Study site/Background

As striped bass undergo the coastal migration in the spring and summer months, some settle and establish resident populations.   In the fall these fish disappear, presumably to migrate south.

The idea for this website is based on studies conducted by Paul J. Collins of Mashpee, MA, a longtime employee of the Marine Biological Laboratory who passed away in 2008 and Bill Grossman, Marine Specimen Collector/Diving Safety Officer at the MBL.

In the mid-1990s, Paul J. Collins placed external tags on 6 or so striped bass.

1. One of the tagged fish was caught off Block Island indicating that it was migrating south.
2. Some of the fish he tagged returned the following spring. Thus fish that have left Woods Hole resident populations in the fall can find their way back to the same locations in the spring. Some of these fish returned for 2-3 consecutive years.
3. One of the tagged fish was caught at night in the Woods Hole passage. This finding implies that some fish  do not spend 24/7 at a particular location but rather forage for food elsewhere at night.

In the late 1990s Bill Grossman tagged a few legal size striped bass that were caught with a cast net and found that some returned for 3 or 4 consecutive years.

Questions to research:

Are resident populations composed of migrating fish exclusively or are some of them holdovers that do not migrate but rather overwinter locally?

How do fish in a resident population that return yeat-to-year find a specific location?

Drone video taken by Simon Miner following the Marine Biological Laboratory collecting boat, Gemma, from Eel pond, under the drawbridge and out into Vineyard Sound. Capts. Bill Klimm and Dan Sullivan pilot the Gemma a few days a week to collect squid to be used by MBL scientists.