We're in the throws of our first snow fall here in New Jersey. I remember back in the day when we used to get snow, often, and lots of it. It seems these days we get it here and there, sometimes a bunch, and then very late, usually after some warmer spring like weather.
So why do I like the snow? I like the way it looks. I even like to go out and use the snow blower once or twice a season. But the real reason I like it because it's good for the environment, especially the rivers, which is good for the striped bass. Now if it snows at Sandy Hook that doesn't do our seven striped friends all that good. But for those returning to their natal rivers it does wonders. If you're talking the Upper Delaware then it's good for the trout, but down here around mile marker 130 it's good for spawning striped bass.
It's all about the aquifers. An aquifer is a geological formation that holds water than comes down in the way of precipitation or snow melt. The way it rains around here these days, like a monsoon, the ground doesn't have a chance to store and use the water over time. It comes down in buckets and then quickly runs off into low lying waters usually carrying debris like trees, docks, and boats with it. But when it snows it forms snow pack, which melts slowly when the air and ground warm up in the spring.
And cool fresh water is good for water levels as well as for salinity. The Delaware River is the source of drinking water for millions of people along its banks. Near me the Trenton Water Works pumps 27 million gallons of water out of the Delaware everyday. Down near Philly the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers contribute about 300 million gallons of water daily for the publics use. I have wrote about the Delaware River, its mile markers, and the salt line in the past but I'll recap.
Cape May is MM 0, Trenton is MM 130, and Hancock is MM 330. Philly sits about MM 100. The median salt line in the Delaware River is between MM 67 to 76. About 10 miles north of the C & D Canal around Wilmington Delaware. That's important because during drought conditions the salt line can creep up to Philly and its take of 300 millions gallons of water per day. That's not good for the three water treatment plants that filter out and purify the drinking water.
And remember, because it blows my mind, that the Delaware River up in these parts is connected to the Delaware Bay down in Cape May. I could in fact catch a striped bass in New Hope, Pa, and then the next week catch the same fish near the Cape May-Lewes Ferry in North Cape May. And then there's the tide. Think how 130 miles north of Cape May there's a NINE foot tide, not that sissy three footer we see along the beaches, if it's even that high. And the salt line is 70 miles upriver. I am in awe of this river and what it means to shad, herrings and striped bass.
The salt line, aka salt wedge, is important for the striped bass as well. Conditions have to be dam near perfect to have a successful striped bass spawn. First you need willing participants, like a strong SSB, or Spawning Striped Bass biomass. Then you need good environmental conditions such as minimal runoff from fertilizers and sewage. Then you need good water quality, which includes things measured in PPM, or parts per million, such as DO, or dissolved oxygen, or PPT, or parts per thousand, such as salinity levels. And salinity plays a big role. And then there's water temperature which we know fluctuates greatly each spring from near drought to blown-out conditions.
Remember, striped bass spawn in freshwater, way above the salt line, and once fertilized the eggs become buoyant and float downstream, hatch, and then you have larva and they're off. Fertilized eggs become "hardened" by fresh and even a little salty water as it develops. Saline levels greater than 10 PPT around the egg sac will cause the cells to over-harden, swell, get weighed down, not be as buoyant, and possibly even burst, thus killing the embryo or larva. In medicine we use several types of intravenous solutions to treat you when you're sick or almost dead. There are nice neutral isotonic solutions, like 0.9% normal saline, like you get when you're dehydrated, or hypertonic solutions that you get when you're brain is swelling, to bring fluid out of the cells, or hypotonic, which brings water into the cells. So basically too much of a salt mix isn't good for you or for striped bass spawning.
So if we look at a healthy spawning river it would have these three things; good DO, or dissolved oxygen, the higher the better but below 5 PPM is fatal, good salinity, < 10 PPT, and comfortable temperatures, let say 55-65 F. Add a good river flow, not to low to permit the salt wedge from creeping up, and not to high which blows the eggs and larva down and out to sea. It's a nice balance that gets the job done.
So when you start shoveling the snow today and question if your left ventricle is telling you something like, "Hey, go get the nitroglycerin", remember the snow is good for those fish you hope to see in the future. Don't be so cheap and just pay the local kids to do it. They still do it right? For $5-10 for the driveway and the walkway? Nope, it's a $50 bill now, at least. So just take a baby aspirin and go do it yourself. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
