IMEP #133 - Part 2 -Causeways Choke Finfish and Shellfish Habitats 1880-2000

[BlueChip]

IMEP #133 – Part 2
Causeways Choke Finfish and Shellfish Habitats 1880 – 2000
Dams and Causeways Choke Finfish and Shellfish Habitats 1880 – 2000
"Understanding Science Through History"
1994 Wesleyan College Core Studies Made Available in 2023
Warm Water and Low Oxygen Impact Habitat Quality
Marine Reserves May Not Stop Natural Habitat Succession
Viewpoint of Tim Visel – no other agency or organization
April 2023
Thank you, The Blue Crab ForumTM for supporting these Habitat History posts
Tim Visel retired from The Sound School June 30, 2022
This is a delayed report

A Note from Tim Visel

In 1978, a federal corridor railroad improvement proposal looked at the impact of rail lines isolating coastal communities.  It was part of the effort in 1981 which looked at Hartford, New London and Providence, Rhode Island.  The Providence review involved the filling in of the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuk Rivers (The railroad station was built over the river fill).  Hartford and New London coastal communities had the rail line built along the waterfront.  New Haven was on the original review list but so much fill was placed for the construction of Route 95 (1941 to 1952) that it was deleted from the review.

As I recall, part of the proposal and comment process was to report and investigate all or any negative impacts to shore communities.  At the time, I was the Cooperative Extension Community Agent (CRD) for Marine Resources, University of Massachusetts so I was part of the review.
Of the three sites, I felt the Rhode Island project contained the most obstacles as it involved relocating the entire Providence train station.  Years later, the Providence project was a tremendous success.  It is known as the Providence River Relocation Project.

The cost to uncover "daylight" these two rivers is in excess of $160 million, including the construction of a new rail station, new bridges and public space including boat docks (See Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, Providence, Rhode Island Railroad and Highway Improvements, EIS 1980).  In 2003, this project obtained the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.  It has been used as a model project for similar proposals across the U.S.
The primary focus of this review was to examine rail line impacts to people, not necessarily impacts to wildlife.  From what I can recall, it did have a public meeting/hearing process (See Amtrak # FRA-RNC-EIS-77-01-F, Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, June 30, 1978).

Returning to Connecticut in 1983, during coastal workshops in shellfish management and aquaculture techniques had many attendees' detail impacts of rail lines to fish and shellfish. This was especially a concern in eastern Connecticut as after leaving Old Lyme, the rail line dips to the coast to connect shore communities of Niantic and New London.  A century ago, it was a decided economic advantage to have a rail line come close to or in your community.  For example, the community of Niantic lobbied hard to have the rail line at the shore as ship navigation declined in economic importance. In Niantic, the rail line is at the shore itself.

Eastern Connecticut state and federal officials, as well as many recreational and commercial fishermen, expressed concerns about changes in benthic habitats from these rail causeways.  These changes were often expressed as the increase in a jelly-like substance commonly referred to as black mayonnaise, likely a sapropel (Donald Rhoads, The Benthic Community, NOAA-EPA 1985 Workshop/Seminar Series).

Dr. Rhoads, in the mid-1980s, described sapropel as "organic rich, black (i.e., sulfidic) muds that are termed sapropels.  The physical properties of these muds are distinctive and the best description that I have heard of them is that they are like a "black mayonnaise" (May 10, 1985, Presentation To NOAA and EPA – Estuary of the Month Seminar, Series #3, Long Island Sound: Issues, Resources, Status and Management, 1987, 164 pages).
It was reported by John Scillieri, then chairman of the Town of Waterford's Flood & Erosion Control Board, that winter flounder fishers in Jordan Cove first reported sapropels (black mayonnaise) build-ups there in 1981.

In talking to some Niantic River winter flounder fishers in the 2000's (and also in the 1980's), the best winter flounder fishing was when it was cold and storms were strong and numerous. Many times, the cold was mentioned and fish returned to salt ponds, coves and river mouths during the coldest of times; i.e., winter flounder, the flounder that comes in winter, cold water oxygen penetration into marine soils would have meant a less toxic nitrate bacteria pathway.  Storms could move that compost and wave energy had made bottoms firm and increased pH and low CEC from cultivated sand.  This would have benefitted the softshell clam (stronger clam sets), a main diet component of winter flounder.  The buildup of sapropel was slight or nonexistent.  A well oxygenated soil could support soft shell clams.  Winter flounder found them to be an important forage.

Tidal river and cove choking are often recorded in observations of the fish and shellfish small boat fisheries.  In the Niantic River, a popular winter flounder fish in the 1960's declined when ice coverage lessened.  It was mentioned that the best winter flounder fishing was years with thick ice.  When the ice declined, the lower Niantic River grassed over (eelgrass) that it choked the estuary – north of the restricted opening/railbed.  Eelgrass grew so dense that stagnation occurred in the Niantic River.  In this case, winter flounder fishers noticed that eelgrass suffocated softshell clams in areas once productive for winter flounder (comments to T. Visel, 1980-1990).  Once forage was reduced, winter flounder fishing soon declined.

In 1974, research conducted by Michael Ludwig (NOAA NMFS – Milford, CT) found that the effective residence time for the Niantic River (above the railroad causeway) was 27 days.  According to Robert Porter, Chairman of the Waterford East Lyme Shellfish Commission, both scallopers and winter flounder fishers blamed dense eelgrass growths that caused a reduction in tidal exchange.  In a pilot project, explosives were utilized to reestablish tidal exchange (a reduction in residence days) under the supervision of the National Marine Fisheries Service – NOAA (See Ludwig, Environmental Assessment of The Use of Explosives for Selective Removal of Eelgrass Zostera Marina – Keevin et al., US Army Corps of Engineers, August 1977).  It is important to note that from 1968 to 1977 many states, including New York, documented immense eelgrass monocultures that impacted sedimentation and, at times, buried bivalve shellfish.

