Fecal coliform counts
We sampled at 6-8 shore locations, beginning in the spring of 1998. Some locations consistently had higher counts than others, notably Treetops Dock and Trunk River. Mostly, however, counts were high after rain storms (6-14, 9-23, 11-10) and due mainly to water fowl feces in the vicinity of the docks from which we sampled. Curiously, the creek itself had a very high count after a rain. This will need flirther investigation. In general, the pond seems safe for swimming (safe swimming limit = 200 counts/mi) except immediately after rainstorms.
Fish Studies
White and yellow perch, once abundant, had disappeared from the pond during the years of high salinity/low oxygen. In 1997, adult white perch were caught again by rod. But were they breeding successfully in Oyster Pond? We bought minnow traps and set them at various locations and depths throughout the pond. Baiting (crushed mussels) did not increase the catch, therefore traps were mostly set without bait. The following species were caught:
killifish (mostly mummychugs and banded killifish); 4-spined sticklebacks; silversides; white perch; and eel. Killifish (2-12 cm length) were the most abundant (up to 200/trap/48 hr); they and sticklebacks (2-5 cm) were found at depths to 2 m; silversides only at 1 m or less, while eel (15-35 cm) and young white perch (2-10 cm) were found frequently to 3 m depths, and once even at 4m. Obviously, white perch had come back to breed in the pond. The growth rate of the young perch can be seen in the graph below; they doubled in size within a month. Larger perch were caught only by rod, up to 12 inch lengths. These large specimens may have migrated into the pond as adults during this or a previous season.
