“There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts: our world continues to warm, with the last decade the hottest in modern records, and the deep ocean warming faster than the earth’s atmosphere. Sea level is rising. Arctic Sea ice is melting years faster than projected.”
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Cobia
Cobia are a great sport (and eating) fish and commonly weigh between 20 and 50 pounds with lengths of 20 to 47 inchesa According to the Florida Museum of Natural History a record cobia weighed in at 135 pounds.
Cobia migrates along the Atlantic coast on a seasonal basis. In spring, they move from southern Florida, to the Carolinas as water temperatures rise. That’s right I said the Carolinas, not New York, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Cobia are a warm water fish for sure.
A favorite food of cobia is crab and they are commonly called “crabeater”. They often cruise in packs of 3-100 fish, hunting for food during migration in shallow water along the shoreline. They will follow rays, turtles, and sharks, sneaking in to scavenge whatever is left behind.[/colored_box][/one_third]
This quote is not from liberal environmentalist but rather from four Republican E.P.A. administrators that served under Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan, George Bush and George W. Bush. It came from an opinion letter they published in the August 1, 2013 issue of the New York Times.
The letter goes on to urge we support initiatives such as “reductions in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the nation’s power plants and spur increased investment in clean energy technology, which is inarguably the path we must follow to ensure a strong economy along with a livable climate.”
The dialogue on global warming has changed from a bipartisan issue on whether or not it is occurring to what should be done about it now as a nation, and I might add as fisherman.
Local evidence of climate change includes and near coastal water temperatures heating up for many years. How warm you ask? Well it used to be very cold. The crew of the Brenton Reef lightship measured water temperature off Newport every day from July 1878 through January 1942.
In the coldest winter recorded (1917-18) the water temperature from December through February was 33.2 F. The average for the whole period of their record (64 years) is 39.1 F. This temperature is far from the warmer water temperatures recorded in the past decade…and one day last February when I checked… Newport water was 42 F; and Block Island, 46 F.
Climate change and global warming continues to change the fishing environment. Green house gas (GHG) emissions create global warming, which is an increase in the average temperature of earth’s near-surface air and oceans. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that most of the observed temperature increases since the middle of the 20th century was caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases resulting from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation.
Climate change can have a positive, negative or neutral effect on species with different tolerances. University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay temperature studies confirm that water has warmed approximately two degrees Fahrenheit depending on time of year in past 45 years, and there are signs of climate change in the Northeast with beach erosion occurring along our coastal shore.
How are fish being impacted?
Dr. Jonathan Hare, director of the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Narragansett, RI Laboratory, studies climate change and marine fisheries. Dr. Hare and his colleagues studied ocean water warming along the northeast continental shelf and said, “That since 1854 ocean temperatures have risen 1.3 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit.” This is proof that the water is warming.
Dr. Hare said, “We have had peaks and valleys over the years with a decade of warming water (like in the 1940’s and 50’s), and then decades when the water was on the cool side. However, long term over the course of time (since 1854,) there is no doubt the water is warming.”
Dr. Hare shared a time lapse illustration that showed how yellow-tail flounder and summer flounder (fluke) are actually migrating north up the coastline toward Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island and other northern coastal states as the water warms. This time lapse illustration showed fish leaving waters to the south and moving northward. So in addition to much anecdotal information about cold water fish moving out of our area and warm water fish moving into the area, Dr. Hare’s work provides proof of warming water and species movement in and out of our region.
Some species move out to sea to colder water
Another study by NOAA related that rising water temperatures are also helping to drive many of New England’s fish populations farther from shore and into deeper water.
In this study NOAA biologists analyzed water temperature trends from North Carolina to the Canadian border off Maine from 1968 to 2007. They then looked at fish survey data collected each spring and assessed where the fish were caught and how abundant they were.
Some fish species experienced a lot of movement while other species exhibited little movement to the north, but rather they moved to deeper waters where temperatures are lower.
chusetts used to catch most of their haddock, flounder, and cod in waters close to shore. Nowadays, fishermen often have to travel as far 100 miles offshore to find those same fish.
At the same time, we are catching more fish here that are traditionally found in warmer southern waters like Atlantic croaker which is caught off Virginia and North Carolina, or Cobia (a warm water fish) which migrate along the Atlantic coast on a seasonal basis. In spring, they move from southern Florida, to the Carolinas as water temperatures rise. However, they are being caught more often in our waters in the past couple of years.
Last summer Mason Sherman, a URI engineering student from North Kingstown, RI, caught a 32 pound, 46 inch cobia when he was bottom fishing for fluke (summer flounder) just south of the Jamestown Bridge. Mason said, “I was using very light tackle… 20 lb test monofilament line and a plastic squid rig tipped with a fresh piece of squid. Every time I would get the fish close to the boat it would dive. I mean dive deep below the boat… it took about 25 minutes to land the fish.” Greg Vespe landed a 17 pound cobia fishing north of the Newport Bridge this summer when fishing with Atlantic Menhaden chunks for striped bass. And, Priscilla Bogdan landed a cobia off Point Judith, Narragansett in July. These are just a few of the cobia caught last summer off coastal shores.
What warm water does to ecosystems?
A technical report prepared for a 2013 National Climate Assessment for NOAA relates that the nation’s ecosystems and marine resources are being affected by a changing climate. The report titled Oceans and Marine Resources in a changing Climate, produced by sixty-three experts from NOAA and other federal, academic and non-governmental organizations, concluded that marine ecosystems will likely continue to be affected, in most cases negatively, by anthropogenic-driven climate change and rising levels of atmospheric CO2.
As fishermen, we know the water is warming and I believe we need to do everything we can to curb global warming by supporting such efforts as carbon credits for industry and clean energy technology. But in the meantime, I plan to enjoy leaning about and fishing for the new species the ocean brings to the northeast.
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