January 14, 2022 — The surprising news last weekend was not just the striped bass bite on the Ocean County beaches, but the numbers of menhaden off the coast here in January. NOAA has also taken notice of the baitfish and is collaborating on a survey of their winter population here.
The researchers that are working on it are from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s (UMCES) Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, in collaboration with NOAA Fisheries. The winter population survey of menhaden will specifically look at the menhaden spending the season off the coast of New Jersey.
According to the Science Center for Marine Fisheries in Virginia which released a statement on the survey, the researchers believe New Jersey is home to a growing winter bait fishery but there have been few attempts to survey menhaden this far north and there is currently not a good count of how many menhaden are in the area. Data is also lacking on measurements like age and weight compositions.