Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 24 



Butterfish 



Cusk 



Dogfish 



Haddock 



Little skate 



Northern shrimp 



Ocean pout 



Ocean quahog 



Pollack 



Red hake 



Redfish (Ocean perch) 



Scup (Porgy) 



Sea scallop 



Silver hake (Whiting) 



Squids 



Striped bass (Rockfish) 



Summer flounder 



White hake 



Winter flounder 



Winter skate 



Witch flounder 



Yellowtail flounder 



Peprilus triacanthus 

 Brosme 



Squalus acanthias 

 Melanogrammusaeglefinus 

 Raja erinacea 

 Pandalus borealis 

 Macrozoarces americanus 

 Arctica islaadica 

 Pollachius virens 

 Urophyucischuss 

 Sebastes spp. 

 Stenotomus chrvsops 

 Placopecten magellanicus 

 Merluccius bilinearis 

 Illex spp. 

 Morone saxatilis 

 Parahchthys dentatus 

 Urophycis tenuis 

 Pleuronectes americanus 

 Raja ocellata 

 Glyptocephalus 



cynoglossus 

 Pleuronectes ferrugineus 



(NMFS, 1988) 



System boundaries for many fish species may be 

 provided by Gulf circulation patterns which carry 

 eggs and larvae. Many gadoid species, such as cod, 

 haddock, silver hake, sand dabs, and witch flounder 

 breed on Stellwagen Bank (or in nearshore coastal 

 waters), but not over deeper Gulf waters. 



Due to its location at the southwestern end of the 

 coastal circulation pattern, all of Massachusetts Bay 

 acts as a "catch basin" for a variety of species. 

 Several of these demonstrate somewhat localized 

 distributions within the Gulf of Maine, including 

 cod, haddock, pollack, hake, and herring. 



e. Sea Turtles 



Although four species of sea turtles have been 

 recorded in Gulf of Maine waters, only two, the 

 leatherback and the Atlantic ridley, are seen with 

 any regularity. All species are currently Usted as 

 either threatened or endangered. 



Atlantic, or Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelvs kempi V 

 Atlantic ridleys are observed in waters off 



Massachusetts as juveniles, having either swum or 

 drifted north in the Gulf Stream from hatching 

 areas off the southern coast of Mexico. Juvenile 

 ridleys generally measure 10" to 12", and weigh 

 around seven poimds. Southern New England 

 waters are important feeding grounds for ridleys 

 and are thus considered important habitat for this 

 endangered species. Each fall (generally between 

 November and January), as Cape Cod Bay water 

 temperatures decline, a number of ridleys regularly 

 strand on Cape Cod due to cold-stunning (Prescott, 

 1986). Cold-stimning occurs when water 



temperatures fall below 12°C (57°F), and turtles are 

 unable to swim or digest food. Between 1977 and 

 1987, a total of 115 juvenile ridleys were found 

 stranded on Cape Cod beaches (Danton and 

 Prescott, 1988). 



Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea). The 



endangered leatherback is a regular summer visitor 

 to the waters around Cape Cod, the Gulf of Maine, 

 and Nova Scotia. This is the only species of sea 

 turtle that colonizes cold waters for feeding 

 activities, which include jellyfish (notably the Hon's 

 mane jellyfish), comb jellies, salps, and other jelly 

 organisms abundant in these waters during the 

 summer. The largest and heaviest of all extant 

 reptiles, leatherbacks may grow to U feet in length 

 and weigh up to 1,900 pounds. Turtles observed in 

 the area between Cape Cod and Newfoundland are 

 generally single, mature animals, frequently 

 measuring more than six feet in length and weighing 

 over 1,000 poimds. Of dl sea turtles, leatherbacks 

 appear to migrate the farthest in search of summer 

 food; Western North Atlantic leatherbacks breed 

 anytime between April and November along 

 beaches in Central and South America (with very 

 occasional nesting activity noted in southern 

 Florida). Females usually nest only every other 

 year, during March and April, and may not migrate 

 as far north as males during breeding years. This 

 may explain why most leatherbacks observed in the 

 Gulf of Maine are males. Sightings off 

 Massachusetts are most frequent during late 

 summer (July through September). The turtles 

 usually first appear in the Gulf of Maine between 

 May and June, and are most frequently seen in the 

 Gulfs southerly coastal waters. In the autumn, the 

 turtles move further offshore and begin their 

 migration south for the winter (Payne, et al., 1986). 



