102 



Fishery Bulletin 101(1) 



and statistical analysis of some aspects of the data of 

 the ichthyoplankton and otter trawl surveys in the bay, 

 the upper four zones were combined into an upper bay 

 region and the lower four combined into a lower bay 

 region (Fig. 1 ). 



Marsh creek survey 



Tidal creek samphng was carried out at six salt marsh 

 sites on the New Jer.sey side of Delaware Bay (Fig. 1, Table 

 1). Dennis Township, Commercial Township, and Moores 

 Beach will be referred to collectively as the lower bay sites, 

 and Browns Run, Mill Creek, and Mad Horse Creek will 

 be referred to as the upper bay sites. The average depth of 

 the trawling stations ( ].',i-2.6 m) and Secchi depth values 

 (0.3-0.4 ml were similar at all sites. The upper bay sites 

 in the mostly oligohaline region of the bay had average 

 salinities of 2.8-9. 1'/Jr and the lower bay sites were in the 



mesohaline region with average salinities of 17.0-18.9%p 

 (Table 1). 



We sampled each of the marshes (Fig. 1) monthly from 

 April through November 1996-99 (Table 2). Small inter- 

 tidal marsh creeks were sampled with weirs set at high 

 tide and hauled at low tide, approximately six hours later 

 Each weir (2.0 m x 1.5 m x 1.5 m, with 5.0 m x 1.5 m wings, 

 6.0-mm stretched mesh) consisted of a funnel-shaped net 

 stretched across the channel with wings extended back 

 onto the marsh surface from each end of the net. In cases 

 when the creek did not drain completely the area in ("runt 

 of the weir was seined into the weir 



Trawling in larger intertidal to subtidal marsh creeks 

 took place aroimd high tide and consisted of four replicate 

 two-minute tows per station, made against the current 

 with a 4.9-m otter trawl (6-mm stretched codend mesh) 

 towed at a constant engine RFM of 2500. Trawling station 

 locations at each site were designed to sample fishes along 



