen’s reports) and in times of very cold temperatures provided pockets of “the best” blue crabs. Leaving the protection of salt ponds facing eastern the off shore Atlantic storms meant certain death and while Connecticut’s rivers did hold blue crabs, heavy rains or spring melt runoff could be just as deadly. It is the salt ponds and bays that provided that :middle” habitat refuge characteristics, not subject to large fresh water discharges from rivers or the storms with top end predators offshore – Tautog is thought to be the most important “cool water” predator – while in warmer times striped bass. When the Connecticut River has a productive blue crab season crabs leaving the river for offshore waters rarely survive.
In Long Island Sound, starfish and conch all also reported to be significant predators, as mentioned by observations of a Guilford, Connecticut trawler operated by Mr. Walston in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Each winter Mr. Walston would catch 5 to 10 bushels of big hard shell crabs (both male and female) each trip until late February as incidental catch from winter flounder trawl net fishing. Some Guilford residents may recall seeing such an eastern rig trawler tied up at the Guilford sluice. He described it to me one day that the area between Kimberly Reef and Faulkner’s Island was Connecticut’s “blue crab graveyard” from the predation of starfish. The trawl net he used was a traditional flat net flounder trawl with a chain sweep – able to catch species on the bottom. I was always amazed when purchasing lobster bait then – seeing the blue crabs on deck while loading dabs, sea robins and other hard bait to be salted in barrels, it was amazing I thought that they made it out to the center of the Long Island Sound at all, but according to Mr. Walston very few made it back in.
One of the things that salt ponds and coves did have were patches of eelgrass – something that could help over winter adults and Megalops stages. Although many reports are in the scientific and public domains suggesting positive relationships between shellfish and eelgrass, those reports need to be re-examined or perhaps amended. Eelgrass from a historical review is a habitat type dependent upon climate patterns – cold to hot, quiet to storm filled periods. It has a habitat history that appears to favor crab species habitats much more than any shellfish species. I believe the presence of eelgrass helps crab species and recent reports substantiate those earlier observations.
The 1938 Hurricane and storms in the cooler 1950s were very damaging to eelgrass beds of the Chesapeake, ripping them out by wave action and the scour of cold water which is denser. It is these eelgrass meadows that protect the smallest blue crabs from predators. The storms especially the 1938 hurricane must be hard on the larger blue crab sizes using storm events and two years and three years post event this drop can be seen from the United States Fish and Wildlife Reports (Hurricane 1938 habitat event) pg 211, 1950.

Event.......... 1938..... Maryland Crab Catch*20,659..... Virginia Crab Catch* 28,691..... Combined* 49,390
............ ....... 1939..... Maryland Crab Catch*24,063..... Virginia Crab Catch* 26,967..... Combined* 51,030
Plus 2 .....1940..... Maryland Crab Catch*15,031..... Virginia Crab Catch* 23,017..... Combined*38,048
Plus 3 .....1941..... Maryland Crab Catch*11,075..... Virginia Crab Catch* 15,717..... Combined*27,692
*In thousands of pounds

