the highest estimated impingement occurred in 1984 due to the large number of sand lance impinged that 

 year. Without this large impingement, the estimate (25,976) for that year would have been among the 

 lowest since 1976. The smallest estimated impingement occurred in 1985 after sampling at Unit 1 was 

 eliminated. 



Trawls 



Over 90 taxa of fish were taken by trawl at six stations in the vicinity of MNPS during the 10 yr of 

 two-unit operation (Appendices X and XI); Oviat and Nixon (1973) and JefFeries and Johnson (1974) 

 found that demersal fish communities in Narragansett Bay were composed of many ot the same taxa. Six 

 fishes comprised over 80% of the trawl catch. The winter flounder was the most abundant and accounted 

 for approximately 45% of the total catch; about one-third of the winter flounder was caught at NR. The 

 second most abundant species was scup. Most scup were juveniles and they accounted for almost 15% 

 of the catch. Over 40% of them were caught at NB. Biologists from CT DEP have determined that the 

 Niantic Bay region is the primary nursery area for scup in LIS (P. Howell, pers. comm.). The windowpane 

 accounted for over 7% of the trawl catch and over half of them were caught at BR. Anchovies, skates, 

 and silversides had similar catches and together accounted for an additional 15% of the total. Over 90% 

 of the anchovies were taken in Niantic Bay at IN and NB. Skates (66%) were mostly caught at the two 

 deep-water stations (TT and BR), while silversides were often found at the nearshore stations (IN, 37%; 

 NR, 27%; and .IC, 25%). 



The total annual catches of the selected taxa are presented in Tables 14 and 15. Their catch remained 

 relatively stable, except for anchovies and cunner. The former exhibited large year to year fluctuations in 

 catch, probably because of their highly variable distribution, and the latter showed a decline since 1976. 

 This apparent decline of cunner is discussed later. 



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