This effort to reduce tidal choking in the Niantic River was partially successful but an eelgrass dieoff started in 1978 (Robert Porter personal communication to T. Visel) and continued until 1982 when many acre massive dieoffs occurred.  In 1984-1985, bay scalloping in the Niantic River greatly increased.  In a 1984 survey of the remaining softshell clam beds in the Niantic River, old dead clams were observed under dying eelgrass – peat reinforcing similar written reports on Cape Cod (Belding) and observations in Clinton Harbor after the closing of the barrier inlet called the Dardanells (George McNeil personal communication to T. Visel).  Eelgrass, like terrestrial grass, collects organics and, by slowing water, increases sedimentation of rock flour, clays and other fine grain materials.  Since eelgrass is opportunistic and, at times, an aggressive monoculture species, it can suffocate bivalves and over time and, therefore, leaves a peat core habitat history of shells in layers – usually marked by storm (recultivation) events (See Boldt et al., 2009, Marine Geology, pp. 127-139, "Calibrating a Sedimentary Record of Overwash from Southeastern New England Using Modeled Historic Hurricane Surges").

If you went flounder fishing in CT in the 1950's and 1960's, the preferred bait was softshell clam necks, not sand worms.  Sand worms were a sign of sapropel buildup, and over the decades, a type of habitat forage "match the hatch" occurred in marine waters as well.  The cold and stormy climate pattern had removed sapropel from the shallows, but removal often increased the softshell clam.  Dredging can have much the same impact or removing ammonia-rich sapropel - notice the comments about Scituate Harbor after a dredging project removed soft, bottom deposits after an email exchange in 2010.

Questions about flounder habitat (Winter flounder habitat restoration – Scituate Harbor)

Peter Belsan of Belsan Bait and Tackle, December 1, 2010 – Email from Tim Visel

Hi Peter,

We lost our CT flounder fishery when much of the habitat went soft with silt and dead leaves covered much of shellfish beds and the flounder soon left these areas. I am now a high school administrator who is currently serving on a committee here in CT regarding habitat restoration (EPA Long Island Sound Study).

My current research looks at the impacts of energy, storm and waves, shellfish populations and sandy bottoms.  There does seem to be an association between energy, temperature and habitat type for winter flounder.

Scituate Harbor was dredged in 2002, and I have picked up on comments that (winter) flounder there returned to the dredged area.  I have seen that before in CT and just want to explore if you or any of your customers have experienced that after soft bottoms were made firmer or subject to greater tidal energy such as currents, the winter flounder fishing improved.

I hope you can help and would be more than happy to share habitat results and reports about winter flounder.

Tim Visel

From: Peter Belsan
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 10:23 AM

Hi Tim,

"Winter flounder fishing is very close to my heart because this is the first saltwater fish I targeted as a kid growing up in Scituate.  I and family or friends would take the dory out in to the middle of Scituate harbor and fill a five-gallon bucket with black backs in one hour on an incoming tide. We only kept the fish that were 14 inches or longer, the fishing was good, real good. These were times when Boston Harbor was the flounder fishing capital of the world. Anglers would come from far and wide to fish for flounder in Boston Harbor for a day. With no limits on the fish everybody went home with plenty of fish."

A lot has changed since the early seventies, Tim. Whether the changes have come about because of natural causes or are done to human activities will always be debated. I think some of both helped in the decline of the flounder. In addition to anglers, we had draggers working right on the beaches absolutely crushing the fish. I will tell you one thing they are definitely coming back, stricter commercial regs and a natural cycle is to thank for the resurgence of black backs.

As far as flounder habitat and bottom conditions things have changed the last few years with the dredging of our harbor. Removing all that old material that has been sitting on the bottom and getting back to a more natural sand/mud and gravel bottom has improved the flounder habitat greatly. I do think the dredging greatly improved the harbor, so the fish are coming back in to feed. I also remember there being a lot more mussels around when I was a kid compared what we have today. I am sure these creatures are all connected in some way.

Good luck with your studies,
Pete B.
Pete Belsan
Belsan Bait and Tackle

Storms Leave Evidence of Habitat Succession
Marine habitats succeed as well as those on land.  What appears to be good habitat in cold may become toxic in heat.  Habitat transition from the natural successional processes (not man) that nature has established and long recognized in terrestrial research – the law of habitat succession is also true for shallow bays.  However, almost none of the terrestrial research regarding habitat succession has been referenced in recent marine studies (my view).  This is quite evident with the bias of bottom disturbance while ignoring the habitat successional aspects of natural storms that move cultivate and create alkaline marine soils – those used for shellfish harvesting and aquaculture. (Those soils with low CEC exchange rates.)

That is why we may need a new effort to continue the fisheries habitat/aquaculture research mission as climate change threatens habitat stability.  This is now especially true as our habitats have experienced a recent sharp change - an active storm pattern and colder recent winters that have broken records since 2011.  We have had a period of marine habitat instability not seen here for half a century.  We need habitat/aquaculture research free of the funding effect and biased (self-sustaining) policy of conservation regulations as the eelgrass succession cases now appears evident. (Eelgrass has been the subject of research misconduct investigations on both the east and west coasts).  A century ago, the farm community experienced fraud in the sale of fertilizers.  The science supporting fertilizer benefits was paid by the manufacturer and sales agent.  Later this was generally referred to as "snake oil science."

