More Than 1,000 Eeels Released Into Pickering Creek

CHESTER SPRINGS, PA — A ceremony Thursday marked the launch of a three-year study examining how the release of more than 1,000 native American eels can improve the health of the local ecosystem.

The eels were released into Pickering Creek at Yellow Springs as part of a unique partnership between nonprofits and government entities.

“The conservation of migratory fish such as American Eels is worthy on its own, but this project highlights how migratory fish also play pivotal ecological roles that must be protected and valued," Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said in a statement. "It is why we at the Delaware Riverkeeper Network advocate so strongly for free-flowing rivers and streams, and why we continue to press for the self-sustaining restoration of all of our key migratory and non-migratory species."

Officials are hopeful the eels impacts the population of invasive crayfish in the creek, which are harming the ecosystem.

“The reintroduction of eels to the Pickering Creek drainage, decades after their extirpation, represents a unique opportunity to restore the ecological services they provide to the basin,"Dr. David A. Lieb, an Invertebrate Zoologist with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, said Thursday. "We are particularly interested in determining if eels can eliminate or control exotic crayfish, which have spread throughout the basin in recent years, eliminating or greatly reducing native crayfish at invaded sites."

Partners in the project include the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Western PA Conservancy, Academy of Natural Sciences, U.S. Geological Survey, and Green Valleys Watershed Association.