Citizen Scientists Needed To Help With Hudson River Eel Census

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Sarah Lawrence's Center for the Urban River at Beczak is once again tracking the migration of eels as they swim upstream and they could use your help.

Each spring, the American eel begins its long journey from the Sargasso Sea to the Hudson River. For the last decade, Sarah Lawrence's Center for the Urban River at Beczak (CURB) team of scientists, students and citizen scientists have come together to count thousands of migrating glass eels traveling up the Hudson River.

It's not too late to join in the fun and do something good for the environment.

Organizers say glass eels are especially integral to the Hudson River ecosystem, as they’re a valuable food source. Declining eel populations due to challenges like habitat loss, water pollution and overfishing prompted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to initiate the American Eel Migration Study, which tracks the migration patterns of the American eel and enlists the help of community partners like CURB.

North America’s only catadromous inhabitant, meaning they are born in the ocean but live in freshwater, the American eel’s journey to estuaries along the east coast takes about a year. Once they arrive, they are 2-3 inches in length and have clear bodies. These glass eels are caught in a cone-shaped fyke net placed in CURB’s tidal marsh, counted, weighed and measured before continuing their journey up the Hudson.

The eels don’t stay clear forever, according to the experts. Once in the Hudson or its tributaries, the glass eels slowly gain a greenish -brown pigmentation and are classified as elvers. After the elver stage, they turn into yellow eels, which is how they spend most of their lifespan yet are still sexually immature. The final transition happens once they reach sexual maturity and are reclassified as silver eels. This is when, scientists say, the eels turn homeward bound and begin their migration back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.

Thanks to research like the eel study, signs of a marked improvement in eel populations are slowly becoming evident.

"When CURB first began participating in this study in 2014, they only managed to catch and count 600 eels," organizers said. "By the end of last year, they had caught 3,000 eels, bringing the total number of eels counted since the study began to a whopping 14,000. And it looks like the momentum is continuing this year. Making their appearance two weeks earlier than normal, CURB has already counted 766 eels."

You can join the CURB team as they count migrating eels. Each day, volunteers help check a fyke net for tiny glass eels, count them, weigh them and release them back to the Hudson River. Water quality data is also collected.

No prior experience is necessary and all equipment is provided. The season began on February 27th and continues through May. Sampling takes place on Tuesdays – Fridays, for about an hour each day.

There are also opportunities to help with seining before/after the eel sampling.

For more information about the project, check out the eel page of the CURB website, or contact Outreach Coordinator Jason Muller at jmuller@sarahlawrence.edu. Samping takes place at CURB (35 Alexander St. in Yonkers).