In general, Niantic River and Bay winter flounder showed patterns of movement similar to those 

 reported by others. Lobell (1939) noted that concentrations of winter flounder near Block Island in 

 summer were fish from the Long Island region. Weber and Zawacki (1986) tagged and released winter 

 flounder in two bays off western Long Island Sound, New York. Most of the recaptures were made 

 locally and many of the distant returns were from areas to the east during summer and fall. However, 

 less than 10% of the recaptures were made outside of Long Island Sound. The majority of the fish seemed 

 to return to areas around the tagging site in subsequent years. Danila and Kermish (1981) and Scarlett 

 (1986) reported that fish resident in central and northern New Jersey estuaries from fall through spring 

 moved offshore and to the north and east for surmiier. Howe and Coates (1975) found that winter 

 flounder south of Cape Cod tended to move offshore to the southeast when water temperatures exceeded 

 15 °C. The Niantic River winter flounder population appears to have some individuals that remain in 

 local waters throughout the year, yet others are able to move relatively long distances and successfully 

 return each winter before spawning. 



Stock identification 



The ability to identify and separate stocks is important when quantifying impacts. If more than one 

 discrete population is affected, then losses may be partitioned accordingly. A study was undertaken for 

 NUEL by the University of Rhode Island in 1980-81 to investigate techniques for differentiating winter 

 flounder stocks using a specific biochemical technique (Schenck and Saila 1982). The method chosen was 

 direct tissue isoelectric focusing of eye lens proteins. Briefly, when a constant electrical potential is applied 

 to a pH gradient formed within a gel, each of the separate proteins migrates to its isoelectric point, where 

 it has no net electrical charge. This allows for the differentiation of even closely related protein molecules 

 and provides a criterion of genetic homogeneity. A brief summary of the study follows. 



The first portion of the work in 1980 examined fish taken from major estuaries or embayments over 

 a relatively large (125 km) geographical area. Fish collected from New Haven, the Connecticut River, the 

 Niantic area, Thames River, Mystic River, and Charlestown Pond separated well when the data concerning 

 the presence or absence of certain proteins were used with linear discriminant analysis. Classification of 

 individual winter flounder was highest in the correct area of capture with misclassification tailing off as a 

 function of geographical distance from the source of each fish. 



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