IMEP #141 Connecticut Coves And Winter Flounder Habitats 1930 to 1990

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IMEP #141: Connecticut Coves and Winter Flounder Habitats
The Coves of Eastern CT
Climate and Habitat Succession
The Pound and Fyke Net Fishery of the Connecticut River
"Understanding Science Through History" January 2021
This is a Delayed Report

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Tim Visel retired from The Sound School June 30, 2022


A Note from Tim Visel: "After The Fire"

Nothing could cause more immediate panic in the early colonial New England settlements than the smell of smoke during a hot dry summer.  There were no paved roads, fire breaks or ready access to water to put these forest fires out.  During the 1880 to 1920 period (a period of drought and extreme heat for North America) you can see a legislation response to fire danger with the creation of Connecticut's first "fire districts" with broad regulatory authority to minimize forest fires.  Fire districts still exist a century later in many New England states.  They remind us of a time before "fire stations, "watch towers" and "fire hydrants."  One article titled "After The Fire" by Roddy Scheer in "Native Plants" page 13 2004 describes habitat and species change after them – a conflict with expected negative impacts to us but part of a natural habitat succession process.  We have learned therefore that fire suppression – a response to prevent immediate loss of life and property only delays successional processes – in the events of hotter even more destructive fires that need huge accumulations of dead wood and forest litter.

The focus of Scheer's article was habitat/species change after "The Big Blowup" an immense 1910 series of fires that burned 3 million acres of forest in mountains regions of Idaho and Montana in August.  This is an excerpt from Roddy Scheer's 2004 article "After The Fire," (Native Plants pg. 13).

"Smoke from the "Big Blowup" darkened cities as far as 800 miles away at midday and sent regional temperature plummeting to freezing levels for a week or so following the fire.  The landscape was overrun with destruction.  Embers burned into the winter months – in some cases even beyond initial snowfalls.

The next spring, however people living in the burn areas reported some of the best wildflower blooms they had ever seen by summer, thousands of square acres were captured in rose-pink petals thanks to the widespread flowering of the aptly named plant fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium)."

And further –

"Many wildflowers spaces like fireweed have evolved in response to fire and rely on the effects on the landscape in order to reproduce.  Fire has always been of nature's regimen and can be good for wildflower populations as it reduces competition from other vegetation, opens up tree canopies to admit more sunlight, and recycles nutrient rich organic material by returning it to soil."

"Fireweed can be so successful following a fire because its root like rhizomes take hold deep in the soil, below the duff layer, which heats to lethal temperatures.  Often shallow root structures are destroyed, favoring those species like fireweed with deeper roots.  The 5-foot high rose-pink blossoms of the fireweed plant can be visible against the ashy blank canvas of a burn area from several yards away."

The above describes how species respond to dramatic habitat change.  In the marine environment, storms closely resemble similar habitat changes.

Natural habitat succession is important to the rise and then fall of fisheries – my view, Tim Visel.

Hurricanes and After Them –

For those studying the habitat succession factors of terrestrial study can easily see the advantage of terrestrial study.  Succession on land occurs much faster.  It was John Hammond on Cape Cod who introduced to me this aspect of marine habitat succession with the immense quahog bed off Nantucket.  This is when the "Portland Gale" a storm on November 26-27, 1898 sunk the passenger steamer "Portland" with much loss of life.  Although not named a hurricane (It developed off Virginia and not in the tropics) it occurred during a period of immense heat and intensified rapidly south of Cape Cod and likely had hurricane force winds.  It is then that a large area off Tuckernuck shoal was cultivated (think burned like a forest fire) and a species transition occurred that caused a huge quahog bed to develop (See IMEP #79 Part 2: The Great Nantucket Quahog Set of 1902, posted December 15, 2020, The Blue Crab ForumTM).  Years later this huge bed was discovered and led to a huge crop of seed and market quahogs.  Returning seed likely fed a huge population of clam predators including conch.  (Clams were caught between twenty and forty feet of water).  One can quickly see the immense advantage of habitat successional processes on land as compared to the sea a direct connection can be easily seen.  Mr. Hammond thought that a widespread set had occurred between 1901 and 1903 with a legal size population a decade later (small clams would have fallen from dredges). Quahogs did better after storms – soil cultivation and long periods of succession remained by previous dead clams or "shell litter or hash" were the remains of previous such events.

Hurricanes are marine forest fires – although succession is much delayed (as compared to fireweed) some of the best winter flounder fishing occurred in New England in periods of cold and storm activity.  Marine soils were "cultivated" freed of acids and allowed a "deep set" of clams could live below the active zone of predation.  Some of the work of shellfish researchers detailed the positive impact of soil types in 1953 (Pratt, 1953) detailed the "quahogs living in sand grew faster than those living in an adjacent plot of sandy mud."  We can study habitat succession better with shellfish because for the most part they are stationary like trees and grasses and do not swim – so it is easier to track, record and report habitat succession.  A 1988 paper by Jeffrey Kassner – "A History of Oysters and Hard Clams in the Great South Bay" mentions habitat influence on the change from oysters to hard clams (quahogs) in Long Island New York and contains this section:

"During the 1930s two natural events decimated the Great South Bay's oyster population.  The first was 1931 when a coastal storm opened Moriches Inlet into Moriches Bay.  The opening of Moriches Inlet increased the salinity of the eastern Great South Bay which enabled the oyster drill, a small snail that then preyed upon seed oysters, to increase in abundance and to expand its range in the bay.  As a result, the natural production of oysters declined substantially."

This period 1930 to 1970 is colder and energy filled – inlets opened and quahogs and winter flounder found cultivated soils, good forage and better habitats.  The truth of the matter is winter flounder do better in times of cold and when inlet flushing increases.  This tends to keep organic matter from building up, such as forest duff layer.

New York has a rich fisheries history regarding inlets due to its barrier inlet complex on the south shore of Long Island.  Two of the most famous are Great South Bay and Moriches Bay.  This fisheries history (recorded observations of fish abundance) is unique perhaps because so much is detailed and in printed reports.  Here the inlet characteristics are preserved in records and provide researchers a glimpse of habitat conditions decades before catch statistics record abundance.  This is very evident in the surge in Rhode Island quahog landings after 1938.  After hurricanes areas of shallow Narragansett Bay were cultivated and immense quahog sets happened – to be followed by a spike in quahogs landings.  It is difficult to connect such vast habitat change when the result is a decade (s) later.  We tend to focus on the short term impacts, especially along the coast which in many locations is developed.  Hurricanes can and do destroy buildings and kill people.  These impacts are negative to us and highlight the sense of dread as each "hurricane season" approaches.  Few if any researchers focus upon habitat changes after them.  This is especially true for winter flounder habitat.  This is the same dilemma for researchers suggest that forest fires are good to meadows.