The fertilizer case detailed above illustrates short-term fraud because its victims (farmers) could easily ascertain the difference.  They could see it as failed crops or toxic soils but that is extremely difficult to do in the coastal zone – the habitat successional aspects are largely out of the public's sight and they can be far longer than a few years.  In the absence of resource use history, fisheries habitat quality and at times a balanced "resource environmental history" that considered climate patterns information is often so incomplete or so biased as to challenge accepted values and beliefs surrounding our use of marine natural resources in the last century. The increase of oyster culture in the hot 1890's happened when pollution was immense, as oyster populations rose, lobster populations died off - 1898 to 1905. The landings of shad peaked in 1958 in a negative NAO period of cold and many powerful storms? The Niantic Bay scallop fishery would have its production period peak (1955) when the Connecticut coast was hit from a series of severe hurricanes, so severe that it led to the creation of the National Hurricane Information Center in 1956.

The concept of natural resource protection and conservation practices has become at times extreme (my view, T. Visel.)  The growth of pollution regulations in response to conservation and protection of natural resources as a public policy has a foundation of necessary good.  It is good to manage natural resources by wise use, conserve them and to keep them free of contaminants.  It is however unfortunate when promotion of regulations contains the same bias of the fertilizer scandals of the last century – the agency funding the science is the same one that writes the regulations, issues grants and often the same one that oversees enforcement.  Has the effort conserve and protect coastal resources at times become a business in itself, subject to the same historical bias of a lack of checks and balances observed at the turn of century? 

The dredging process of Long Island Sound would be a case study itself of this process.  From the 1950's and large role by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to one today in which management plans approach 1,000 pages long and now involves many state and federal agencies and dozens of laws and regulations.  We may need a "Special Master" to come in and supersede the current dredging process, largely over the recognition of sapropel – a marine compost that is often dredged out and dumped off shore but is a valuable soil nourishment product in Europe.  Dredging because of maritime commerce and economic dollars associated with it has now perhaps become a federal interstate commerce responsibility – similar to the more recent "right to farm" legislative acts.  When it snows we do not issue management plans, it has become a transportation and commerce necessity to clear the roads of snow – the same is true for coastal trade/ports and the commercial importance of maritime commerce.  Dredging at times can be good.  Dredging can restore tidal flows, especially in areas restricted by undersized culverts.

Habitat Modification - The Basis of Organized Culture

In our estuaries, habitat changes do occur like the "planting" of shell cultch to obtain an oyster set or the hydraulic cultivation of marine soils to facilitate clam sets.  Even shellfish harvesting is at times a habitat modifying process.  Dredging can be destructive as well as a mitigation opportunity.  I doubt if the regulations attached to terrestrial soil cultivation were as they are to dredging today, our agriculture industry would survive.  Dredging, at times, can alter the bacterial composting process.  The change can be rapid as residents often report after dredging increasing water exchange and lessening possible oxygen deficits.  I was first exposed to this by my involvement with the Hyannis Treatment Plant.  This plant still utilized the digesting pools of the previous century – bacterial cultures that broke down (think composting) organic matter.  They were called digesters because of the composting role of oxygen bacteria - except when it was hot.  Here on the Cape in 1981, it was hot and aeration in the digestion pools were increased to help keep oxygen "filter" bacteria alive.  But with the increased aeration came the pungent smell of ammonia in the neighborhood.  I was called out to a home on the area because of the stench, and climbing a berm I saw the sewage digesters.  The aeration was at a high level.  During a meeting about a week later, I learned that oxygen was so short, they had noticed a dramatic drop in nitrate – much a concern.  I asked one of the plant employees why this was such a "bad sign."  Explanation at the time was they were losing the "good bacteria," the ones that changed (oxidized) ammonia to nitrate, being familiar with nitrogen bio filters after my URI education with closed systems.

This is a segment from a 1976 publication titled "The Effects of Disease Treatment on Nitrification in Closed System Aquaculture" by Gerald Levine and Thomas L. Meade, URI Department of Animal Science, Kingston, RI (Dr. Meade was one of my Aquaculture and Animal Pathology professors):

"In the biological filter, nitrification is brought about by a mixed bacterial population, growing under aerobic conditions.  One of the functions of the biological filter is the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and finally to nitrate."

And further –

"The effectiveness of the bacterial filter is a function of the concentration of the nitrifying bacteria, their rate of growth, and dissolved oxygen in the unit" (Downing et al., 1964 and Liao, 1972).

It is ironic that the closed system use of bacteria modeled after nature's bacterial filter should be left out about how dangerous this is as water warms or becomes oxygen-poor – it opens the opportunity to sulfate bacteria.  We can consider storms at turning nature's compost while dredging removes it.  Many dredging projects simply remove accumulations of compost, and in doing so, break the bacterial response to generate sulfide and sulfuric acid – dredging simply removes the food for sulfate-reducing bacteria.  Many communities along the coast have noticed the rapid accumulation of what is frequently called "black mayonnaise" – a low-oxygen/high-heat sapropel – but it is just the organic residues of marine compost.

