Paper 1 7 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS RELATED TO THE FISH 

 OFF NEW JERSEY DURING THE SUMMER 



KILL AND ANOXIA 

 OF 1976' 



Reed S. Armstrona- 



INTRODUCT ION 



A massive fish kill in the bottom waters over the middle 

 continental shelf off New Jersey occurred during the summer of 

 1976. Beginning in late June 1976/' dead or dying fish and 

 shell"fish were sighted off the northern New Jersey coast andr 

 through the summer/ the fish kill area expanded continuously 

 southward. Low oxygen or anoxic conditions accompanied the fish 

 kills (Bullocn 1V76). By mid-September the region of extensive 

 fish mortalities covered an area of about 2/1G0 square miles 

 (5/40u km-).' 



Observations in August 1976 indicated that the fish kill was 

 probably related to the presence of exceptionally low oxygen 

 concentrations in the bottom waters on the shelf.* By 

 mid-October/' oxygen concentrations in the bottom waters had 

 returned to near normal conditions. Comparison of the August 

 1976 data with historic August observations from the National 

 Oceanographic Data Center (MODC) archives indicates the 

 terrperature of the waters below the thermocline and oxygen 

 concentrations in the surface layer were not unusual in 1976 



Tak 

 relat 



du ri n 

 bnv i r 



1976x 



1^ I'i F S / 



■At I 



e r vi 



Ste 



enon 



In J 



At I an 



1976. 



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H inh I 



en from: Armstrong^ R. S. 1977. "Climatic conditons 

 ed to the occurrence of anoxia in the waters off New Jersey 

 c the summer of 1976." In Oxygen Deplption and Associated 

 onmental Disturbances in the Middle Atlantic Bight in 



f. 17-3 5. Tech. Ser. R. No. 3/ Northeast Fisheries Center/ 



NCAA 

 antic Environmental Group/ National Marine Fisheries 

 ce/ NOAA/ Narraaansett/ RI 0?.bb2. 

 imle/ F. 1976. A Summary of the fish kill - anoxia phenom- 



cff New Jersey and its imoact on resource specieS/ p. 5-11. 

 . H. Sharp (editor)/ Workshop Report/ Anoxia on the Middle 

 tic Shelf during the SumTier of 1976/ l«i ash i ngt on / DC/ October 



a prov ided by 

 a nds / 1^1 J 07732 . 



Northeast Fisheries Center/ NMFS 



NOAA, 



289 