With hurricanes, the most immediate impact is the destruction of some species, shellfish can be buried, or loosened so that they wash up on a beach.  The historical fisheries literature is filled with accounts of windrows of clams, oysters even at times lobsters after strong storms.  We often see this destruction (as with forest fires) but rarely learn about happens later.  Storms tend to open inlets, and period of heat tends to close them.  This change is frequently termed as flushing – and compounded by higher temperatures.  Hot periods and low energy the term stagnation is often found.  These waters are subject to toxic algal blooms (such as the 1980s brown tides) and the opening and closure of inlets often have a direct/immediate habitat response.   After decades of heat and few strong storms 1880 to 1920 several inlets closed waters warmed and immense fish kills were often reported.  This winter flounder fish kill dates from 1917 over a century ago often a hot summer and reduced tidal flushing.  This account gives us observations of Moriches Bay after a long period of heat 1880-1920.  (Note: the heat waves were so intense that summer camps and small cottages were built next to cool water all along New England seaboard and northern lakes.  Many shore communities can trace their beginnings to these 1890 "great heats," T. Visel).  Note the mention of "heat waves" in the following account – my comments in (Tim Visel).  This account of a 1917 winter flounder fish kill that had occurred August 1 is found in COPEIA – New York, March 19, 1918, No. 55 – "Published To Advance The Science Of Cold Blooded Vertebrates."  An abnormal winter flounder and others includes a section by J. T. Nichols of New York (my comments, T. Visel):

"About August 1, 1917, there was on unusually heavy mortality of Pseudopleuronectes americanus (winter flounder, T. Visel) in Moriches Bay, Long Island, NY.  This is broad almost tideless bay, but much of it is very shallow (extensive flats having but a few inches of water and heats quickly, T. Visel) and it is decidedly brackish.  The channels coming in from the west through the narrows which separate this from Great South Bay, are salt enough, but some of the landward spring fed "creeks" are pure fresh water, and the water on the sea-word side, under the beach, which separate bay from ocean, is surprisingly fresh (This describes a freshwater "lens" similar on Cape Cod, T. Visel).

"This condition is probably due to the fact that the opening of these waters to the ocean is twenty –five miles west at the farther end of Great South Bay, namely Fire Island Inlet.
Pseudopleuronectes (winter flounder, T. Visel) is one of the few marine fishers found in the bay in numbers.  An exceptional number of dead of this species were noticed on July 28 and on August 4 it was estimated that a thousand dead were seen (This resembles the sudden fill kills of the southern Jubilees – T. Visel).  The averaged about 8 to 9 inches in total length.  This high mortality was probably correlated with a period of unusually hot weather which that section had just experienced.  It also should bear in mind that this is a northern fish, which, though it extends to Chesapeake Bay, in less numerous, especially in summer, south of New York.  Similarly, I have seen large amount of winter killed Cyprinodan variegates (the sheephead minnow, T. Visel) on Long Island fish whose range is southern and extends northward only to Cape Cod."
Unfortunately, no data is accessible as regards the temperatures which accompanied the mortality of flounders, except my recollection that the locality was, more that it is usually, affected by the heat waves than present." J.T. Nichols, New York, New York.

A century later heat and flushing would be mentioned again.  A 2000 report and survey conducted for the Army Corps of Engineers include Long Island New York baymen.  This review was in regards to inlet stabilization and modification after storm barrier beach breaks.  Nature opens and closes these openings to the sea and because they are shallow and more susceptible to energy and temperatures habitat and species reversals happen much faster.  They are often reported in the fisheries literature as cycles of abundance.

Atlantic Coast of Long Island, Fire Island Inlet to Montaulk Point New York Baymen Interviews
for The Army Corps of Engineers, Allee King Rosen and Fleming Inc., April 2000

Bayman #2 – One bayman started "no flushing makes a dead sea" Quantuk Bay, between Moriches and Shinnecock Bays is always brown.  The flushing is not good in Quantuk Bay, and in summer the brown tide percolates and turns the water brown.  There is seasonal shellfishing in the winter months, but you can't make a day's pay, and the clams don't look healthy.  (Comments like the above are often found in the literature noted as dead bottoms – Tim Visel).  There is not enough oxygen for the clams on the bottom.  Clams need to have a frequent flushing over them, and a soft and clean bottom without silt build up.  Dredging occurred in the 1970's in Quantuk Bay, Suffolk County had 2 dredges back then, but one has been sold.  After dredging, productivity was high for at least ten years.  The year after the breach, in the spring, there was an abundance of clams.  After the breach was closed the clams were gone." (Page 2).

Restricted Inlets was once discussed as "tidal choking" which magnify heat impacts to shallow waters.  A restricted tidal opening (or a causeway – rail or road) causes a type of bathtub effect, not all the ebb flow water can exit - before incoming tidewaters rush back into a bay or cove.  The water that could not exit is now heated again and can slosh back and forth for days and is termed tidal flushing time or just "tidal time."  Nature can restrict tidal openings as noted by the above accounts and frequently mentioned in the alewife historical fisheries literature.  Here a tidal channel closed by storm driven sand was quickly dug out to prevent alewife death or stagnation or "no flushing makes a dead sea."  Besides heating warm water tends to contain more sulfide as a result of enhanced bacterial sulfate metabolism – and an increase in ammonia levels from low oxygen bacterial composting.  A reduced tidal exchange also tends to trap organic matter, leaves, cut grass, blossoms, twigs, etc. and increases the presence of sapropel a low oxygen compost that can become sulfide rich in high heat.  Many coastal residents may report "bad marsh smells" in extremely hot weather – a signal to the increase of sulfate as a oxygen source to bacteria that shed sulfides as a result.  Sulfide is a highly toxic substance to fish and shellfish.