In the 1980's, the issue of habitat modification would become a concern in Connecticut but not related to modern events – but the century before to the building a coastal railroad.  In eastern Connecticut, this route was built on the coast in the community of Niantic in the shore itself.  The placement of fill and undersized culverts (in some areas no tidal exchange continued) greatly modified these coastal habitats – about 45 marshes, brooks, creeks and rivers were impacted.  In many areas in eastern Connecticut, these impacts were substantial and noticed by commercial and recreational fishers.  They (by the presence of the railbed) changed the energy profile of these areas, allowing slow deposition of organics over previously firm or shelly habitats, areas once known for finfish and shellfish harvests.  In some areas, sapropel (black mayonnaise), a sulfide-rich ooze, built up over these habitats and buried them.  In areas of railbed crossing, tidal restrictions caused deep scours and in other areas altered areas of flow.  Evidence was found that may represent energy events.  The grey color of organic deposits is likely from iron sulfides and reported by eastern Connecticut residents.  In 1991, a grant was made to Wesleyan University from the State of Connecticut (CWF-266-R, 7/1/91 to 6/30/93) to examine three coves – Quiambog Cove, Wequetequock Cove and Mumford Cove – sediment cores were taken "by vibrating 9m long 7.5cm diameter thin walled aluminum irrigation pipe."  Since the 1890's, organics collected north of several railroad causeways and left behind buried horizons.  (I was informed on March, 2023 that this study CWR-266-R may not have been available for public records.  It is now available from several sources – T. Visel).

These changes were detailed by core examinations and organics termed "black mud facies."  From Patton – Post-glacial stratigraphy and rates of sediment accumulation in three small Connecticut coves, pg. 21 has this section:

"All of the cores, recovered from the open water substrate of the coves, contain gray to black mud.  The mud is largely structureless but does contain thin sand layers, particularly in cores taken near the mouth of the coves for example, Quiambog Core #3.  The sand layers may represent individual storm events but it was not possible to date them ... There are also occasional mollusk shells and the mud is often bound by the roots of marine grasses ..."

Pg. 22 –

"Figure 13.  Sedimentology for cove Quiambog Cove core #3 taken at the mouth of Quiambog Cove Core is entirely mud with the exception of several thin layers of sand and shells."

The finding of layers of sand and shells is consistent with other tidal research of storms leaving a record in the core history.  The problem was this railbed blocked these energy events, which acted as a natural "raking" of marine organic composts.  The restricted flow and backup of sapropel (black mayonnaise) transitioned saltwater habitats into one progressively fresh.  This allowed the peat building plant, an invasive reed Phragmites, to grow into and eliminate salt marsh grasses above the railroad (See 700-year sediment record of Intense Hurricane Landfalls in Southern New England, Jeffrey Donnelly et al., June 2001, Geological Society of American Bulletin) (See also CT DEEP Controlling Invasive Phragmites Section (1) Restoring Tidal Saltwater Flows – Wolfe).

Tidal Restrictions Provide Research Opportunities

Marine Soil Chemistry and Habitat Quality Connected to Plant Life Succession –
A Missing Piece of Coastal Habitat Policy – The NAO

One area of research is how tidal restrictions change plant succession.  One impact is to peat vegetation, the other is marine soils.  Tidal restrictions provide an opportunity to look at these changes – as it can alter bacterial systems and in doing so alter their chemistry.
Although many estuarine reports detail the negative impacts of marine soil cultivation – these reports often neglect the "soil renewal" chemical properties long established for agriculture. Marine soils also have soil pores to facilitate oxygen, bio chemical reaction, contain worms and insects that work the soil (called bioturbation) most noticed perhaps by the burrows of the fiddler crabs in salt marsh peat. Marine soils need contact with oxygen in seawater to remain healthy, similar to terrestrial soils. Over time and in areas of organic matter deposition, marine soils can fail – that is their soil functions can no longer be sustained and is often a sign of sulfide formation. We can see sulfide toxicity in the silver stained dead trees in swamps but sulfide toxicity occurs in marine soils as well – much of it poorly understood by the general public.

Storms renew coastal soils, destructive by the observations of our value system but necessary nonetheless. In the marine near shore environment marine soils are "thus" recultivated, soil pores restored to exchange ions and once stabilized can hold bottom sets of a more alkaline preferring clams and oysters. Oysters and clams cannot set into low pH bottoms and clams – hard shell quahogs or softshell steamers (Mya) sets are facilitated by ions (calcium) in alkaline soils such as those following hurricanes when sea water mixed with the fragments of old bivalve shell – a pH "lime" impact as terrestrial soils. Although storms may dislodge silt, waters appear cloudy or even "dirty" at times marine organisms over time have adjusted to such particulate matter loads and survive. Once cultivated marine soils stabilize, they show huge sets of shellfish often described as "new bottoms" or new sand in the fisheries historical literature. This material isn't really new – fishers often describe these storms as events or a barrier beach breach or break or new cuts such as channels or "new" inlets. The historical literature frequently mentions the brown sands or honey sands as "new sand." These cultivated sands have low organic matter and similar to the "living" soils they need organic matter to sustain oxidizing bacteria strains. That is why today mussel mud, marine mud and sapropel are still used as conditioners overseas and once in our colonial history (See IMEP #26: Connecticut Rivers Leads Sapropel Production 1850 to 1855, posted September 29, 2014, The Blue Crab ForumTM).

However, the impacts of energy storms that are so destructive to us in lives and property are also an important part of marine soil chemistry and its coastal sea life. Some of the first researchers to link the positive impacts of storms to duck and water fowl habitats was The US Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1950's. The submerged plant successional attributes of declining habitat quality and habitat clocks and renewal appeared in the landmark book titled Waterfowl Tomorrow edited by Joseph P. Linduska – Dept. of the Interior Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife – US Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, 1964 (Library Congress card number 64-60084).

In the section titled "Research Key to Progress," pg. 667 – 681, Daniel L. Leedy, David A. Munro, and Walter F. Crissey mention habitat modification, and creation as a way to increase waterfowl habitats – and the importance of recognizing succession as "habitat clocks" much as the succession following forest fires.

