Ecological Evaluation of Sedge Island Marine Conservation Area in Barnegat Bay : Final Report, 2017
Date
2017-06-09
Date Removed
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Publisher
Trenton, N.J. : New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Science, Research and Environmental Health
Abstract
Conservation zones are important for maintaining the sustainability of ecosystems and
populations of economically important species. In the third year of a three year study, the
relative ecological value of the Sedge Island Marine Conservation Zone (SIMCZ) in Barnegat
Bay, NJ was again assessed by comparing species diversity and abundance of fish and selected decapod crustaceans in three habitats (seagrass, algae, and unvegetated) inside the SIMCZ with
an area outside the conservation zone. Long-term data sets are required to adequately assess the
ecological value of conservation zones, thus, NJ-DEP staff and volunteers were trained in the field techniques to insure continued data collection in the future. Finally, based on results from
previous years, the relative importance of the SIMCZ as a refuge against fishing pressure for adult blue crabs was tested using tag-recapture techniques. As in previous years, cylinder (i.e., throw trap) sampling indicates that species diversity, the total abundance of organisms and the
abundance of juvenile blue crabs were similar inside the SIMCZ as compared to outside the SIMCZ. The few differences in abundance between the SIMCZ and outside the conservation zone may be attributed in part to relative proximity to the inlet. Habitat was far more important than location in accounting for the differences in species diversity and total abundance of
organisms. In general, vegetated habitats (SAV and algae) contained more species, total
organisms and several individual species than unvegetated areas. Evidence suggests that the
SIMCZ contains habitats that are ecologically valuable and are helping to sustain valuable
species. Finally, tagged crabs in the SIMCZ exhibited recapture rates higher than expected and
days-at-large times shorter than expected suggesting the recreational fishing effort inside the
SIMCZ may be higher than a comparable area with very little recreational (or commercial)
fishing. Thus it may be prudent to collect information on recreational fishing activities occurring
in the SIMCZ.
Description
Keywords
New Jersey, Ecosystem health - New Jersey - Barnegat Bay, Blue crab - Conservation, Crustacea - Conservation, Sedge Islands (N.J.) - Conservation, Barnegat Bay (N.J.) - Conservation