As the climate turned colder (post 1920), blue crabs were found in “deeper areas” and may perhaps may have led to the design of the crab pot itself (1930s), as these areas tended to be deep for trotlines but continued to hold crabs.
Many reports from the 1950s and 1960s also mention negative impacts of storms, freshwater poisoning, Megalops dispersal and winter kills.
Two of the largest habitat parameters to watch are temperature and energy; they can each have different impact to habitat quality. While the 1950s was damaging to Chesapeake Bay’s eelgrass beds, these storm driven cultivation events were to change the marine soil characteristics, removing the eelgrass/Sapropel habitats transitioning them into a sandy estuarine shell matrix, ideal for the sets of soft shell clams. The dense sub tidal sets of soft shell clams (Mya) led to the invention of the hydraulic dredge soft shell clam fishery which later after decades of high heat and no cultivation (less storms) “failed” as sediment pH likely dropped in areas that now contained Sapropel. We had something similar here, in the colder 1950s and 1960s, soft shells “retreated” into sub tidal areas of salt ponds and coves. Also the last pockets of oysters could be found in these same salt ponds along with blue crab survivors and the last populations of eelgrass. In times of cold, these salt ponds provide a last chance for these “warm” water species. In the fishery records you do not find quahogs and soft shells at extreme high harvest levels at the same time. Quahogs in cold periods show the highest and soft shells in heat also the highest. Both however show the best landings 3 to 5 years after storms.
While storms can be damaging to the blue crab adults (if cold) it seems the young blue crabs are more susceptible to cold than storms. Cold and stormy periods have in the past been the lowest harvest years. Blue crabs are high in reproductive capacity and quickly respond to changes in habitat quality, but long term trends over a century present the best population information. That is especially noticeable here at the northern limit of blue crabs.
The state that had the sharpest decline from 1890 to 1965 was New York. Here the shallow southern facing bays warmed to provide better habitat conditions and the blue crab catches grew with them. The increasing hot and relatively storm free period 1880-1920 saw blue crab catches soar to levels not seen before at least during that time period.
New York then produced millions of blue crabs as the heat increased.
Commercial landings Blue Crabs (hard) New York State – United States Fish and Wildlife Service
1880 1.6 million pounds
1901 810 thousand pounds
1921 477 thousand pounds
1943 11 thousand pounds
1950 8 thousand pounds
It is around 1960 that blue crab catches in Massachusetts and Rhode Island also dropped 60% of pre 1931 high production years. In 1965 commercial landings ceased in the negative NAO period. In 1962, New York stopped recording a commercial fishing for blue crabs at all. It is now suspected that the recent Hudson River blue crab fishery has suffered a habitat failure linked to Sapropel, a return of heavy amounts of leaves. A similar situation is now suspected for western Connecticut. Sulfide toxic events were the signal for a habitat reversal in our recent fisheries history.
United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service Statistics Digest #27 Fishery Statistics of the United States, 1950.
New York Crab Habitats - Evidence of Past Blue Crab Habitat Conditions
Coastal residents that lived along bays and coves have seen dramatic changes from the “habitat wars” waged against them. The periods of storms and cold in the 1870s and early 1880s which gave way to intense heat and quiet condition two decades later. This “war” occurred in salt ponds, bays and coves, especially in full view of fishers and those families with long connections to the sea and its fisheries. These coves and bays held herring especially alewife, which was fisheries of value, along with clams, oysters and in colder periods, bay scallops. From coastal core studies conducted by Dr. Peter Patton of Wesleyan University in the 1990s, it appears that we have had four to five habitat reversals since the last ice age. The last reversal occurred between 1860 and 1890. The storms for example in the 1870s were very destructive to people and property – lost ships and destroyed wharfs, but as New England entered The Great Heat 1880-1920, and aside from the summer gales of 1903 and 1905, the shore was relatively now “quiet” again. As climates changed so did fish and shellfish habitats associational with them. Eventually catches of seafood changed also.
Energy and Heat
Coastal inlets and barrier spits that opened with strong storms now closed with weaker ones, and to the dismay of nearby residents and fishers no doubt as a closed inlet or a small blocked tidal creek threatened local fisheries (especially alewife) and now in great heat many blocked coves turned black, producing the sulfide smells that caused “black water” deaths of the last century. Any beachgoer knows full well the impact upon shore life in the absence of good flows and ample oxygen, just by turning over a low tide cobblestone – the underneath of the stones is black. Oxygen was insufficient and sulfur reducing bacterial action had reduced the organic matter leaving the tell tale sign the black stain. Coastal energy has a huge role in habitat quality and quantity coastal coves, layers of Sapropel (oxygen depleted sulfur or marine compost) between these of sand or shell. One of the best historical examples of heat/energy habitat change is found in the Long Island New York literature regarding Shinnecock Bay, Page 3631. (Dept of Interior - Tenth Census of the United States – The History and Present Conditions of the Fisheries Industries – The Oyster Industry Ernest Ingersoll, 1881 GPO Shinnecock Bay)
127. Shinnecock Bay (1880)