Many Connecticut coves also have a fisheries habitat history which mentions manmade tidal restrictions, especially the major Amtrak rail line that follows the eastern CT shore before turning to the north.  Such a habitat history exists for Wequetequock Cove in Stonington, CT.  These narrow causeways created a delta inward fan of sand carried by hydraulic force – into waves or bars of sand.  The restricted ebb flow tends to hold organics and winter flounder fishers frequently described bottoms as "silting in" becoming soft and sticky or at times smelling like "rotten eggs" a sign of sulfate bacterial metabolism.  This cove was once a popular winter flounder fishing spot (comments from Elmer Edwards, Alfred Wilcox, Jeff Wilcox, Ben Rathbun 1980s).  A 1981 study by Anderson Nichols detailed the impact of then the Conrail railbed which divided the cove into two basins.  This is a section from the report section titled Shoreline and Bottom Conditions – for Wequetequock Cove – (Stonington, CT):
"Shoaling Sedimentation Problems – Sedimentation is a problem through the embayment.  The construction caused by the Conrail causeway accelerates sedimentation in the upper embayment, so most of the sediment delivered by upland erosion remains in the upper embayment.  Ware transport carries substantial volumes of sediment on shore in the lower embayment, and the entire area is characterized by shallow water and shifting bars" (source – Connecticut's Embayment Study – Phase I Inventory and Problem Analysis Prepared for The State of Connecticut Coastal Area Management Program by Anderson - Nichols Hartford Boston – Stonington section).

In the 1920's and 1930's, The Connecticut Fish Commission built a winter flounder fry grow out facility on Wequetequock Cove it was used to prepare hatchery efforts from the Noank Hatchery efforts from the Noank Hatchery for release.  This is from a 1935 CT Noank Lobster Hatchery report and part of IMEP #142: Winter Flounder Habitats In Connecticut – Wilcox Cove, posted January 16, 2015, The Blue Crab Forum™ Fishing, Eeling and Oystering thread (my comments, T. Visel): 

   Flounders –

"The hatchery secured (The Lobster Hatchery in Noank, CT, T. Visel), principally from Capt. Burdick is traps 779 brood fish which were placed in the spawning troughs.  The flounder draggers (otter trawl net fishery, T. Visel) brought a very few fish to the hatchery in 1935, as some of the boats co-operating with the hatchery in previous years were not fishing.  All flounders, when through spawning, were returned to the water again.  The Fish and Game Department (Connecticut Board of Fisheries and Game precursor to CT DEEP today – T. Visel) paid at the rate of 5 cents per pound for the broad stock.  From the 779 brood fish, a total of 103, 315, 380 winter flounder fry were liberated in Connecticut waters."  (Note the location of the Field Station at Wequetequock is not known but its presence is mentioned in many CT Fish Game reports.  Its location is probably available in the Stonington CT Land Records, T. Visel).

Two once productive winter flounder areas for both spear and fyke fisheries were once Wequetequock and Quanaduck Coves.  (Alfred Wilcox personal communication T. Visel, 1970's).  These upper regions of these coves would first freeze and support a winter spear fishery through the ice.  They could be fished with fyke before spring rains made leaf falls heavy and filled the nets.  Besides the colonial winter flounder spear fisheries of the 17th and 18th centuries they became famous for a set net fyke fishery between 1880 and 1920.  The US Fish Commission notes in 1880 the fyke net fishery of eastern CT was larger than that of any other New Englands – with the largest concentration of fyke nets – New London to the Rhode Island border with over half between Mystic to Stonington – Hugh M. Smith US Fish Commission in an 1880 Fish Commission report lists the number of fykes, Stonington 64, Quiambaug 110, Mystic 32, Noank 68, Poquonnock 21, New London 54.  Fykes were set primarily at the mouth of the rivers and coves in late winter and gave this species, its name "winter flounder" (See IMEP 97 Part 2: Estuarine Coves Records Harmful Algal Bloom History, posted October 12, 2021, The Blue Crab Forum™ Eeling, Oystering and Fishing thread).

In the middle 1980's, many eastern Connecticut small boat fishers mentioned habitat changes north of several eastern Connecticut railroad causeways.  Many of those observations included hard bottoms turning softer often giving off bad smells.  Others living near coves mentioned a loss of shellfish and winter flounder – Quiambaug Cove became a featured study area into the early 1990's.  The State of Connecticut at the time however dismissed or discredited these observations that the railroad had impacted these coastal habitats (See Appendix #6).  This was with information that 17 wetlands were blocked completely by rail lines from East Lyme to Stonington.  (See IMEP #92: The Railroads and Eastern CT Coves 1898-1998, posted August 2, 2021, The Blue Crab Forum™ Fishing, Eeling and Oystering thread).  Since that time road and railroad causeways has emerged as a national issue impacting wetland and tidal habitats across the country.  Because of the east to west rail crossings and hydrology mostly north to south Connecticut was severely impacted by transportation corridors (See Appendix #5) combined with sea level rise tidal restrictions have emerged as a large habitat concern.

These cove and bay habitats are where most (but not all) winter flounder spawning happened.  Flounder preferred clean bottoms, those without sulfide rich muds – clean vegetation, sand, or cobblestones in which to lay and fertilize eggs.  There is some indication that oxygen in the sand pores mark important egg habitat.  Some Rhode Island studies focused upon cobble stone areas as important nursery habitats (Crawford, 1990).
Adult winter flounder would move to these coves and bays to lay eggs in these shallow protected areas.  These estuarine habitats also are absent larger salt water predators and can be considered both a spawning and nursery functional habitats.  Deep water spawning also occurs and in the 1950's and 1960's minnow seine nets (used primarily for bait species) would contain two-inch small winter flounder in 2 to 4 feet deep.  Larger fish up to five inches were in slightly deeper waters.  River mouths, shallow coves and bays where preferred habitats and groundwater seeps may have a directional or location signal.  Winter flounder have specialized oxygen transport skin cells on the underneath section of the upper tail (See Comments 12 Flatfish Biology Conference NOAA, December 2, 2010).  This cutaneous skin pathway is thought to give winter flounder a reserve in times of low oxygen conditions (heat) similar to the specialized oxygen skin cells of eels.  It also has the ability to live in freezing water.  The exposure to long periods of extreme heat is deadly to small flounder and its primarily habitat is in shallow water.  We have a rare case history of what that means to winter flounder from Rhode Island salt ponds.

