Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service - NOAA

STUDIES ON THE STRIPED BASS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST 41
tremendous size that in 1936 and 1937 its members either spread or were crowded
farther north than in recent times. It is also the case that the widening and enlargement
of the Cape Cod canal in the past few years has undoubtedly provided an easy
means for fish to reach northern New England waters, and reliable witnesses attest
to the fact that striped bass passed through the canal in large quantities in the
summer of 1937. 13
The most northerly return of a striped bass tagged in southern New England or
Long Island waters was from Cape Cod Bay. But there can be little doubt from the
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TEMPERATURES
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TEMPERATURES
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FIGURE 30.—Water temperatures in the Niantio River, Conn. The surface and bottom temperatures were taken in an area where
striped bass were caught throughout the season. The open sea temperatures were taken at the mouth of the Niantio Hiver,
where the water passes through a narrow gut on the incoming tide with such forco that the surface and bottom temperatures
are tbe same. The open sea temperatures were taken during the spring and fall migrations of the striped bass. Arrows indicate
when the.flrst and last bass of the season were caught. Upper graph is for 1936, lower for 1937.
catch records and the examination of scale samples that the migration north hi 1936
and 1937 at least reached Maine, and that north of Cape Cod the migrants from further
south mingled with resident populations that probably had been isolated for some years
past. In the summer of 1937 striped bass were taken in large quantities in Nova
Scotia, but it is almost certain that there are self-supporting resident populations in
various localities along the Canadian coast, and in the absence of length measurements
and scale samples it is impossible to be sure of the origin of these fish. Two alternative
possibilities suggest themselves in explanation of the presence of striped bass in Nova
Scotia; first, that these fish are of northern origin and are completely separate from the
11 Part of a letter to the author from Mr. John K. Webster, of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, dated March 8,1938, reads, ". . . it
now seems almost certain that these fish passed through the Canal. Mr. Churbuck told me the water around State Pier was loaded
with bass and thatlpeople fished for them all along the banks of the Canal with great success."
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