This bay is about ten miles in length and varies from one to four miles in width. In former times, it was connected with Moriches Bay on the west, but for many years it has had an opening of its own which is occasionally close by storms in autumn which drive the sand into it. On these occasions the inlet will remain closed until the spring storms open it, unless it is opened by the people living upon the bay. It is a singular fact that all the inlets on the south side are working westward, and Shinnecock Inlet is no exception, for each time it closes and opens of its own accord it goes in this direction. When closed the waters become higher than those of the Atlantic, and leach through the sand. They become quite fresh from the influx of the streams emptying into the bay, and the sea fish thus shut in die when the waters get cold. In this way untold millions of valuable food-fish have perished. Such a closing happened in October last (1880), and among the fish lost were thousands of small bluefish, weakfish (Cynoscion regale), porgies or scup (Stenotomus chrysops), and menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus). Several public-spirited citizens offered to dig an opening at their own expense, but there is said to be a law forbidding it. They all want the inlet opposite their own houses, and so commissioners were appointed to select a location for it. These commissioners put it off until their fall farming work was done, and in the meantime the fish died. Mr. William N. Lane, at Good Ground, says that when the fish die in the bay in such quantities it seriously interferes with the fish which desire to enter it to spawn the next season, as the oil or “slick” which is produced upon the water is very offensive to them2. (Dept of Interior - Tenth Census of the United States – The Oyster Industry by Ernest Ingersoll. Washington: Government Printing office 1881 pgs 362-3.)
The changes in periodic openings and closures with climate would leave a habitat history as shells in warmer periods, oysters, cold or periods, quahogs and bay scallops. Warmer periods in energy blocked coves would now show Sapropel mostly leaf compost from land. And the presence of Sapropel, a greasy black ooze with few storms and high heat forms the hydrogen sulfide gas the infamous rotten egg smell from coastal salt marshes a century ago. It also it now seems to favor Blue Crabs except at the most extreme heat conditions in which sulfide levels become lethal even to the Blue Crabs. When faced with these two conditions Blue Crabs walk away, the cause of southern jubilees. The change of pH and the absence or presence of Sapropel would define high heat habitat change for centuries. These “changes” have been identified in coastal cores. Collins mentions this high heat stagnant water killing oysters, and describing it on page 483 impacting the Poquonock River in Groton, CT Pg 483. [Bulletin U.S. Fish Commission Volume IX, 1889, notes on The Oyster Fishery of Connecticut by J.W. Collins.]
39. Stagnant water. – Injury to oysters by stagnant water is comparatively rare. The only place where Mr. Stevenson found this had occurred was on the Poquonock River, in the town of Groton. There the current is checked by eelgrass, and during hot weather it sometimes becomes peculiarly offensive and causes the death of the oysters within the limits of the stagnant water. [The Oyster Fishery of CT, page 483]
In Connecticut we have three case habitat histories that if reviewed could shed some light on past habitat and climate conditions that favored blue crabs and oysters rather than bay scallops and lobsters. Clinton Harbor, the Dardanelles, a natural barrier spit, the Pattagansett River in East Lyme, a railroad causeway and a Holly Pond between Stamford and Darien, a low profile coastal dam.
The Clinton system has left a habitat history in the scientific literature (US Fish Commission reports) and local observations. The Holly Pond system has been studied also, and the Pattagansett River has suffered from obvious energy reductions. The energy reductions have changed habitat conditions but in doing to helped preserve a “habitat history” in bottom cores, deep circular slices of the bottom that can be used to examine habitat reversals of the past, warmer and oyster shells signify a period of good oyster sets and it seems better blue crab habitat quality and Sapropel between them. Sand, gravel and bay scallop shells signify times of cold and storms that would have diminished blue crab populations and oysters. Soft bottoms (Sapropel) form in periods of high heat and sulfur reduction processes or the buildup of “black mayonnaise” reported by so many fishers in the 1980s and 1990s. That signals the return of the blue crab who can swim (or crawl) to avoid low oxygen conditions. Down south they are called Blue Crab Jubilees, long hot periods may have left a discernable habitat history of organic compost as layers between shells on the bottom of coastal coves.
For crabbers interested in Jordan Cove, Poquonock River and Wequetequock cores please email me for a much more detailed report titled, Connecticut’s Coves Do Contain “A Habitat History” (IMEP Habitat newsletters 15A and 15B).
Habitat Changes Continue
The eastern Connecticut coves have been very good crabbing locations this past years, but heavy rains and reduced tidal exchange can exacerbate conditions of the last extended heat wave. Sudden die-offs do happen much like larger event following the rains from Tropical Storm Lee which is suspected now in the fall 2011 die-off of crabs in western CT. Flooding waters are now linked to tremendous quantities of leaves being washed into rivers especially the Saugatuck River during this time.
Watershed events, flood waters can move enormous of leaves from reforested areas to estuaries. Combined with high heat it may take years for natural processes to remove them. Areas with restricted tidal exchange, circulation will show the longest habitat impacts. Areas adjacent to high energy beach fronts rarely experience the buildup of organic matter – Sapropel. It is simply wasted way or consumed by grazers such as sand shrimp. It is shallow coves that obtain “storm water” that may be overwhelmed by organic matter and if conditions allow, preserve such “events” in the cores of coastal coves. The opening and closures of barrier spits can be expected to produce similar habitat records. They may provide the most compelling reviews as such events were often newsworthy and quite profound.