One of the features of high heat low oxygen subtidal bacterial reduction of organic matter is an acidic sulfide compost.  Anyone that comes in contact with this material might recall its sulfide smell and its ability to stain human skin.  Due to the fact that iron is a dominant metal the waste product of sulfate metabolism (bacterial composting) is iron sulfide which forms a black mono sulfide.  Handling this material often leaves a deep black to grey stain on skin.  In the 1890's this substance started to build in long hot summers and was linked to massive oyster die offs in the western sections of Long Island Sound.  A March 21, 1890 New London Day newspaper printed an article titled "Long Island Sound Remarkable Revelations – A Bottom of Putrefied Things" had this segment regarding a dredge sample in western Long Island Sound after an oyster die off (conducted by US Navy upon urgent request of Connecticut oyster growers) (my comments, T. Visel):

"Then his dredging seemed to disclose the cause (poor meat quality and oyster death, T. Visel).  In the vicinity of the beds (oysters) his dredge brought up from the bottom a foul deposit which gave forth such a stench that it was almost impossible to examine it (suspected sulfides, T. Visel) all the matter brought up had this same foul smell.  The waste splattered from the dredge coming off this foul matter discolored paints were ever it struck (today, we recognize that lead based paints react to iron sulfides – sulfide and result in a dark stain, T. Visel). "Where the hand coming in contact with any of the muck from the bottom of Long Island – hours of washing would not rid the flesh from the smell."

(The account is described in IMEP #59-B: Nantucket, Jamaica Bay and Quahog Seed Transplants of the Last Century, posted July 19, 2017, The Blue Crab ForumTM).
A century later, the buildup of the sulfide-rich sapropel is again mentioned in Western CT.  This article referencing the growth and relaying of the hard shell clam – from What Are Clam's Economic Impact On Greenwich by Peregrine Frissell, June 25, 2016- Greenwich Times contains this section –

"The Sound is affected by run off from the mainland, but also garbage and litter that settles at the bottom, decomposing into an anaerobic muck.  Stilwagen's crew calls that muck "black mayonnaise," because "its" so back and greasy you have to use soap and water to get off your hands."

The ability of this compost (a forming sapropel) to stain is well known in the fisheries literature.  Oysters growing in sulfide or iron sulfide composts will have a black stain, this is usually an oxygen limited compost.  Composts with oxygen have a brown coloration.  Oysters harvested may show the sulfide deadline portions showing a black stain.  This sulfide rich compost is often acidic and therefore buried oyster shell cleaned of biological fouling organisms and termed "black shells."  In Oyster Culture in Long Island Sound – 1966-1969 US Fish Wildlife Serve Sept No. 859 – Clyde L. Mackenzie Jr notes on page 30.  "In 1965 Mackenzie observed that black shells obtained from muddy bottoms could be planted immediately and being force of fouling organism, would catch about as many spats clean dock stored shells." 
A 2017 Assateque Island National Seashore response to similar black-stained oyster shell questions is below:

"As subsequent storms drop off more sand the oysters get buried deeper.  Eventually the environment turns anaerobic, which means no oxygen is present have a different kind of bacteria thrives and uses fermentation to break down organic compounds (leaves, cut grass dead algae – T. Visel).  Rather than creating carbon dioxide as a byproduct, anaerobic bacteria off-gas hydrogen sulfide that in turn reacts with naturally occurring iron in the sand.  This reaction creates iron sulfides which are responsible for staining the oyster shell black.  It's safe to assume that the darker the shell has been stained, the longer it has been buried" National Park Service. 
This sulfide staining is reported many times for shellfish and its impact upon meat quality often including phrases such as "thin or smelly meats" and "water bellies" starvation caused by sulfide contact.

A clue to winter flounder and sulfides could be found in an interesting case history from Rhode Island.  Intense heat waves in 1896 and 1898 caused massive fish kills in the shallow areas of Narragansett Bay.  In the November issue of Science A. D. Mead of Brown University publishes a paper titled "An Investigation of the Plaque Which Has Destroyed Multitudes of Fish and Crustacea During the Fall of 1898."  The lobster and soft clam population was practically eliminated and described a massive fish and shellfish kill in the late summer and fall of 1898.  Then in the winter of 1898 and 1899 the US Fish Commission reports that Hermon Bumpus (Director Wood Hole Laboratory Mass) collected many black bellied winter flounder in Greenwich Bay, RI – a large cove south east the City of Providence.  Winter flounder usually have a white belly (the skin that touches the bottom) but here specimens appeared in the hundreds, more perhaps than a genetic abnormality (my view, T. Visel).  (Mr. George H. Sherwood RI Fish Commission 1905 experiments in Lobster reading).

The number of winter flounder that had "black bellied fish" caught the immediate attention of the Rhode Island Fish Commission, which in response to the 1898 fish kill, commissioned the Narragansett Bay survey (which continues today, T. Visel).  Samples of black belly winter flounder were reported to be as high as 35%, much more than rare genetic specimens.  Winter flounder do have the ability to change skin color to blend into sand and mud bottoms.  A bottom color change would have no habitat – prey protection relationship.

Even a half century later this incident can still be found mentioned as it regards to winter flounder.  Bigelow and Schroeder 1953 Fishery of the Gulf of Maine Fishery Bulletin 74, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Vol. 53, GPO 1953 mentions this incident as described below on pg. 276,

"In fact, on third of the fish caught near Providence during the winter of 1897-1898 were these "black belies," as fishermen called them (Sherwood and Edwards, 1901).
But by 1900, "The Commissioners of fishers of that state estimated them as forming only 4 percent of the catch in 1900 and none (or at most only an occasional fish) has been seen."
In a publication referenced by Bigelow and Schroeder contains observations of these winter flounder – Sherwood, George H and Vinal N. Edwards.  1902 – Notes on the migration spawning abundance etc., of certain fishes in 1900.  Bulletin US Fish Commission Vol. 21, pg. 27-31 Biological Notes pg. 31 has this quote:

"In regards to the "black -bellied fish (winter flounder, T. Visel) the report of the Rhode Island Fish Commission for 1900 states "It is an extremely interesting fact that the dark bellied variety, which gradually came into notice several years and attained the maximum of its abundance in 1898 is on the decline.  Last season according to a trustworthy estimate, only about 4 percent were colored on the under surface, while three years ago (1897, T. Visel) at least 33 percent were so colored."  Among 300 flat fish from Waquoit Bay season (1900-1901) there was not a single specimen of the black-bellied variety, although last year Dr. Bumpus reported several.  This variation seems to have completely disappeared."

