Tagging Study of Winter Flounder (Pseudopleuronectes Americanus) In Barnegat Bay, New Jersey

A tag-recovery study initiated at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in December 1978 assessed the spatial distribution and movements of the winter flounder population of Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. Results of this study indicate movements of winter flounder into and out of the bay are temperature- related and relatively short in distance. When water temperature in the bay approaches 15°C in the spring, adults emigrate to the ocean primarily via Barnegat Inlet, and they spend the summer months northeast of Barnegat Inlet in an area offshore of Point Pleasant and Asbury Park. As water temperature in Bamegat Bay decreases below 15°C in the fall, adults return to the estuary to spawn. The northern limit of the winter flounder stock within the estuary may be Bay Head and the southern limit Manahawkin Bay.