Strange thought on bass situation

[dannyplug1]

A couple of days ago I was listing to the radio. In the story on NPR They reported that a recent scientific paper laid some of the problem with cod on the George's bank to global warming. And then they said that the north Atlantic had had the highest warming of any other sea in the world. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Is this what's happening to the stripers? Is it possible that larger bass like cooler water and are now staying further off shore? I think about my own experiences. Twenty years ago I used to see baby lobsters in tidal pools as I waded out to fish rock piles. I haven't seen them in twenty years. In my town there used to many lobstermen working in shore traps now nearly all are off shore. Rising temps? In Narragansett bay URI finds that the bay is devoid of lobsters because of rising water temp of the bay. Every year we get more and more tropical fish that we have never seen before cobia trigger fish etc. Look at this year, we had a ton of albies and bonito more than ever. I wonder what effect rising sea temps have on stripers. Don't get me wrong we humans Commercials and recreational are killing too many bass. and pollution in spawning areas and disease are adding to bass problems but I wonder what role global warming is having on striped bass. Wondering what you guys think.

[Fish On]

Interesting theory. Have you gathered objective data on the actual rise in sea temps for the same location at the same time of year? What do the numbers reveal? How great is the rise?

Do the large stripers stay offshore all year? Are they being caught in higher numbers at certain times/places that might support more time off shore when the in shore waters are warmer?

What other data might support or disprove the theory?

[Surf Caster]

Interesting observation on the lobsters. I've been fishing in the rocks for less than half the time you have, but still 7 years since I really started and I can't remember ever seeing lobsters in a tidal pool. Even at Cuttyhunk, etc.
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[Nebe]

Narragansett bay is not devoid of lobsters.
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[Cool Beans]

Originally Posted by Fish On

What other data might support or disprove the theory?

From what I have found, when "strange thoughts" pop into your head, they don't generally come packaged with scientific data and proof.
I think he was just throwing it out there for some interesting discussion and possibly get something worth reading and posting about on the site.

I feel he may be onto something, may not be global warming but I would be willing to bet that warmer years do produce fewer stripers. It sure seemed to affect my lobster pots this year.

[MakoMike]

The decline of lobsters is IMHO due to two things, the increased prevalence of shell disease and the population boom of Black sea bass.

I recently read an article which stated that tagging studies showed that the striped bass found offshore regularly come inshore and visa versa. If I come accross it again I'll post a link to it.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

BSB are a problem in my opinion. Talk to former lobstermen in LIS. I heard the folks up in Maine are pretty concerned that the BSB are showing up in their traps. A few i caught in western LIS a few weeks ago had small lobsters in their guts. Eating machines....

As for climate change... I am sure it is effecting things. The ecosystem will change over time to adapt to the rising temps, stripers are no different.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Narragansett bay is not devoid of lobsters.
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Absolutely agree. Talk to any of the lobstermen and they are still making a living on lobster in Narr Bay.

[zimmy]

Originally Posted by Rob Rockcrawler

BSB are a problem in my opinion. Talk to former lobstermen in LIS. I heard the folks up in Maine are pretty concerned that the BSB are showing up in their traps. A few i caught in western LIS a few weeks ago had small lobsters in their guts. Eating machines....

As for climate change... I am sure it is effecting things. The ecosystem will change over time to adapt to the rising temps, stripers are no different.

The collapse of lobster in lis preceded the boom of sea bass. The sea bass and all other predatory fish in lis certainly impact the lobster population, but they didn't cause the decline. It is messed up at the ecosystem level.
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[EricM]

Related tangentially, an article about the disappearing puffin colonies around Iceland's Westman Islands, home to 20% of the world's puffins. The puffins apparently stopped breeding successfully 10 years ago because climate change was driving away the sand eels.

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/nov...birding-inside

References something I had not heard of before - the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation, which also could be impacting our shores as well.

[Nebe]

Where Are the climate change deniers to tell all of you guys that you are all wrong and climate change doesn't exist ??
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[Cool Beans]

It's more on the belief in normal cyclical climate shifts that occur naturally and less on believing my F-150, cow far ts, and Al Gore are actually creating this shift.

[zimmy]

Originally Posted by Cool Beans

It's more on the belief in normal cyclical climate shifts that occur naturally and less on believing my F-150, cow far ts, and Al Gore are actually creating this shift.

I know, the same people who think cow farts and cars release pollution, let alone could alter the climate are the same people that think we could ever wipe out the passenger pigeon. Have you seen the passenger pigeons? They cloud out the sun.

[Raven]

read something recently that said cow farts to save the world
with some kind of change that would eat (AFFECT) the atmospheric
Co2 and reduce it back to where it should be Levels.
SAdly i was way to busy to Jump on it.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Narragansett bay is not devoid of lobsters.
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No, but it is WAY down from where it used to be.

[Guppy]

Hmmmm cow farts, u might be on to something there CRAIG

Caught all the cod and the lobsters population grew so the BSB moved in for the buffet

What's that smell? 😀😀😀

[shadow]

At one point I thought the same thing, for a few years i believed raising water Temps played a role with the lack of fish inshore....water to warm for the fish they are more comfortable off shore with cooler temps and more food....but then i moved futher south and i found better fishing in water that was warmer then my beloved block island sound..so now i believe that where there is a good food source in shore and a somewhat good concatenation of bass the surf fishing is still fairly good . If water Temps were a factor the bass that spend the summers in long island sound would not be there especially this past summer and that was simply not the case we had bass in the sound all summer..But then again iv only fished here for 3 years so I can't compare the recent fishing with what it might of been like 5 or more years ago
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[Nebe]

Find the bait and you will find the bass
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[big jay]

I'm starting to believe there's a relationship with the explosion of the Black Sea bass population moving Striped Bass off some of their traditional spots.

Over the last 3 years, Scorton Ledge has become infested with juvenile BSB - and each of these years I've been seeing less and less Stripers there.
We're not seeing a decline in the overall numbers of Stripers at the time of year they usually show up on the ledge, they're just not staging on top of the ledge itself anymore. They now set up in areas close to the ledge, but away from the seabass. These are areas where we didn't really find the stripers before.
The other variable could be the recent change in fishing methods, the "run and gun" eel guys can drive the fish off there. But as much as I hate that type of fishing, My guts says that's not the cause.

Nothing scientific, just observations from being on that area pretty consistently.
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[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by big jay

I'm starting to believe there's a relationship with the explosion of the Black Sea bass population moving Striped Bass off some of their traditional spots.

Over the last 3 years, Scorton Ledge has become infested with juvenile BSB - and each of these years I've been seeing less and less Stripers there.
We're not seeing a decline in the overall numbers of Stripers at the time of year they usually show up on the ledge, they're just not staging on top of the ledge itself anymore. They now set up in areas close to the ledge, but away from the seabass. These are areas where we didn't really find the stripers before.
The other variable could be the recent change in fishing methods, the "run and gun" eel guys can drive the fish off there. But as much as I hate that type of fishing, My guts says that's not the cause.

Nothing scientific, just observations from being on that area pretty consistently.
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I would guess that those little sea bass are on the menu for the large stripers.

[bobber]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Find the bait and you will find the bass
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I fished over acres of bunker all Spring and summer.....in all sizes and varieties. very RARELY was there any fish on them.