Although most references to this incident refer to genetics – perhaps another reason can be found in this subpopulation, they were altered during a massive sulfide event that altered skin tissue.  It is important to place location as an important factor – these stained winter flounder may have just the survivors of the massive fish kills of 1896 and 1898 – the same time period for the rise of black bellied winter flounder.  It is a plausible explanation of such a rapid rise in abundance and later as fish were recruited into the fishery or left the area the abundance declined.  Although these fish survived the sulfide kills they perhaps carried the black stain of the event.  This is one of the few times we can look back at the environmental history (massive heat waves) and look at the fishery history of which we have such detailed accounts.

If the bacterial composting in low or no oxygen conditions continue, so much sulfide is produced that it combines with iron compounds and may turn the water black.  Such events are catastrophic to fish and shellfish and the 1898 event in Narraganset Bay may have left a marker on winter flounder.  In 1896 and 1898, Rhode Island suffered two huge fish kills related to unusually warm water temperatures.  The 1896 fish kill was primarily in Rhode Island southern coast ponds as detailed by George w. Field of then the University of Rhode Island Marine Experiment Station – the nation's first marine laboratory connected to land grant research (see excellent write up and description of this laboratory by Dr. Capelotti and Dr. Devlin "Proximity to Sea Coast G. W. Field and the Marine Laboratory at Point Judith Pond, Rhode Island 1896-1900."

These fish kill events greatly alarmed fishers and when toxic algal blooms happened the public asked for answers.  With public concern came public funding and the reports by George W. Field the Point Judith Pond research station director beginning in 1896.  The year 1890 would be known as an ice famine, New England waters were so warm ice did not form leading to a severe shortage and crisis in several cities during the heat waves.  The 1890s are noted for immense periods of heat, these were described by newspapers with grizzly headlines such as Heat Wave Kills 400, or Ice Famine Concerns City Folk, these are the times when commerce in ice made huge profits as "heat" melted chunk of ice left in household "ice boxes."  Ice became a source of city life as a NPR news cast in August 2010 titled The Heat Wave of 1896 and The Rise of Roosevelt by Dave Davies as an author interview of historian Edward Kohn.

The 1890's saw the development of coastal cottages and summer camps as a way for city residents to escape the heat (and diseases) of city life.  These massive "heats" heated coastal waters and those areas of shallow poorly flushed had the greatest impacts.  Small coves and bays which were so important to winter flounder then became toxic and sulfide rich.

This condition would be enhanced during periods of heat and few storms.  A shift in the climate would be seen in changes in "flushing" the softening of bay bottoms and a shift to bacterial species that utilize sulfate dissolved in seawater with resulting sulfur smells of "rotting eggs."  The opposite would be in colder weather – cold sea water naturally contains more dissolved oxygen and bay bottoms are brown – not black.  Inlets would tend to be "open" colder water is denser and erosion of inlets (openings) enhanced.  A period of cold and storms would tend to keep the formation of sapropel from happening, and river mouths and coves more suitable to winter flounder.

The increase in the use of fyke nets doubled between 1880 and 1890 to 440 and Hugh M. Smith notes in 1889, (US Fish Commission Report, 1889):
"The largest number of nets is found in Stonington, Quiambog, Mystic, Noank, and New London."'
Fyke nets are small traps which can be set with both poles and anchors.  They are destroyed in open waters and are fished from 6 to 15 feet deep.  The principal target species was winter flounder.  Hugh Smith took the time to note seasons and includes the following in his 1889 report:

"At Mystic the nets are set about February 1 and taken up about March 31, they are again set about October 1 and remain down until December 31.  Flatfish and frost fish are taken.  At Noank, the nets are fished from the first of February to the last of April and from the first of October to the middle of December."

These are areas with shallow areas in which to set nets, Groton with cooler waters the fykes were fished much later in the spring – even to July.

From Smith 1889 – his fyke net report includes the following:

"In Groton the fykes are operated at the mouths of rivers during June and July and within the rivers during the rest of the year, flounder and frost fish are secured."

And the areas with the greatest numbers of nets was Quiambog – "where the greatest number of nets is used."

The fishery is connected to habitat condition and this leads one to look at the spawning and nursery areas of its coves.  In the 1980's, I was shown many boxes (about 30 boxes) of written fish records at the old Waterford DEP Office (since located to the Old Lyme facility) which had yearly fyke net survey reports and records.  They would help explain the change in habitat quality over time but largely remain from the public view.
A review of local and state records should be undertaken, we might find exact locations of this winter flounder fishery and then take core records to find evidence of previous habitat types, a sandy bivalve shell mixture covered with sapropel.  For example, the presence of "shell layers" in some coves could indicate massive habitat change and reflects suitability.  They could indicate habitat types or dominate related to the fishery.  For example, the 1911-1912 Biennial Report pg. 46 lists Fred Jostman of Stonington reports 17 trap locations and operating 30 fyke nets in the Stonington region.

It might be possible to research old maps and charts to see where these fykes were set.  I feel from Smith 1889 the coves in eastern CT were quite productive and records may be found for Lamberts Cove, Wequetequock Cove, Quiambaug Cove, and Quanaduck Cove.  All those coves have substantial tidal/flow restrictions and should contain historical reference points for habitat time series.  One of the most significant factors could be a layer of coal/cinders.  (Found in Dive Surveys in the Pattagansett River, East Lyme, see EC #3: Black Mayonnaise Impacts to Blue Crab and Oysters 1972 to Present, posted October 2014, The Blue Crab Forum™).  This coal/ash layer is typical of estuaries crossed by coal fired stream locomotives a century ago.  This layer provides a "time stamp" for depositional processes.  Organic matter deposits over these layer(s) are subject to sulfate metabolism – and rapid sulfide rise and in winter methane bubbles may be seen coming to the surface.  At a certain point as oxygen becomes limiting nitrate compounds are utilized for bacterial composting processes.  In a 1977 report titled Interstitial Water Chemistry of Anoxic Long Island Sound Sediments by Christopher S. Martens and Robert A. Berner took a series of core samples off the coast of Branford CT.
The study took several cores and detailed different habitat conditions,

Core Number TH13-71 cm length of core has this description (pg. 12 Martens and Berner)

"Upper few cm light brown, fine grained; 5 to 40 cm sandy with many shell fragments, below 40cm firmly packed dark grey mud with many shell fragments; H2S smell."

