ECOLOGY OF BUZZARDS BAY: An Estuanne Profile 



89 



late 1 800's, as many petitions were introduced to 

 control certain fishing methods to protect their ap- 

 parently declining stocks. Often the declines of many 

 fish species were blamed on the voracious and rela- 

 tively nonselective feeding of bluefish. which are fre- 

 quently found to have not only scup in their stom- 

 achs but also rock crabs, eels, sand lances, and a 

 whole variety of other species. Remarks presented 

 by a gentleman named Atwood at the 1 870 Con- 

 ference of the United States Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries stated that "all present" (including the com- 

 missioners of Rhode Island and Massachusetts) at 

 those meetings agreed "scup, tautog, sea-bass and 

 striped bass had within a few years diminished in 

 Buzzards Bay," (Atwood 1 820: 1 1 7) but that over- 

 fishing was not a clear cause of this decline. These 

 petitions also referred to concern over the threat of 

 overfishing to mackerel. Mackerel are migratory 

 and. swimming in large schools, provide a substan- 

 tial catch if found. Their transient nature, however, 

 made them somewhat unreliable as a sustainable 

 fishery, and although mackerel were easier to cure 

 than codfish, anglers were often more inclined to 

 fish for other more dependable species. 

 Nevertheless, mackerel were abundant, and their 



surface swimming behavior made them a frequent 

 catch in fish weirs. 



A representation of historical changes in catch 

 compiled for the Buzzards Bay Comprehensive 

 Conservation and Management Plan by Moss and 

 Hoff ( 1 989) is shown in Fig. 5.4. Records prior to 

 1 920 indicated about 1 90 species of finfish spent 

 some portion of their life cycle in Buzzards Bay. 

 Unfortunately, few data exist from 1 920 to 1 960; 

 however, for the post- 1 960 period 1 00 species of 

 finfish have been identified. Combining the two 

 periods, over 203 species offish have been recorded 

 in Buzzards Bay (Moss and Hoff 1 989). This in- 

 formation indicates that Buzzards Bay fisheries were 

 dominated previously by Atlantic mackerel, butter- 

 fish, silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis), alewives, 

 herring, and scup (Fig. 5.4). Today the most abun- 

 dant fish species in Buzzards Bay are scup, winter 

 flounder, and butterfish (Table 4.2). Bluefish, striped 

 bass, and Atlantic mackerel are also seasonally 

 prevalent in the bay, using it in summer and fall as a 

 nursery ground. Young-of-the-year butterfish, sea 

 bass, and scup numerically dominate the fauna each 

 year. 



Pre-1920 Post-1960 



Fig. 5.4. Changes in reported fish catches for Bu2zards Bay From Buzzards Bay Project (1987). 



