Factors affecting NY inshore marine fish distribution in 1938

Beginning in the mid 1920s, the New York State Conservation Department began a series of biological surveys to inventory its fisheries and aquatic resources. In 1938 the saltwater survey in the marine district of Long Island was completed, and consisted of two parts: 1.) Plankton trawls for larval fish and eggs, and 2.) fine mesh shore seining. The main goals were to “determine the location of spawning grounds, the extent of successful reproduction by the different species and the description of the environmental conditions where eggs and larvae were found.” These surveys have not been replicated in their comprehensive form and still serve as a master list for species distributions and occurrences. The shore seining survey made 237 collections around Long Island in all geographic regions. At each of the seining stations, habitat information was also collected which included vegetation, bottom substrate, shoreline condition, water depth and temperature. Having obtained the original data sheets this has allowed the recreation of inshore fish communities and their distribution as they occurred in 1938. With the analyses of habitat information in the context of different geographic regions, it is possible to make spatial inferences as to what factors influenced fish distributions in 1938.