Ocean levels in the vicinity of the Ramford Bay and River have remained relatively unchanged for about twenty five hundred years. The bay was filled with oysters, clams, crabs, fish, and mussels. About 65 percent of the bay floor was covered with sand; the remainder was covered with mud and shells.  Clean sand was the nursery for clams while the bay mud provided a rich environment for worms and small marine critters that are food for the fish. Old oyster shells are the perfect materials for the oysters and mussel to attach themselves and grow. The entire bay was washed with clean, nutrient-rich seawater and fresh water brought into the bay by the Ramford River.

The mean tidal change for the bay and lower river is about five and a half feet. The physical aspects of the bay make it an exceptionally good habitat for fish. The coastal shallows were once covered with eelgrass beds, a prime location for juvenile fish and adult residents such as killifish and silversides. In the depths of the bay bluefish, bunkers, fluke, porgies and weakfish can still be found. During the spring migratory fish still enter the bay and head up the river to spawn. The spring runs of herring, shad, striped bass and eels, while fewer in number, add to the richness of the bay and river. Atlantic sturgeon once entered the bay and river in record numbers eventually entering the freshwater streams of the watershed to spawn.