Official Site of The State of New Jersey
The Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries conducts annual surveys throughout the state to address a variety of recreational and resource management needs, including response to emerging fisheries issues. These surveys are conducted to satisfy a wide variety of projects, from searching the smallest streams for wild Brook Trout to electrofishing surveys at large lakes to assess populations of fish such as Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge and Walleye. Most surveys are used to monitor populations, classify streams, assess stocking programs, map the distribution of rare native fishes, provide data for potential management or regulatory changes, and to document or control populations of invasive fishes/aquatic plants.
Freshwater Fisheries Highlights 2021
Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries Biologists are responsible for the management of New Jersey’s freshwater fisheries resources. Fisheries activities include many facets, including fish culture and managing wild and stocked fish populations, protecting and enhancing their habitats, and educating the public. Trout anglers enjoy more than 600,000 Rainbow Trout, stocked annually from the Pequest Trout Hatchery into public waters. 3.8 million (26,946 lbs.) warm and coolwater fishes were raised and distributed by the Fish and Wildlife operated Charles O. Hayford Hatchery to supplement angling opportunities throughout the state. These programs are the result of an integrated management and culture program to the benefit of Garden State anglers.
Fisheries surveys are used to monitor populations, assess stocking programs, document both rare native fishes and emerging invasive species, among a variety of other functions. This work is made possible by funding from the Sport Fish Restoration Federal Grant F-48-R and New Jersey’s Hunter and Angler Fund, which enables Fish and Wildlife to continue “Managing Your Fish and Wildlife since 1892”. Since the onset of the pandemic, Fish and Wildlife greatly reduced the amount of fieldwork conducted across the state due to the inability follow sampling protocols while socially distancing. This was unfortunate, because fisheries surveys provide up-to-date data, so that the state’s freshwater fisheries resources can be properly managed. During this time, Fish and Wildlife has participated in an increased number of partnerships, leveraging staff, funding, and expertise to advance the management of our aquatic resources.
Below are a few projects that occurred in 2021.
Older reports can be found below.
A Brook Trout Strongholds Temperature Study was initiated in 2018, with the goal of developing accurate predictions concerning the benefits of groundwater and the extent in which groundwater buffers changes in air temperature. Streams well-buffered by groundwater are better suited to maintain temperatures more conducive to trout during warmer months than those less buffered. Brook Trout resilience in the face of climate change is more strongly linked spatially than temporally. As air temperatures increase, not all streams respond uniformly across space. This variation in space and sensitivity of stream temperature to increasing air temperature is largely due to the influence of local groundwater. Despite some sites having groundwater influence that may make a site more resilient to air temperature increases, urbanization is the proximal issue in many headwater streams that hold Brook Trout in NJ. Data were assessed to better understand impacts of land use types on stormwater events.
In addition, Fish and Wildlife surveyed to assess the Presence of Brook Trout and Other Wild Trout in a variety of streams. Single backpack electrofishing was used to capture and identify trout species at 11 streams. Streams were categorized as having presence of Brook Trout, Brown Trout, both, or neither. Multiple logistic regression using a stepwise approach for variable selection found that the increase in Urban land cover was associated with a decrease in the odds of wild trout presence (p-value < 0.02791). Below are the odds of wild trout presence based on the model:
- At 20% Urban Land Cover, presence of wild trout is 92.8% likely
- At 50% Urban Land Cover, presence of wild trout is 46.6% likely
- At 70% Urban Land Cover, presence of wild trout is 12.7% likely
The fifth year of an exciting Brook Trout Restoration Project continued on Rinehart Brook, a tributary to the Black River within Hacklebarney State Park (Morris Co.). In addition to increasing Brook Trout numbers, multiple objectives of this study were achieved, including the determination that multiple depletion electrofishing seems to be an efficient technique to remove Brown Trout and a realization that a series of natural waterfalls would not be sufficient to prevent Brown Trout recolonization.