John Hammond described after storms on the Monomoy complex off his home in Chatham Mass – changes in habitat types and species abundance after new cuts or breaks happened in this barrier Island system.  For Fish and Wildlife researchers, similar habitat clocks or successional attributes of habitat quality has a natural aspect not subject to a tremendous bias to place the sole responsibility upon human intervention (nearly always negative) which often occurs today. This is why Louisiana with all its salt marsh loss continues to produce so many blue crabs, as salt marsh is converted into shallow habitats Louisiana's Blue Crab production has stabilized and even at times increased (K. A. Lewis, 2014).

In the 1950's and 1960's, much of the US Fish and Wildlife Service efforts were at maximizing waterfowl production for duck hunters – using techniques that even included (explosives) pg. 665 (energy) to produce better quality habitats for ducks from small ponds. That necessitated a better understanding of habitat quality for forage vegetation succession and the role of energy and temperature in it. From pg. 680 is found this section:
Waterfowl Tomorrow (1964) -

"Occasionally, nature does the whole management job herself.  Her tools are droughts, hurricanes, and other drastic measures ...
Hurricanes can do wonders in renovating "worn out" marshes and Hurricane Audrey was a classic example.  It took the southwestern Louisiana marshes apart and put them back together again far better than they were before, so far as waterfowl.  Biologists have studied the result in detail and every effort will be made to maintain this favorable stage of plant succession."

Just as early waterfowl researchers noticed a mixture of habitat types was necessary for plant succession renewal from energy, few looked at temperature differences. That is the problem with the portrayed value of eelgrass habitat services – it is not a constant and in heat these habitat services can often turn sharply negative. Eelgrass and other SAV (submerged aquatic vegetation) species do what grasses do best – naturally they bind and collect silt, organic and clay matter in shallow seas and bays. They can start in sandy soil in a colder nitrate pathway or nitrogen limited waters and thrive until they seal organic deposits from oxygen and start the sulfur/sulfide pathway.  As heat continues, these aquatic grass meadows no longer support nitrate formation but sustain greater populations of sulfate (oxygen compounds attached to sulfur) reducing bacteria that purge sulfides and generate increasing amounts of ammonia. In a way, SAV helps shorten its own habitat clock and will over time show cycles of abundance related to periods of cold and heat as shown by the NAO climate cycle in the North Atlantic.

Waterfowl Tomorrow provides an insight into this SAV soil change, even the successional aspects of bivalve recruitment following storms.  This following segment is also from page 680 "Research, Key To Progress" and refers to one of my important case histories, the storm/vegetation cycles of Back Bay and Currituck Sound - my comments, T. Visel (   ):

"Bay Back and Currituck Sound, along the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina, provide another example.  During the 1950's, it became apparent that something was drastically wrong with this famous waterfowl area.  In March 1962, a violent episode in Nature helped prove the validity of conclusions reached by biologists.  A storm put seawater (a barrier breach, T. Visel) over the area, raising salinity, and precipitation of silt particles followed.  The water became comparatively clear (increased flushing and silt-rock flour tends to stick to dead algae and develop a floc – setting out, T. Visel) and plant growth responded phenomenally.  The food supply (forage for ducks, T. Visel) was augmented by the appearance of multitudes of small clams, which ducks relish (most likely a response to greater salinities, T. Visel).  Ducks flocked to these improved conditions and biologists chalked up another "assist" for Nature."

The Back Bay-Currituck Sound Data Report – (Introduction and Vegetation Studies, United States Fish and Wildlife Service – John L. Sincock, Chief, Section of Wetland Ecology) – also provides a rare look into marine soils after a storm event.  Silt soils with organic matter were productive for brackish submerged plants, important forage for ducks.  These soils, however, become much less productive when they gained clay over time.  Aquatic plants were slowly dying off as soils increased clay fractions.  Page 50 of the report contains this section, after the March 1962 storm called the Ash Wednesday Storm for decades in the Outer Banks (The storm with hurricane force winds caused immense flooding, loss of life and reopened the old Currituck inlet, which had sealed following a 1933 hurricane.):

"The reason that these silt soils are potentially but actually not, productive are fairly obvious.  Approximately 80 gallons of the extremely turbid water were collected from Back Bay proper and the suspended silts were permitted to settle for several days.  The textural and organic carbon analyses by the soil survey laboratory revealed that these sediments were composed of .4 % sand, 32.7% silt, 66.9% clay, the organic carbon (organic matter, T. Visel) was about 7.7%.

A textural analyses of sampling taken from the bottom of Back Bay in August 1959 (before the March 1962 storm, T. Visel) showed that the bottom surface soil was 62.8% silt (powdered rock or flour, T. Visel), 23.4% clay, and 13.8% sand (and) the organic carbon was 3.74%."

Finally, a comment follows on the impacts of high clay components, which come from land erosion, especially after flood events.  One of the measures of vegetation productivity is that they were shallow and therefore subject to light.  These shallow soils once supported vegetation, but no longer, even contributing to greater turbidity:

"It is an oddity that some of the soils that are potentially the most productive are in actuality the least productive.  They contribute more directly to turbidity, which is the primary limitation to aquatic plant growth."

Coastal systems subject to the energy of storm events frequently obtain flood water clays.  In coves and back waters, these clays settle out and, over time, become a greater soil constituent.  In other words, these soils "age" – they succeed into habitats that no longer could support submerged plants.  To bring tidal restriction into focus, we should consider them a fjord, a man-made inlet that did not allow sufficient tidal exchange.  This provides a core record of before and after construction.