This is a core east of the Thimble Islands and Guilford, CT.  Another core taken in an area harbor has a much different cove profile.

Cove number SC-1    68 centimeter length this is the cove description -
   
   "Upper 20 cm mixed brown and soft black mud below 20 cm soft black mud; H2S smell."

Cores of coves with restricted tidal flushing may provide evidence of transition in habitat types, those layers or periods that contain shell fragments.

The transition from an oxygenated organic compost which produces C02 gas to one of a low or no oxygen sapropel produces toxic hydrogen sulfide gas and takes a terrible toll on oxygen life.  This process is natural as bacterial strains turn to other oxygen compounds a form of benthic anoxia in high heat and low flushing (restricted tidal exchange).  These no oxygen bacteria are not as efficient composters (and why terrestrial gardeners turn composts) as oxygen bacteria and undigested organic matter tends to build up.

In marine areas, this compost can accumulate rapidly especially in areas pinched off by tidal flushing.  This has happened to eastern Connecticut coves but was documented in oyster beds to our north.  In a study of Development of a Program to Rehabilitate the Oyster Industry of Prince Edward Island by Clyde Mackenzie Jr. MRF 1129 NOAA Sandy Hook Laboratory 1974-15 pages.  This section is found on page 24:

"The construction of causeways across some rivers in the 1950's resulted in reduced flow rates and also increased the siltation rate.  Deposit of silt were observed overlying shell deposits in several estuaries for example in parts of Bedeque Bay, East River and Vernon River, shell deposits were covered by silt as thick as 2 feet.  Presumably, the silt accumulated during the past 30 to 40 years following oyster mortalities caused by Malpeque Disease."

The habitat features of oysters that need warmth (The Prince Edward Island Oyster Fishery would peaked in 1890 – a time of massive heat waves) and few storm leaves a marker in the habitat successional process.  Rail and Road causeways speed up this habitat process by increasing organic deposition.  This oyster layer succession also occurs naturally and can be found in many estuaries and provides clues to climate responses.

The decline of winter flounder was directly connected to the failure of winter flounder habitat.

After The Storm – Natural Habitat Succession

We have both the fishery history and environmental history to better understand winter flounder habitats.  The fyke net fishery in eastern CT was the nation's largest with the number of set nets, but what conditions attracted winter flounder and made this fishery possible.  The eastern part of Long Island is open to storms, the coves were at time subject to this energy.  As tides, currents and waves cleared out organic debris from land and changed bottom soils.  It is here that bivalve shellfish sets and free from saltwater predators for the most part clam oysters and at times mussels could set and form packets of sandy/shell bottoms.  It is these "clean" cove bottoms consists of sand, bivalve shell and organic material provided winter flounder excellent spawning habitat.  A key feature reported by winter flounder fishers is that the bottom was firm and free of fouling organic material – leaves, sticks and logs.  These bottoms contained shellfish and soft shell clam beds an important forage opportunity for small up to two years old winter flounder.  It was two populations, small winter flounder 8 inches and under – free from serious salt water predators such as blue fish and the sea robin and the seasonal movement of adult flounder into them for spawning. 

The negative consequences of the buildup of marine composts by man made tidal restrictions was highlighted in IMEP #92 titled "The Railroads and Eastern CT Coves 1898 to 1998" posted August 2nd 2021 on the Blue Crab Forum™.  Coves were subject to natural storms, at times opening or breaking barrier inlets cultivating marine soils that sustained shellfish sets.  Without energy (storms) these habitats succeeded into those unsuitable, an increase in a low oxygen sulfide rich sapropel and in time bury previous habitats.  In coves and bays with restricted circulation flushing, this buildup of soft organic material covered previous winter flounder habitats – they succeeded into habitats that in summer pushed small winter flounder out, in effect, losing the habitat nursery functions.  Adult pre spawned fish could return to spawn they arrive when the winter is cold and oxygen well saturated.  "Suitable" habitat however declined in area as more bottoms took on a soft sticky (muck) consistency.  This was often described as tidal choking in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Natural and manmade tidal restrictions can cause rapid rise in sapropel as evidenced by coastal dredging projects.  Some areas just a few years can accumulate deep deposits of sapropel.  In turn of the century dredging history reports mention long buried oyster reefs (See Castner's description found in IMEP #112 Part 2: Dredging Projects Can Reveal Historic Oyster Beds 1900's, posted June 8, 2022, The Blue Crab Forum™).  With sea level rise, higher energy was to shape or break coastal inlets.  Barrier spits could open or close changing these nursery winter flounder habitats.

The decline of eastern CT winter flounder was in a response to changing climate conditions and sea level rise.  The placement of manmade tidal restrictions mirrors natural conditions that may take hundreds if not thousands of years.  We can observe habitat succession which speeds up behind rail and road causeways in less than a century ago and helps explain the sudden decline of winter flounder fisheries in or near them.
 
Indigenous people seafood remains in the form of shell middens may provide a more complete connection to fish and habitat.  Core records of estuaries provides most of the fossil and species change in terrestrial ecosystems.  We need to reexamine shell middens for similar indications.  We may find that shell middens can give us a look at species/location abundance as seafood likely was consumed near or very close to harvest source.  Such investigations may provide an important look back as previous changes in seafood abundance.  This abundance had a direct habitat link – my view, Tim Visel.


Appendix #1

Connecticut Report of State Board of Fisheries and Game 1921-1922
Pg. 48
The Pound and Fyke Net Fishery of the Connecticut River

Under Section 3134, any person who desires to fish on the Connecticut River with a pound or fyke net must first submit to the Commissioners a description of the net, the place where it is to set, etc., and having done so it is a compulsory duty of the Commissioners to furnish a number for the net.  In actual operation there is no restriction as to the number of nets which any individual may use, nor is there any restriction as to the period of the year when they are in operation.

The fishermen make application for assignment of numbers for a stated number of nets, giving a general description of the location, upon the receipt of which the Commissioners fill out a blank for assigning the numbers – a purely perfunctory operation.

The maximum of numbers issued to one applicant is for 40 nets and the average number of nets used by each fisherman is around 10.

