A dozen Dolphin in Earle- Saturday 7/4/2020

[Capt. Debbie]

Funny yesterday afternoon about 7pm

Cruising by Earle on way home in tow boat and saw a fin running on top and and then dove after about 5 seconds.

Went inside security zone ( just barely). Shark? Sunfish? Nope. Two pods of dolphin/porpoises about a dozen total.

Perhaps the millions of bunker every where drew them in? So many bunker that the dolphins are going to leave NJ fat and over weight. )

Great to see things are clean enough for them to keep coming back.

[Duffman]

Didn’t see any this weekend but last week at least 50+ in various pods around officers row. They are definitely eating well this year that’s for sure!!!!

[Capt. Debbie]

Funny. Like Ying and Yang balance. We get dolphin entertainment and our staple early summer fish ( the blues ) are no where to be seen.

Originally Posted by Duffman

Didn’t see any this weekend but last week at least 50+ in various pods around officers row. They are definitely eating well this year that’s for sure!!!!

[fishypete]

With the amount of bunker I saw from Great Kills to the rocks on Friday they would be in heaven. Acres and acres.

[Billfish715]

I don't want to be a pessimist about all of the bunkers that are currently all over the coastline and in the bays and rivers but...............What happens every year when the bunkers are thick, especially in the rivers and bays when the temperatures rise? Yup! Can we say fish kill?

With the weather for the next week predicted to be hot and humid, with temperatures in the mid to high 80's and into the 90's, I will not be shocked to find that there has been a fish kill in our area.

There is no denying the fact that the ocean water is very clean for this time of the year. We really haven't had any freshwater runoff for quite some time, therefor the sediment is not being pushed out. No runoffs means limited pollutants and limited algae growth........for now. A few heavy and widespread downpours might change everything and cause an algae bloom that will likely kill many of the bunkers.

Would the whales and porpoises and sharks be around if the bluefish were still abundant? Would the bunkers still be around? It's all conjecture since in all of my many years of fishing, I have never seen so many bunkers before. The ban on inshore netting has certainly paid dividends. All of those living water filters are having a positive effect on the condition of the water in the bays and ocean. Let's hope the heatwave doesn't deplete the oxygen levels of the water We don't need a fish kill.

[Gerry Zagorski]

An interesting subject for sure but I think these fish kills have been going on forever and it's common sense that all things being equal, the more Bunker there are, the more fish kills we'll see.

Interesting to note is this article https://mde.state.md.us/programs/Wat...eportFINAL.pdf which included the attached report, most fish kills were the result of natural causes, not pollution

As your read more into the article, the main cause of fish kills is heat which causes lower oxygen levels. Having said this, we are far better off pollution wise then we were 50 years ago when every town was dumping raw sewage into the tidal rivers and bays but that's not the main cause for fish kills..

Great to see all the Bunker around and all the predators they attract as well as their ability to clean up our waters... One article I read said "Some scientists have suggested that one adult menhaden can clean four to six gallons of water in a minute"

Bottom line is we are much better off with then without them but aside from human factors like pollution and over-fishing, mother nature is responsible for taking more then her fare share.