Most likely, the largest example of how road and railroad causeways have impacted salt marshes is with the invasive plant phragmites, which has been traced to a strain from Mongolia, China imported for a potential hemp fiber rope substitute (See IMEP #18-1, posted June 19, 2014 and IMEP #18-2, posted June 19, 2014, The Blue Crab ForumTM).

The concept of tidal choking once attributed to channel obstruction and burial of shellfish habitats has been recognized as a national concern in changing salt marsh chemistry.  It is now recognized as changing coastal plant communities (See Appendix #8).

Tidal restrictions, both rail and road causeways, were first detailed by E. Zell Steever in 1974 and reduced salinity from tidal restrictions allowed this aggressive Asian strain (See Saltonstall K 2002 Cyptic Invasion by a Non-Native Genotype of Phragmites) to increase (See Appendix #7).

Many dredging projects were undertaken after 1890 from excess organics and likely were tree/leaves blocking channels.  One example is the dredging of rivers and coves adjacent to forested areas.  One cove that obtains large leaf falls and holds composting deposits is Hamburg Cove in the town of Lyme.  Here, boaters can moor for a few hours and view this magnificent cove.  The channel is quite narrow and larger craft off the channel run the risk of churning up black material including branches and sticks (personal observations, T. Visel).  One boater, realizing that the vessel was being trapped by a declining tide, opted to churn out the deeper water and in the process released hydrogen sulfide gas – signs of low oxygen organic composts.  Hamburg Cove was dredged in 1911 and again in 1982.  These dredging projects often removed soft deposits – and when presented rocks or boulders, dredging could not happen with the same dredging equipment.  Hamburg Cove has a unique habitat history as this happened in 1912 – a proposed turning basin was never completed at the expense of removing boulders (See Appendix #6).   When you review the historical reports, you notice an increase in dredging projects from 1890 to 1920.  The heat had favored the sulfate bacteria, which is a slower composting process, had a strong sulfide odor and termed then a "spoil," signifying a rotten material or "spoiled" food.

The change to sulfate-reducing bacteria has a direct connection to a warming climate.  It is an important factor to all benthic studies.  Bacteria should be included in coastal habitat research – my view, Tim Visel.

Appendix #1
Shellfish Resource Assessments and Oyster Spatfall Surveys of Rivers in Madison, Connecticut
Including a Salinity Profile of the East River 1987
Prepared for: The Madison Shellfish Commission
Jeffrey Internship Program
Bradford H. Burnham, Intern/Program Assistant
Connecticut College
Dr. Paul Fell, Advisor

Omer Butun, Intern
Vanderbilt University

Timothy C. Visel
University of Connecticut
Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Avery Point Campus, Groton, CT


Introduction to Salinity Profile of the East River

   On August 7, 1987, a salinity profile was taken of the East River in Madison, CT.  The survey was started at 4:30 PM at dead low tide.  There were five survey points: 75 ft. south of the railroad bridge, 75 ft. north of the railroad bridge, at the trolley pilings, at the Route 1 bridge, and at the Route 95 bridge.  The survey was conducted to illustrate the change of salinity that takes place when the tide comes in.

Materials and Methods of the Salinity Profile of the East River

   At the above mentioned sites, salinity was taken of the surface water using a Goldberg refractometer (which measures the change in refraction angle of the light as it passes through the water being tested).  Using the Shellfish Commission's boat, Tim Visel and Brad Burnham motored continuously from station to station taking surface salinities.

Salinity Profile Discussion

   The results of the salinity profile (data) were interesting.  Observations of the incoming tide from 4:30 PM (D. L. W.) to 8:30 PM revealed the existence of a tidal restriction due to the railroad causeway.  Observations of violent vortices, "boils," whirlpools and very strong back eddies were recorded.  This disruption in tidal flow was observed immediately upstream of the railroad bridge.  Disturbances such as the above were not observed in any other portion of the East River.

   A look at the salinity data showed a large delay in salinity measurements (over a relatively slight distance) between the survey point 75 feet south of the railroad bridge and Route 95.  While salinity changes were nearly simultaneous from the mouth of the Neck River to the railroad bridge, a delay of up to two hours occurred between the railroad bridge and Route 95 (one quarter of the distance between the Neck River and railroad bridge).  This may be explained by a disruption in the saltwater wedge, which delayed intrusion of saltwater up the East River.

   If a significant tidal restriction exists, it may manifest itself in a scouring of the bottom and deepening of the river channel near the railroad bridge.  The next intern study period should examine depths below and just above the bridge to determine if any severe changes in water depths are present.

Appendix #2
The Capture of Leaves in Tidal Rivers
Timothy C. Visel Comments
One tree, in effect, ruined hundreds of feet of Guilford's East River natural oyster beds and Charles Beebe and Frank Dolan described a blacksmith tree harpon for hauling these trees up a metal spike with a barb connected to heavy draft chain, driven into a log and a horse team quickly brought up these blockages.  The tree by way of branches "combed" the water of organics trapping other small branches and leaves.  In time, these organic materials would slow flows and more leaves collected, killing the oyster beds below, producing dead oyster shells still "paired" or stools.  Not only did these trees block navigation, they also collected leaves and other small limbs over oysters.   This was evident between the railroad crossing and Route1 Bridge.

George McNeil told me that one day "You were in the oyster business, the next the leaf business."  He would survey the lower Hammonasset River between Madison and Clinton each March, looking for sunken trees to be dragged off oyster beds on a very high tide.