They also may have left indications of climate changes in coast cores such as growth rings on ancient trees. The habitat history of Blue Crabs remains to be found in past climate changes.
The 2014 Blue Crab Season - New Haven Harbor - Blue Crab Survey
Ceondice Johnson, Sound School Student
Ceondice is continuing to survey the shallow waters near The Sound School. His report is below.
Thursday, June 26th, 2014
My third survey was done at The Sound School using the open wing trap and the circular hoop trap. There were no blue crab catches near The Sound School. The bait (menhaden) was the same for both traps.
The fourth survey was done in West Haven using the hoop trap baited with menhaden. I captured one small spider crab which was very active. Later, a two hour test at a new location, the end of the fishing pier adjacent to the Foote Building at The Sound School, lead to a catch of about 40 green crabs. I used both traps – no blue crabs.
Thursday, July 3rd, 2014
The fifth survey I caught five green crabs within two hours at the pier at the end of Sea Street, New Haven, CT. No blue crabs were caught.
The box trap caught nothing but a blue crab was observed in the rocks and it looked to be legal size.

Thursday, July 10, 2014
On my sixth survey, I used only the circular hoop trap. Nothing was caught.
Friday, July 11th, 2014
On my seventh survey, I used the open hoop trap and the wing trap, both baited with half of a menhaden. One 2 ½ inch male blue crab was caught along with twenty green crabs and a small spider crab. I went out for about five hours. The box traps are best suited for location. The wing trap is best for flat spots where as the hoop trap is best for resting on rocks. That rocky habitat is productive for green crabs.
Monday, July 14, 2014
On my eighth survey I used two hoop traps and the wing trap. One hoop trap was baited with mackerel and the other hoop trap was baited with menhaden. The wing trap had menhaden and also a green crab as bait. A small but very active spider crab along with another male blue crab (about two inches across) and about twenty-five green crabs were caught that day. I was out there for about six hours.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
On my ninth survey I used the open wing wall trap baited with menhaden. The hoop trap was not working properly, but I baited it with menhaden as well. I caught ten green crabs and my first large, female blue crab (5.5 inches point to point) in the open wing trap. I retrieved two green crabs in the hoop trap. The hoop trap kept flipping the crabs, so my count is not accurate. I was out there for about four hours.
In general the blue crabs are beginning to appear in the shallow waters, but just a few.
-- Ceondice Johnson
For blue crabbers wishing to read more about the eelgrass/ Sapropel habitat see IMEP habitat newsletter #13, March 2014 “Did Eelgrass Help the Rise of Blue Crabs 1998-2012” on the Blue Crab Forum™ ‘s fishing, eeling, oystering thread.
Every observation is valuable as we learn more about our blue crab population.

The Search for Megalops is part of a Project Shellfish/Finfish Student/Citizen Monitoring Effort Supported by a 2005 grant to The Sound School from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant #2005-0191-001.

Program reports are available upon request.
For more information about New Haven Environmental Monitoring Initiative or for reports please contact Susan Weber, Sound School Adult Education and Outreach Program Coordinator at susan.weber@new-haven.k12.ct.us

The Sound School is a Regional High School Agriculture Science and Technology Center enrolling students from 23 participating Connecticut communities.

Tim Visel
The Sound School

The latest Search for Megalops (blue chip) newsletters can be found on The International Blue Crab Blog Spot™, The Blue Crab Info forum™ (Northeast Crab Resources) and Connecticut Fish Talk™ Salt Water Reports.

Email your blue crab reports to: tim.visel@new-haven.k12.ct.us
If interested in helping with the Blue Crab Census, please email me at tim.visel@new-haven.k12.ct.us and register as a volunteer.