September 22, 2013 — By now – 24 years after these weekly surveys began – Rutgers ichthyologist Ken Able is seeing the unmistakable effects of warming oceans and climate change.
On a dark night in the middle of a wide marsh near Tuckerton, N.J., a team of Rutgers University researchers lowered a net over the railing of an old wooden bridge.
Then they turned off their flashlights and waited. Below, in Little Sheepshead Creek, the incoming tide was washing hundreds of tiny fish larvae into the net.
By now – 24 years after these weekly surveys began – Rutgers ichthyologist Ken Able is seeing the unmistakable effects of warming oceans and climate change.
Especially in the last decade, the researchers have been seeing more southern species, including the larvae of grouper, a fish common in Florida.
At the same time, they've been capturing fewer northern species, such as winter flounder.
The changes Able is recording at Little Sheepshead Creek, near Great Bay, are reflected along the East Coast and worldwide. They have the potential not only to alter ecosystems, but also to change the seafood on our dinner plates.
Out on Jersey's beaches, where Atlantic croaker catches used to be a rarity – this was considered the northern end of the fish's range – anglers now commonly reel them in.
"As far as fishermen are concerned, climate change is here. This is a reality," said Tom Fote, of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association. "We're going to have to change the way we fish."
Mackerel, once an important species for Cape May's commercial boats, have moved north, out of reach.
Within the last two decades, New Jersey's renowned surf clams, once common just off the beaches and harvested for chowder and fried clams, have moved 40 miles offshore into deeper, cooler water.
"The environment is changing. Our critters are moving because they have to," said David Wallace, who heads Wallace & Associates, a consulting firm to the fishing industry.