Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count: Discovering Underwater Life
Two weeks ago, the 10th annual Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count took place at 12 sites from Peebles Island in Saratoga County, to Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens County, New York City. We counted fish, but even more importantly we welcomed the opportunity to introduce many people to the incredible diversity of life under the surface of the Hudson River Estuary. Here are two accounts from Yonkers and Little Stony Point about the count.
The Great Hudson River Fish Count in Yonkers at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak was a delightful program energized by Eli Caref and her team of high school volunteers. Across 10 hauls of our seine, we caught 87 fish of four species. High count was Atlantic silverside (80). Others included five white perch, one young-of-year striped bass, and a mummichog. We also found a mix of male and female blue crabs (75-125 mm). The river was 76.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the salinity was 1.9 parts-per-thousand (barely a trace of salt), and the dissolved oxygen (DO) was 7.3 parts-per-million (good for fish life).
– Eli Caref, Chris Bowser, Trevorneize Green
At Little Stony Point, we had 60 onlookers across two hours. All were enthusiastic as we made 10 hauls of our 35-foot seine. Each time we slid the net up on the sand, all agreed it was like opening a birthday present. Altogether we caught 617 fish (it was, after all, a fish count) of five different native species. Top count (525) went to young-of-year blueback herring (85 percent of our catch). Striped bass was next with 65, all but one of which was young-of-year. The other was a seven-inch yearling. We collected 25 white perch, mostly adults, a single spottail shiner, and a single young-of-year alewife.
Our cadre of net-minders, Lucianna Davis, Ed Ramirez, Mateo Alexander Ramirez, Tom Baudanza, Nicole Sedran, and Mindy Kimball, hauled the seine with such precision that catching fish was hardly in doubt. Our special thanks to Timmy Trapani who accepted the important job of releasing our fish safely back into the river. The water was 78 degrees Fahrenheit with no trace of salt.
– Sarah Stopak, Tom Lake, B.J. Jackson

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