For Release: Friday, April 25, 2008

Citizen Science on Hudson River Tributaries

Local High School Students Study Juvenile Eels

Dutchess and Westchester County high school students and community volunteers are engaging in research on migrating juvenile American eels in several Hudson Valley tributaries as part research being initiated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)'s Hudson River Estuary Program and the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. Approximately 50 students, teachers, and community volunteers are checking nets at sites at the Indian Kill in Staatsburg, the Fall Kill in Poughkeepsie, Hunters Brook in Wappingers Falls, and Furnace Brook in Cortlandt. The work started in early April and will continue until late May.

American eels have one of the most unusual life cycles of any fish in the Hudson River Estuary. They are born in the Sargasso Sea, over 1,000 miles from the Hudson River, and arrive here as nearly transparent, two-inch long "glass eels." The students set and daily check a cone-shaped fyke net designed to catch these tiny fish, counting and releasing the glass eels back into the water, and recording environmental data on temperature and tides. As part of their work, the students also look for and count river herring that migrate into tributaries at this time of year.

The goals of DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program and the Research Reserve, also part of DEC, include involving citizens in hands-on exploration of their local ecosystems. Through a positive, engaging experience with science in their community, students realize that they themselves are capable of doing scientific research in cooperation with other students and organizations, and that their own local ecosystems are beautiful and surprising.

Ecologically, the students are gathering needed information about eels in these tributaries. This type of fish has existed for over 200 million years, yet eel numbers have declined at many East Coast sites without clear reason. Student-level research can help answer some basic questions about this very mysterious animal and the habitats the eels use throughout their far-reaching lives.

This study was inspired by the work of scientists Tom Lake of the Estuary Program and Robert Schmidt of Bard College at Simon's Rock. This project is possible by the combined help of many partners, including Poughkeepsie High School, the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum, the Roy C. Ketcham High School, the Randolph School, the Dutchess BOCES Academy of Environmental Science, and Ossining High School.

Interested press should arrange a site visit with Chris Bowser, Science Educator with the Estuary Program and Research Reserve, at (845) 264-5041, chbowser@gw.dec.state.ny.us.