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September 18, 2007

She says menhaden / Photo

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman
Menhaden's telling signs, DEM's April Valliere says, are the signature black spot and yellow fins. Bluefish, which chase the fish for food, may be mixed in the group, too.

PROVIDENCE -- Blues or not. Blues or not. The battle has been raging this morning here in the newsroom.

And April Valliere, principal marine biologist for the Division of Fish and Wildlife at the state Department of Environmental Management, has given us the official scoop:

They're menhaden. Adult ones. And they've been observed, in varying amounts, in the Providence River since May.

Journal photos taken yesterday of fish circling in the river below the Providence County Superior Court building sparked the debate. But this closeup view, sent to Valliere e-mail, settled the matter today.

By return e-mail, Valliere also gave us some details on the fish's presence in local waters this season.

Earlier this year, she said, DEM's Marine Fisheries section started an extensive monitoring program of menhaden stocks in Narragansett Bay. It collected data using onboard purse seine vessels, floating fish traps and observations by spotter pilots.

Last month, large numbers of juvenile Atlantic menhaden were collected and spotted in both the juvenile finfish survey of Rhode Island coastal ponds and of Narragansett Bay.

Huge schools of both juvenile and adult menhaden were seen being chased up into the less saline waters of the Providence and Blackstone Rivers by striped bass, which can tolerate fresh water, and by bluefish, she said, which are menhaden's prime predators.

Menhaden can tolerate a wide range of salinity, or salt in the water, from almost freshwater to ocean waters, according to Valliere. They are filter-feeders, primarily feeding on large quantities of phytoplankton, which must be abundant in the river.

Menhaden remain in large quantities throughout the Bay. But there's no concern at this time about a large die-off, unlike the recent Slater Mill incident where the oxygen dropped to very low levels and abnormally low tides were occurring.

"Hope that clears things up," she concludes.

We think it does. Thanks, April.

P.S. Journal environment writer Peter B. Lord both concurs and reports that the fish have made their way up into Waterplace Park today, where they're continuing to swirl.

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 1:06 PM | Permalink

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