water which was opaque from china clay discharges, but that shoals of small 

 herring were observed to avoid the edge of the "dense-white" water. There is 

 no reason to think that scup are unusually sensitive to suspended sediment since 

 they enter turbid estuaries and feed on the bottom. 



Other Commercial Fin fisheries 



The pattern of fishing around the dump site has changed over the last eight 

 years both because of the dumping activity and changes in gear use. 



Previous to dumping, scup and butterfish were caught in the summer by small 

 vessels from Newport. This fishery is no longer active because of obstruction 

 both from the dump site and from large numbers of lobster pots in the area. In 

 the past, large cod catches were made while they were feeding on ocean quahogs 

 broken by dredges. Winter cod catches east of the dump site have varied in suc- 

 cess from year to year but do not seem to be related to the presence of the site. 

 The major bottom fishery in the immediate disposal site area is for ocean pout 

 in the winter by vessels from Point Judith. A typical tow path would start sev- 

 eral miles southwest of the disposal site and run northwest coming within a mile 

 of the southern corner, then run north to the general area of the 30 meter con- 

 tour. This course avoids spoil at the temporary sites Southwest of the site and 

 a wreck south of the site. As many as ten vessels participate in this fishery. 



Midwater pair trawling for the blueback herring is carried out shoreward 

 of the disposal site during the winter in years when the fish are abundant. Her- 

 ring were not caught in 1978. 



Tub trawling (fishing with long lines of baited hooks) has traditionally 

 been used to catch cod along the thirty meter contour in the dump site area by 

 lobster boats in the winter. Gill nets can be used by the same size boats and 

 are much more productive . In 1978 gill netting was successfully carried out on, 



