Fishes of Western Inshore Cape Cod Bay: Studies in the Vicinity of the Rocky Point Shoreline

Abstract

A total of 65 finfish species was surveyed in western Cape Cod Bay near or at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station from 1970–1981. Bottom trawl and gill net catches from 1970–1976 yielded a total of 60,575 fish representing 12 orders, consisting of 29 families and 50 species. Five additional species were captured by beach seining begun in 1981. Numerically dominant demersal fishes trawled, and percent catch were: winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), 46.7%; Ocean pout (Macrozoarces americanus), 12.4%; yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea), 12.2%; longhorn Sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus), 8.6%; windowpane (Scophthalmus aquosus), 5.8%; and skates (Raja Spp.), 5.7%. Four species: pollock (Pollachius virens), 39.0%; Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus), T7.8%; CUnner (Tautogolabrus adspersus), T3.0%; and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), 11.0%, were dominant in gill net catches. The Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia) comprised 94.4% of the total beach seine catch in 1981, with the one-year total for this species equalling about half of the combined trawl and gill net totals for all species for 7 years of sampling in the Plymouth area.A total of 25,339 fishes of 56 species was impinged during 10,629 sampling hours on the intake travelling screens at Boston Edison Company’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station from January 1973 through December 1980. Ten of these species appeared only in impingement collections. Numerically dominant species impinged and their percent of total catch from 1976–1980 were: Atlantic herring, 49.1%; rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), 16.8%; Atlantic silverside, 11.5%; alewife, 10.5%; and cunner, 3.0%. Impingement patterns usually reflected seasonality and were similar, in many cases, to those observed at other power plants in the New England coastal region.Trawl and gill net catch provided bases for assessing abundance trends and annual changes for many of the dominant demersal and pelagic species. Abundance levels did not appear to be measurably affected by power plant operation but were apparently influenced by natural stock fluctuations.