There is perhaps no time of the year when some of the fyke nets are not in use, although during extreme freshet periods the fishing is limited to certain inshore or overflowed areas to which the fish may have resorted for the spawning functions.

During the winter months, only a limited number of nets are used because the fishermen are hampered by the ice.  The principal catch of the nets which are operated in the Winter, consists of carp and suckers.  But in the spring, during the period when the pickerel and perch are spawning, there is no restriction upon the operation of fyke nets in the region where fish spawn or in the passage way leading to such spawning area.  While there is a close season on pickerel and the fishermen are expected to return them to the waters alive, undoubtedly many are killed; but the perch spawning at about the same time as the pickerel and carrying an average of 30,000 eggs each, are shipped to market.  If fishing were restricted so that the perch could have a change to deposit their eggs, millions of young fry would hatch to help in maintaining the fishery.  Furthermore, it is possible for the Commission to propagate millions of perch fry for the rehabilitation of the fishery, provided funds are available and the co-operation of the fishermen is assured. 


Appendix #2

TIDAL RESTRICTIONS SYNTHESIS REVIEW
An Analysis of U.S. Tidal Restrictions and Opportunities for their Avoidance and Removal
United States Environmental Protection Agency
EPA-842-R-20001
December 2020
Executive Summary

ES.1  Introduction

A tidal restriction occurs when a structure or built landform limits or prevents tidal exchange between upstream and downstream habitats. These structures can reduce or eliminate tidal exchange, which can lead to direct loss of tidal wetlands through alteration of their hydrologic regime and/or to their function through lower salinities that "freshen" salty and brackish tidal wetland types. Common examples of tidal restrictions include dikes, berms, dams or levees, undersized bridges and culverts, road causeways, ditches, and water control structures (e.g., tide gates or weirs). Many of these tidal restrictions were put in place specifically to alter site hydrology for agriculture, flood control, mosquito control, or to protect infrastructure, among other purposes. However, some of the most common tidal restrictions are those related to transportation, where altered hydrology is an unintended effect of installed bridges, culverts, and causeways.

ES.2  Type and Abundance

Tidal restriction can result from structures in three general categories: 1) structures built to impede the movement of water, such as dikes, dams, and levees; 2) structures built to move or drain water, including ditches, weirs, and tide gates; and 3) transportation structures, such as bridges, culverts, and causeways. In order to determine the extent of existing tidally restrictive structures in the U.S., three main types of sources were consulted: 1) direct surveys of tidal restrictions conducted by others; 2) estimates derived from available modeling; and 3) related sources or those which can act as a proxy for tidal restriction, such as salt marsh quality or aquatic organism passage (AOP). For each state where information was available, the sources are described in detail in this synthesis. In general, there is a lack of information on the abundance of tidally restricting structures, especially along the southeast Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Direct surveys are scarce and of those completed, the degree of restriction is not often documented, as the primary goal of such studies is often salt marsh restoration potential. Many of the direct surveys of restrictions have focused on the northeastern U.S. (NH, MA, ME), as well as the Gulf Coast (FL, AL, MS, LA, TX).

Appendix #3

"Marine Composts and Impacts of Bacterial Sulfide to Winter Flounder"


The Sulfide Deadline Methane increases after flooding – reflects change in soil bacteria.  Mud mounds of Europe, and the role of soil health to agriculture is a key soil study area.  Methanogens are kept to low levels by sulfate reducing bacteria who consume their food before they can access it.  As sea water contains on unlimited supply of sulfate (S04) it is "non-limiting" to sulfate bacteria.  Methane production is limited by the presence of sulfate which is buffered by nitrate for example also removes a potential oxygen source.  I mentioned this nitrate – oxygen) source during the nitrogen TMDL process for Long Island Sound.  This bacterial nitrogen response however was not often included in nitrogen source research reports.  The influence of soil bacteria to shed sulfide compounds was not included as well.  Once methane is produced in the low or no oxygen zone, it can be oxidized to C02 and is directly related to oxygen availability in the soil.  For example, mound builders in Ancient Denmark piled up mud lifting it from anerobic horizons into a horizon dominated by oxygen.  Important nitrogen bacteria could now live in the soil, establish nitrogen ionic pathways into root tissue (i.e. the growth of plants – agriculture).  Once these mounds were raised (heaps of mud) the soil could sustain oxygen requiring bacteria and then assist nutrient ions crossing (nitrate) root tissue.  The use of mud (water soils) in Demark is an old mound farming practice and found in European agriculture history.  Bringing mud above to air allows farm soil bacteria to live and improve crop yields.

In Recent Marine Sediments edited by Parker D. Trask of the US Geological Survey Washington DC (1955).  Reviews the impact of water flooding soil pores.

Methane Increases After Flooding
Walter Hantzschel – Paper on Tidal Deposits (German translation Wattenschlick) in 1938 described the use of tidal muds to support agriculture.

Pg. 204, of Recent Marine Sediments has this segment,

"The great fertility of tidal mud also makes it possible to use it extensively for improving poor soils, especially boggy soils.  The Dutch people say "The faster you mud, the sooner you are rich."  Great increases in crop yield have been obtained by the agricultural use of this mud, in fact, in eastern fresh land 30 to 40 percent greater returns have been obtained, and the mud there is taken from the harbor of Emden and the navigate water of the lower Ems."

We need to realize that marine composts occur as well, and deep composts by bacterial action shed tremendous amounts of ammonia in heat, and purge sulfides when plankton activity slows in winter.  The presence of this marine compost in low oxygen forms a sapropel and small quantities of sulfide is deadly to clam spat.  Deep accumulations can bury clam beds especially in rivers as climate temperature and energy change.  This eliminates the food for winter flounder.

This impacts of sapropel (Black Mayonnaise) not only emits deadly sulfide (sampling it often releases a sulfide smell) but also can purge large quantities of ammonia a nitrogen compound.  This happens when it is how and dissolved oxygen is low.  Bacterial composting occurs under water and can produce enormous quantities of high pH ammonia.  This ammonia now provides the nutrients for the brown tides and large increases in Macroalgae growths such as sea lettuce.  Sea lettuce can form so thick it rots and gives of sulfide as well.

Restricted circulation in eastern CT coves is the result of road and railroad causeways but likely the greatest damage is from the railroad causeways.  By restricting circulation, they can hold greater amounts of sapropel (Black Mayonnaise) that alters the sulfur and nitrogen cycles. 

