UPCOMING FISH COUNT

Eight annual Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count set for August 10

CAPITALREGION, N.Y. » New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos recently announced that the eighth annual Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count will take place at multiple sites along the banks and piers of the Hudson River on Saturday, Aug. 10.

This is a family-friendly, free event open to the public.

“I encourage New Yorkers and visitors to get outdoors and enjoy this opportunity to learn about the more than 200 species of fish that live in our Hudson River,” Seggos said in a news release. “With sites from the New York Harbor to Waterford, there are many places for young and old alike to join the Great Hudson River Estuary Fish County and have fun supporting DEC’s research efforts and fisheries management.”

The public is invited to join naturalists from the Capital Region to New York City to explore the variety of creatures usually hidden below the river’s surface. Fresh upriver and salty at New York City, the Hudson River’s estuary and watershed serves as the habitat to hundreds of fish species, including several that migrate into the river from the Atlantic Ocean each spring to spawn.

Sites and participating organizations include: Castleton- on-Hudson • Schodack Island State Park: 7 - 8:30 p.m.; seining at boat launch. River Haggie Outdoors Albany

• Corning Preserve boat ramp: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.; seining on boat ramp, fish on display from DEC.DEC Troy

• Green Island Lower Hudson Ave Park: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.; seining. Children’s Museum of Science and Technology Waterford

• Peebles Island State Park: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.; seining just east of bridge to Waterford; and fish on display from DEC.

During the fish count, participating organizations encourage visitors to help collect fish using seine nets, minnow traps, or rods and reels. Seining involves pulling a 30-foot net through the water and checking out the fish, crabs, and other river-life caught in the mesh. Participants may watch from shore or jump into available waterproof waders and help pull in the net. The fish are released after everyone has a chance to see them up close.

Participating groups share their catch results by posting to the DEC Twitter feed with the hashtag #hudsonriverfishcount. Experts said that comparing notes builds an understanding of the diversity of fish and habitats in the Hudson, the vitality of the estuarine ecosystem in urban and rural settings, and the influence of salinity and tides.

For more information, including a video clip about seining in the Hudson River on DEC’s YouTube Channel, visit the Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count page on DEC’s website. All Fish Count programs are family-friendly and freeof- charge.

For more information email hrep@dec.ny.gov or call (845) 256-3115.

FILE PHOTO Intrigued five-year-old Molly Quidart of Delmar, in pink, explores the caught fish with her mother, Wendy, in brown during a previous Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count event.

FILE PHOTO AmeriCorps Estuary Program Educator Kacie Giuliano, left, and DEC Hudson River Estuary Environmental Educator Rebecca Howser get into their waders for the a previous Fish Count event.

FILE PHOTO One of the DEC Fisheries team shows a fresh catch to a crowd of interested onlookers, most of them kids, at Peebles Island State Park a few years ago.

FILE PHOTO Young fishermen meet a captive eel at the Hudson River Fish Count in Peebles Island State Park a few years ago.