After Hurricane Gloria in 1985, a large tree was trapped in the Branford River and nearby residents experienced what natural growers already knew – one tree could trap millions of leaves, killing the oysters but also setting up bacterial decay that would produce the smell of sulfur (suspected to be hydrogen sulfide).  These trunks would then catch light seed oyster dredges.  Buried in low-oxygen conditions, trees could last for decades.


Appendix #3

Town Opens Farm Pond to the Sound
By Mark Alan Lovewell
Vineyard Gazette, Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
Friday, June 8, 1990

The dirty water of Farm Pond is being cleansed this week after the Oak Bluff's board of health took emergency action to open a channel to the Sound.
   All winter, the pond has suffocated.  The one channel that for years brought a daily tidal exchange of saltwater to the pond was closed by a severe winter storm last fall.
   This week, a crane dug a temporary new trench to open up the pond again and allow the pond to flush itself into the sea.  The board of health ordered the digging when it received the necessary permit to do the emergency digging from the town conservation commission.
   "The water has been stagnant," said Kenneth J. DeBettencourt, a member of the town board of health.  The fact that there has been no exchange of seawater has raised the level of the pond.  "The water in the pond had nowhere to go," he said, and so the level continued to rise this spring.  A higher pond began posing a serious health hazard to the residents that live in the area, he said.
   Maxwell Moore is a resident of Harthaven harbor.  At one time, Mr. Moore said, he could recall when large yachts used to come into a harbor where today you only see the last remains of a wooden and stone jetty which marked the harbor entrance.
   "The shoreline has retreated 100 yards farther east.  That big opening was 150 feet wide," Mr. Moore recalled.
   Last year the narrow channel which provided a tidal exchange with the pond closed up entirely.  A small wooden bridge for foot traffic which used to traverse the channel now sits in sand.  Mr. Moore believes the channel will never be reopened because it is just too costly.
   Another option is to make a permanent cut protected by jetties where the work was done this week.  "We are working with the new state DPW.  They want to put in a riprap [jetty] and a culvert when they pave the road this fall," Mr. DeBettencourt said.
   Either approach will improve the circulation in the pond, but the state DEP has to make a ruling.
   "Shellfishing could begin again.  Once the water starts circulating, fish, quahaugs, oysters and blue crab could come back to the pond," he said.
   Mr. DeBettencourt said the state's position on these plans is what you might expect: "They want us to send them more information."

Appendix #4

The Importance of Oxygen Diffusion Rates and Chemical
Oxygen Demands in Influencing Vascular Plant Zonation
Patterns on the Salt Marsh

By Eric S. Yuhas
Selected Investigations on New England Salt Marshes

Project Oceanology – Pfizer
Marine Research Program
1983

Introduction
   The Project Oceanology Pfizer Marine Research Program is a privately and municipally funded program that involves twelve high school students each year.  Begun as an outgrowth of the now defunct National Science Foundation Student Scientist Training Program, our course affords students the rare opportunity to do actual scientific research at a comparatively young age.  The primary goals of the program are to develop the skills necessary to conduct a primary literature search, to enhance student's analytical and scientific writing skills, to create an intellectually stimulating environment that gives gifted and/or talented students a much needed outlet, and to further our knowledge of the marine environment.

   This year's study centers around the interaction between the biological, physical, geological, and chemical interactions of salt marshes.  Led by staff members John A. Scillieri, Jr. and David R. Scott, the students have conducted a three phase research schedule.  The first phase, a primary literature search and research question development period, was conducted in the spring of 1983.  The second, active research portion of the program was undertaken in the summer of 1983.  The research has concluded this fall with a computer assisted analysis and the production of a written research report.

   The high caliber of the student research is evident upon examination of this document.  While several of our findings are of considerable interest to the scientific community, all team members have greatly expanded both their personal knowledge and their own horizons.

The Importance of Oxygen Diffusion Rates and Chemical
Oxygen Demands in Influencing Vascular Plant Zonation
Patterns on the Salt Marsh

By Eric S. Yuhas

Abstract

   This study was designed to investigate the importance of oxygen diffusion rates and chemical oxygen demands in influencing the zonation of vascular salt marsh plants.  Oxygen diffusion rates and chemical oxygen demands were examined in the Spartina alterniflora, short and tall form, Spartina patens, and Juncus gerardi zones of a salt marsh in the lower Poquonnock River estuary on Groton, Connecticut.  Oxygen diffusion rates were found to be significantly higher in the tall Spartina alterniflora zone than in all the other zones.  Chemical oxygen demand was found to be higher in the tall Spartina alterniflora zone, but in this zone, the chemical oxygen demand was found to be a lesser percent of the available oxygen than in all the other zones.  The zonation of the height forms of Spartina alterniflora was found to be influenced by oxygen diffusion rates, and available oxygen, which is affected by chemical oxygen demand.  The zonation of Spartina patens and Juncus gerardi was found not to be influenced by oxygen diffusion rates, chemical oxygen demand, or available oxygen. 

A SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS

The 1983 Project Oceanology Pfizer Marine Research Program Team, John A. Scillieri, Jr., David R. Scott wish to extend thanks to:
Donna Johnson of Marine Sciences Institute for her technical help, spirit, and advice,
Dr. Barbara Welsh of Marine Sciences Institute for her technical assistance and patient explanations of computer software,
Dr. Scott Warren of Connecticut College for his assistance and loan of a Jensen Oxygen Diffusion Ratemeter,
Dr. Robert DeSanto for his technical expertise and the use of a florimeter,
Dr. Howard M. Weiss of Project Oceanology for his generous use of time and his help with the computer,
Dr. William Zeronsa of Pfizer for his help with deionized water,
Dr. John Buck of the University of Connecticut, Noank Marine Biology Lab for his assistance,
Mr. Bo Kacharowski of Pfizer for his help in obtaining mycelium,
Mr. John Wilkenson of the City of Groton Pollution Abatement Plant for his assistance in obtaining sewage sludge,
The entire Project Oceanology Staff for their help all summer,
The parents of all team members for their cooperation and sincere interest in their young adults,
and finally, to the Pfizer Corporation and the Sea Grant Program for their funding without which this program would not be possible.

