Jim Adopts a Fish - a Tagged Striper Named 'Net Free'
Rutgers U. Tracks 'Net Free' in Burlington/Ocean Counties
TOMS RIVER, N.J. – Congressman Jim Saxton, Vice Chairman of the House Fisheries and Oceans Subcommittee, adopted an Atlantic striped bass in an effort to promote research and conservation, and encouraged others to participate in the federally funded program.
"We need to find out more about how stripers live," said Saxton who helped pass the Striped Bass Conservation Act in 2000. "Stripers came close to the brink of extinction 25 years ago. Other species are still in trouble. Rutgers is leading the effort along the Jersey Shore to study our fisheries. I hope Net Free steers clear of nets and won’t end up on a dinner table. We have something to learn form Net Free and the other tagged fish."
Rutgers University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have set up 13 buoys in Great Bay and the Mullica River in the 114,000-acre Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve in Burlington, Ocean and Atlantic Counties.
Net Free was caught and released May 10. A small transmitter was inserted into the fish while it was sedated. Net Free has been logged 16 times on four receiver buoys since its release. It has been tracked traveling largely just off shore along the southern peninsula and islands of Little Egg Harbor Township.
It costs $328 to sponsor the fish under the program, which is run in conjunction with NOAA at the Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences facility in Little Egg Harbor Township. Saxton helped acquire federal funding for Rutger’s Marine Field Station’s Leo-15 National Undersea Research Program, also a NOAA program.
To check NET FREE's progress, visit http://www.stripertracker.org/adopt/profiles.html
The NOAA is overseen by Saxton’s Subcommittee. Saxton helped get about $800,000 for Rutgers to fund the existing Bluefish-Striped Bass Research Program run by Rutgers in conjunction with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Striped bass feed and live in salt water but move into fresh water to spawn. They are able to swim long distances along the coast, but may swim back to reproduce in good spawning grounds. During these migrations, striped bass are sometimes caught by fishermen in any one of a wide range of U.S. states and Canadian provinces along the Atlantic. Fisheries are an important part of the New Jersey tourism economy, one of the largest sources of employment and economic activity in New Jersey. To find out more about the StriperTracker, visit the website at www.stripertracker.org.