Core studies conducted in eastern CT coves conducted from 1991 to 1998 (released for public review in 2023) clearly show habitat transitions and deep accumulations of organic marine composts – Tim Visel.


Appendix #4

The Providence Journal
"Little Narragansett Bay Teeters on the Edge"
By Alex Kuffer Journal Staff Writer
July 16, 2015

"Aboard the Elizabeth Morris, after lowering a benthic grab into Little Narragansett Bay and scooping up a sample of the bottom, David Prescott pulled up the clam shell like device and opened it over a metal trough.

Out spilled thick dumps of Cladophora – green algae that looked like Brillo pads and gave off the sulfurous odor of rotten eggs.  Thick mats of the stuff cover the bottom of the bay in a swatch that straddles the water of Rhode Island and Connecticut between Watch Hill and Sandy Point.

The algae creates a low oxygen zone that's inhospitable to eelgrass and other plant like and the animals that would typically live on the floor of the bay, such as crabs, quahogs, and scallops said Prescott, South County coast keeper for Save the Bay as it breaks down, the organic matter forms a sticky muck that in places is several feet deep.  We like to call it black mayonnaise, Prescott said, as he held up a mason jar full of a previous days sampling.

Exacerbating the problem, Sandy Point, a narrow island that was cut off from Mainland Connecticut in the Hurricane of 1938 is slowly stretching northwest creating a barrier that prevents the bay from flushing those nutrients out."


Appendix #5

United States Fish Commission Bulletin 1889
G. THE FYKE NETS AND FYKE-NET FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, WITH NOTES ON THE FYKE NETS OF OTHER COUNTRIES
Pg. 318
BY HUGH M. SMITH, M.D.
CONNECTICUT

As already shown, the fyke-net fishery of Connecticut is more important than that of any other New England State.  Compared with 1880, the fishery seems to have about doubled in extent, judging by the number of nets used, although there are no data for 1880 on which to base a comparison of the catch and stock.  The average value of the nets, however, seems to have decreased.  In 1880, the number of fykes reported for the State was 255, valued at $2,480; in 1880, the number was 440, worth $2,230.

Fyke-net fishing is carried on along most parts of the coast of this State.  All the prominent towns have more or less fishing of this kind.  The largest number of nets is found in Stonington, Quiambog, Mystic, Noank, and New London.  The distribution of the fykes in 1889 was as follows:


Towns   No. of nets   Towns   No. of nets
Stonington   64   Branford   7
Quiambog   110   Milford   10
Mystic   32   Stratford   20
Noank   68   Southport   1
Poquonoc   21   Norwalk   5
New London   54   Darien   7
Niantic   15   Stamford   5
Saybrook   21      

The fish now taken in the fyke nets of Connecticut are principally flounders, frostfish, tautog, menhaden, and striped bass.  In a few places, terrapin are taken, and in Stratford these are much more valuable than the remaining part of the catch.  In 1880 the species reported to be caught in fyke nets were sea bass, cod, bluefish, eels, weakfish, flounders, herring, shad, and occasionally sturgeon.  At Mystic the nets are set about February 1 and taken up about March 31: they are again set about October 1 and remain down until December 31.  Flatfish and frostfish are taken.  At Noank, the nets are fished from the first of February to the last of April, and from the first of 319 October to the middle of December.  The principal fishing, however, is done in the spring.  The nets are placed in water 6 to 15 feet deep.  In Groton, the fykes are operated at the mouths of the rivers during June and July, and within the rivers during the rest of the year; flounders and frostfish are secured.  The nearly 140,000 pounds of flounders, frostfish, and tautog, valued at $2,550, were obtained 1889.  Seven nets at Branford were fished for menhaden; about 100,000 fish were taken in the year named.

The fyke-net fishery of Connecticut in 1889 resulted in the capture of 455,250 pounds of fish, valued at $8,759, and 1,019 terrapin, worth $1,280.  The quantities of the different fishes were as follows:

Products of the fyke-net fishery of Connecticut
Species   Pounds   Value ($)
Flounders   347,400   6,899
Frostfish   26,000   660
Menhaden   66,500   375
Striped bass 7,350   475
Tautog   8,000   350
TOTAL:   455,250   8,759

Of the 455,250 pounds of fish caught by fykes in 1880, nearly 350,000 pounds was winter flounder.


Appendix #6

TO: Coastal Embayment Advisory Board

FROM: Art Rocque

DATE: February 26, 1993

I thought the enclosed article might be of interest to those of you who have not already seen it. 
Of related interest, the consultants on the Quiambaug Cove Planning Study have reported their results, soon to be presented in their draft final report.  Briefly, they have reached the following conclusions:

•   Tidal flushing in the cove is good.
•   The railroad and highway causeways crossing the cove are not contributing to sedimentation in the cove.
•   Sedimentation rates throughout the central regions of the cove are essentially the same as have been recently determined in other coves, both with and without highway or railroad embankments, and are generally reflective of long-term sedimentation rates in the adjacent waters of Long Island Sound.
•   Increased sedimentation was observed at the head, along the shores and at the mouth of the cove, related respectively to past episodic solids discharges from the water company located on Copps Brook, to upland development activities, and to natural flood tide delta formation.
•   Removal of the railroad causeway could reduce circulation in the cove and degrade water quality.  The existing opening is hydraulically efficient.  Removing the causeway could result in the development of a barrier beach like that at nearby Wilcox Cove, leaving an opening through which tidal exchange would be less efficient.
•   Historic oyster production in the cove was a result of intensive aquacultural practices rather than natural growth.
•   Since solids discharges from the water company ceased in 1984, oysters have returned to the head and shores of the cove.
•   Historic fisheries reports indicate that flounder and tautog attributed to Quiambaug Cove were in fact landed at the town of Quiambaug which was located on the shores of the cove and were actually taken from waters 6-15 feet deep, i.e., Fishers Island Sound.
•   No modification of the Quiambaug Cove causeways is recommended.

We are working on scheduling a Board meeting in late March or April and will be contacting individual members to determine the date on which the most people will be available.  We hope to have the Quiambaug Cove consultants present their results at the meeting, in addition to hearing from Bill Kenney on the results of his West River study.  You will be hearing from Tom Ouellette in this regard in the very near future.
Thank you.