Spring Break
Tropical fish spotted in Narragansett Bay, oceanography students study species
Betsy Cohen
Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: News
10/16/08 - Through weekly studies with a trawl boat, a URI graduate school professor has proven an increase in the tropical fish population in the Narragansett Bay, possibly caused by a four-degree increase in water temperature.
Jeremy Collie, a professor of oceanography at URI's graduate school, studies bottom-dwelling fish populations. He takes students out trowling on a research boat by the mouth of Narragansett Bay on a weekly basis to collect data about the local fish.
Collie said he has found 130 different species, but the number of tropical fish species, 31, is on the rise. A URI graduate student, Abby McLeod, studied 12 different surveys from the past 20 years taken from the bay to determine the number of species in the bay.
Collie studied the size of fish species compared to water temperature in various years, and found a link between higher water temperature and smaller body size, which could have a negative effect on the fishing industry.
Also, because of the increase in temperature, the region's native species could be hurt. A slight change of water temperature may be responsible for the decreasing populations of species such as cod and winter flounder, and increasing sightings of tropical and temperate-water fishes.
The trawler Collie uses has an odd history of its own. The University of Rhode Island department of fisheries, animal, and veterinary sciences owns the R/V CAP'N BERT, which was captured in the early 1980s.
It was renamed in honor of former URI professor Albert Hillier, who taught fishing and marine technology classes during the 1970s and 1980s. Once known as the ANGELITA, the R/V CAP'N BERT was involved in the drug dealing industry and captured in the early 1980s by the U.S. Coast Guard. The URI Graduate School of Oceanography has been using the 53-foot vessel to conduct trawl surveys since 1987.
Collie trawls weekly in and at the mouth of Narragansett Bay and has recorded more than 130 marine fish and invertebrate species. However, he said "the tropical fish are rare occurrences."
Jeremy Collie, a professor of oceanography at URI's graduate school, studies bottom-dwelling fish populations. He takes students out trowling on a research boat by the mouth of Narragansett Bay on a weekly basis to collect data about the local fish.
Collie said he has found 130 different species, but the number of tropical fish species, 31, is on the rise. A URI graduate student, Abby McLeod, studied 12 different surveys from the past 20 years taken from the bay to determine the number of species in the bay.
Collie studied the size of fish species compared to water temperature in various years, and found a link between higher water temperature and smaller body size, which could have a negative effect on the fishing industry.
Also, because of the increase in temperature, the region's native species could be hurt. A slight change of water temperature may be responsible for the decreasing populations of species such as cod and winter flounder, and increasing sightings of tropical and temperate-water fishes.
The trawler Collie uses has an odd history of its own. The University of Rhode Island department of fisheries, animal, and veterinary sciences owns the R/V CAP'N BERT, which was captured in the early 1980s.
It was renamed in honor of former URI professor Albert Hillier, who taught fishing and marine technology classes during the 1970s and 1980s. Once known as the ANGELITA, the R/V CAP'N BERT was involved in the drug dealing industry and captured in the early 1980s by the U.S. Coast Guard. The URI Graduate School of Oceanography has been using the 53-foot vessel to conduct trawl surveys since 1987.
Collie trawls weekly in and at the mouth of Narragansett Bay and has recorded more than 130 marine fish and invertebrate species. However, he said "the tropical fish are rare occurrences."
