50 



BIOLOGICAL REPORT 31 



Table 4.3. Dates of "first catch" for various species 

 1880 Data from D.W. Dean, as quoted inGoode(1 



of finfish in Buzzards Bay recorded by a weir fishery for 

 887). 



however, after this time the populations suffered 

 serious declines, the causes of which are as yet 

 unclear. Winter flounders still support an important 

 fishery in the bay, utilizing the coves and embavments 

 for critical early stages of their life cycle. The spawn- 

 ing season for winter flounder is February in Woods 

 Hole (Breder 1 922) and February' and March for 

 the Weweantic River (Lebida 1 969). Winter floun- 

 ders are believed to return to the estuaries of their 

 origin for spawning (Perlmutter 1939; Saila 1961 ), 

 after which the nonbuoyant egg clusters remain on 

 the bottom until hatching. Farvae are abundant from 

 March through June in the bay waters (Febida 1 969; 

 Fairbanks etal. 1971; Peterson 1975). The young 

 w inter flounders tend to remain within embayments 

 during their first year, moving out into more open 

 bay w aters during summer months and returning to 

 spawning areas late in fall. It is during the tall migra- 

 tion when the young of the species are most 

 vulnerable to predation and fishing. 



Winter flounders feed only during the day on a 

 diet consisting primarily of polychaetes. bivalves, 

 gastropods, and crustaceans. The winter flounder's 

 habit of burrowing into sediments increases its po- 

 tential exposure to many pollutants compared with 

 midwater species and results in a higher incidence 

 of fin rot and hepatic carcinomas in impacted areas 

 such as New Bedford (Ursin 1 972 ). Pollution, over- 

 fishing, and loss of important nursery grounds, par- 

 ticularly loss of wetlands, are all anthropogenic ac- 

 tivities attributed as factors leading to the decline in 

 this resource. 



Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus). The rivers 

 and tributaries of Buzzards Bay have historically 

 sustained significant populations of alewives. These 

 fish were a staple in the diets of early settlers and 

 their abundance was synonymous with the relative 

 prosperity of coastal towns (Clayton et al. 1 978). 

 The abundance and regularity with which the 

 alewives returned each year resulted in dependence 