During the initial removal, Brown Trout greatly outnumbered Brook Trout by a margin of 725 to 58. This was repeated during the fall of 2017, until the 7th pass, when only 9 Brown Trout (all young-of-the-year) and 60 Brook Trout were encountered (87.0% Brook Trout). Following the removal of non-native Brown Trout during year one, the Brook Trout population doubled in year two. Removals resumed in each subsequent year and is ongoing. A total of 1,533 Brown Trout have been removed from Rinehart Brook over a 5-year period (1,255 in 2017, 65 in 2018, 118 in 2019, 87 in 2020, and 8 in 2021). The maximum number of Brook Trout captured on any given complete pass has consistently increased from 65 in 2017, 147 in 2018, 841 in 2019, 1,169 in 2020, and 1,095 in 2021. This project will continue in 2022, with intentions to enhance the existing natural waterfalls, thus preventing Brown Trout recolonization. Knowledge gained during this pilot project will help further Brook Trout restoration efforts in New Jersey.
The Paulins Kill River Restoration Project is a multi-faceted partnership led by the Nature Conservancy (TNC), with goals of restoring connectivity in the Paulins Kill (the third largest NJ tributary to the Delaware River) and improving both riparian and in-stream habitat. A major aspect of the restoration effort was the 2018 removal of the 18-ft high Columbia Lake Dam located on the Paulins Kill, less than 1 mile upstream from its confluence with the Delaware River. Removal of this dam opened a 10-mile stretch of the Paulins Kill to fish passage for the first time in more than a century and restored important habitat for migratory fish (American Shad and American Eel). Funding for the removal of the Columbia Lake Dam came from a variety of sources (NJDEP Natural Resource Damage settlements, TNC, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries Program, the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation). Fish and Wildlife provides technical support and fish monitoring assistance for the project.
Ten transects in the old lakebed were performed in August 2021 and again in December 2021 to document stream channel characteristics such as channel width, depth, bank slopes, erosion, and change in these channel characteristics over time. The Paulins Kill watershed received two fall rain events categorized as 5-to-8-year storms. These were really the first significant rain events to occur since the dam was removed in 2018. The area suffered significant damage from these rainfall events and a December survey was performed. Subsequently, grading of the right bank in the upper impoundment took place in the spring of 2022 to widen the channel and prevent additional erosion. The area will continue to be monitored.
Fish and Wildlife teamed with Muskies Inc. (Chapter 22) for a Mountain Lake Fish Habitat Enhancement Project for juvenile warmwater fishes. Muskies Inc. proposed building and installing Pennsylvania porcupine cribs (pyramid-shaped log structures) and the fisheries staff provided technical assistance for the project. Muskies Inc. purchased materials and constructed the structures that were deployed in Mountain Lake on October 30. Staff from the Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery (large boat and staff) and Liberty Township (front-end loader and operator) assisted with the cribs’ deployment. During the winter of 2020 – 2021 Muskies Inc. built the remaining cribs that were deployed in the lake on October 19, 2021. Muskies Inc., Liberty Township, Freshwater Fisheries staff all assisted with the deployment. The cribs (less than 4 feet high) are strategically placed in small clusters that rest on the lake bottom, at depths of 10-15 feet.
ANNUAL RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT REPORTS
Annual Report – Research and Management 2018 (pdf, 5.4mb)
Appendices (pdf, 3.3mb)
Annual Report – Research and Management 2017 (pdf, 5.0mb)
Appendices (pdf, 2.1mb)
Annual Report – Research and Management 2016 (pdf, 6.3mb)
Appendices (pdf, 2.4mb)
Annual Report – Research and Management 2015 (pdf, 3.5mb)
Appendices A-H (pdf, 3.3mb)
Appendix I: Union Lake Fisheries Management Plan (pdf, 935kb)
Annual Report – Research and Management 2014 (pdf, 1.8mb)
Appendices (pdf, 2.6mb)
Annual Report – Research and Management 2013 (pdf, 2.0mb)
Appendices (pdf, 1.9mb)
Annual Report – Research and Management 2012 (pdf, 3.1mb)
Annual Report – Research and Management 2011 (pdf, 2.2mb)
