11-89 



tion southward to winter quarters off Virginia and Chesapeake Bay, is via 

 the eastern opening of Long Island Sound. 



Some fish, particularly the younger ones, over-winter in the 

 Hudson River and other deeper estuaries north of Virginia where the 

 deeper waters do not become extremely cold. In order to avoid the 

 extreme cold of winter, these fish are sometimes attracted to the ther- 

 mal plumes of power plants; young striped bass have been observed at the 

 Northport Generating Station throughout the winter. 



In New Haven Harbor adult striped bass (23 to 57 cm) have been 

 taken only from April through November, primarily by gill net (Figure 

 11-35). Largest catches occurred in 1972 when 3 to 7 fish were caught 

 per net haul in May and June (Figure 11-36) . Since then, nets have 

 taken no more than a single individual at a time, except when 2 two-year 

 olds (approximately 15 cm long) were in the otter trawl catch from 

 September 1976. 



There are no records of any striped bass being impinged on 

 New Haven Harbor Station traveling screens. It is unlikely that adults 

 of this species, which are extremely powerful swimmers, would have any 

 difficulty avoiding the intake of a power plant with low intake velo- 

 cities. 



With the exception of the Hudson River, there is no evidence 

 that this species spawns in Long Island Sound tributaries (Clark, 1968) . 

 In none of the Long Island Sound power plant studies reviewed for this 

 report were there any records of striped bass eggs or larvae in the 

 ichthyoplankton collections, nor were there any eggs or larvae collected 

 from New Haven Harbor during the seven years of ichthyoplankton moni- 

 toring. 



(Text continued on page 11-93) 



