Preliminary report on attracting fish by oyster-shell plantings in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland

Abstract

Oyster-shell plantings were made on formerly productive bottom to determine the practicability of securing an oyster set in this area and to test the hypothesis that the availability of game fish could be improved by artificially modifying the habitat in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland. Fish populations were trapped over planted and unplanted control areas with the same effort from August to November in 1958 and 1959. Fourteen species of saltwater fish were recorded in the planted and control areas, of which the black sea bass,Centropristes striatus, was the dominant species.

The planted areas yielded about three times as many fish as the controls during the two years. Black sea bass numbers were much greater on planted areas than on control areas. The planted area also produced more species than the unplanted area. More fish were caught over both planted and control bottoms during 1959 than in 1958, due partially to improved trap design. There is some evidence of improvement in the availability of fish over a planted area that has aged for a year. It is concluded that oyster-shell plantings significantly concentrated and increased numbers of fish over restricted areas, when compared to unplanted areas.