Eric,
This summer will always be in my mind and all the work we did. I am glad to have known you.
Best Luck
Frank Canneto


Appendix #5
The Day
October 25, 2013, Friday, Page A2
Bill Would Scrap 100-year-old Plan to Widen Eightmile River Channel to Hamburg Cove
By Kelsey Hopper

Washington – House passage of the 2013 Water Resources Reform and Development Act late Wednesday opened the way for deauthorization of a navigation project on Connecticut's Eightmile River – a project on which there has been no activity in more than 100 years.

   The project now up for deauthorization included century-old plans to widen what had been a narrowing channel from the Connecticut River to Hamburg Cove that had obstructed navigation.
   The Eightmile River deauthorization, which is specifically mentioned in the Senate version of the bill, is one of a number of such projects.  It was first authorized in the River and Harbor Act passed by Congress in 1910.
   The 1910 report from the chief of engineers for the U.S. Army outlines the project with an emphasis on plans for Hamburg Cove.  The Eightmile River flows into the cove, which drains into the Connecticut River.
   Hamburg Cove is divided into a lower cove nearer to the Connecticut River – home to a number of moorings placed by the Town of Lyme – and the upper cove and its two working boatyards.
   The old project has not been carried out since initial construction in 1911, when the intention was to realign the channel and increase the turning basin at the northern end.

As of June 30, 1911, the project was 90 percent complete.  But a 1912 report from the chief of engineers of the U.S. Army reads, "It is not believed to be profitable to expend any further funds on the movement of this waterway, other than necessary maintenance."  The turning basin portion of the navigation project was not completed due to the presence of large and unexpected boulders and insufficient funds to cover their removal, the report said.
According to Irving, any federal agency that wants to take action involving the Eightmile River today must go through the Army Corps of Engineers.  The Corps then informs the coordinating committee, which provides feedback on any proposals.

Although the 1911 project was never completed, the cove portions of the Eight Mile River were dredged in 1982 after major flooding.  At that time, 10 inches of rain in a 24-hour period created shoals that obstructed navigation.   


Appendix #6
TIDAL WETLANDS OF CONNECTICUT
By William A. Niering and R. Scott Warren
Forward by E. Zell Steever
January, 1974

Environmental Impacts – Estuaries, page 55 – "Historically, causeways represent one of the first major impacts of man, realizing that moving and firing of the marshes were probably practiced long before the construction of railroads and highways.  Of the 127 systems studied, 119 (or 94 percent) had their drainage patterns interrupted by one or more causeways.  A major rail line, Amtrak, crosses many of the marshes.  However, town and state roads represent the major impacts.  Although bridges or culverts are present, many are inadequate to accommodate natural tidal flushing.  In fact, many of these causeways have either reduced the productivity of the marshes behind them (Milford Harbor) or have resulted in replacement of salt marsh species by Phragmites.  In contrast, at Oyster River, Milford, a lobe of marsh cut off from the main system by a causeway except for a narrow bridge has been almost converted from patens high marsh to alterniflora.  This has apparently resulted from impoundment of salt water combined with minimal fresh water input.  This change in species composition has been documented from cores of the underlying peat.  It is of interest to note that the pile driven wooden bridge on Canfield Island Creek (Shorehaven Norwalk, west part) which permits full tidal exchange is reflected in a highly valuable marsh system."
Provided by William Niering to Tim Visel, 1988


Appendix #7
New Haven Register
Friday, September 17, 2010
LOCAL
Project targets plants that choke wetlands
By Brian McCready
Milford Bureau Chief
[email protected]

Decades ago, fish swam in the Oyster River, and Milford and West Haven residents spent sleepy summer days fishing, but not anymore.

   Invasive plants called phragmites australis have taken over the wetlands along the river, which separates Milford and West Haven.
   The good old days may return, though, as the state Department of Environmental Protection has allocated $23,000 to wipe out phragmites in a residential area next to the river.

   The project will help restore a 37-acre brackish tidal marsh to a more natural state.
   Twenty-seven acres are tidal wetlands in the Oyster River system and are dominated by phragmites, known as the common reed.

   State and local officials announced the funding at a press conference Thursday afternoon on the Milford-West Haven line with the Oyster River in the background.
   Milford Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. said his city has a lot of phragmites and the grant is just a start.  He hopes the state will continue to allocate funds to eliminate it.
   The phragmites will be treated with an herbicide, according to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Block Grant Coordinator Thomas Ivers of Milford.
   Absorption of the chemical prevents the phragmites from getting essential nutrients, which means the plant essentially "self-destructs." Contractors will then mow the phragmites, and continue to treat the area for three years.

   Phragmites can grow up to 16 feet tall and are so dense that fish and mammals are squeezed out.  Also, it prevents the flow of water into the river, which can lead to flooding, officials said.

   "We're looking forward to the project, and to provide a more natural habitat and a better flow of water to go through the Oyster River," West Haven Mayor John M. Picard said.

Caption under photo (not included here): State Rep., Richard Roy, left, speaks with Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Amey Marrella and Robert LaFrance, also with the DEP.  They were discussing what can be done about phragmites, seen behind the patch of cattails, that are clogging the Oyster River.