Initial Response of Fishes to Marsh Restoration at a Former Salt Hay Farm Bordering Delaware Bay

Abstract

The success of salt marsh restoration, especially as it relates to thestructural and functional role of fish populations, is poorly defined.In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the restoration of a formersalt hay farm toward a functional marsh, we monitored the fish responseto the restoration (resumed tidal flow, creation of creeks) fromSeptember 1996 to November 1997 and compared that to the prerestorationcondition. During the post-restoration period we compared fish speciesrichness, abundance, composition and size during the spring, summer andfall between the restored site and an adjacent reference marsh withsimilar physical characteristics (temperature, salinity, dissolvedoxygen, depth, distance from the bay). Fish populations, primarilyyoung-of-the-year, were characterized at both sites by monthly samplingwith replicate (4 tows per site, 2 sites in each of two creeks) daytimeotter trawls (4.9 m, 6 mm cod end mesh, n=375 two-minute tows) in largemarsh creeks and with weirs (2.0 m x 1.5 m x 1.5 m, with 5.0 m x 1.5 mwings, 6.0 mm mesh, n=48) in smaller intertidal marsh creeks (2 sites inthe restored marsh, 4 sites in reference marshes). Based on theseobservations, fish abundance was greater in the restored creeks whilespecies richness, species composition, and average size of fishes weresimilar to the reference site. An analysis of fish assemblages at thesame sites indicated that the reference and restored marshes weresimilar for large and small marsh creeks. Where differences occurred itwas often the result of greater abundances of selected species at therestored marsh. Also, during this period the standing stock at therestored marsh may have exceeded that for the reference marsh. Thus, itappears that the fish responded quickly to the restoration.