The NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program has developed a volunteer based river herring monitoring program for Hudson River tributaries. They are trying to recruit local groups and watershed organizations who might be interested in volunteering this April and May. The Hudson River Estuary is nearly 155 miles long- that’s a lot of ground to cover- this is why volunteer support is so vital to the program!
River herring are very important species both ecologically and commercially. Unfortunately, herring stocks are declining all along the East coast. The goal of the program is to monitor tributaries along the Hudson River to see if, where, and when river herring spawning runs exist. This program is not designed to provide exact numbers of herring; but by monitoring streams in the upper, mid, and lower sections of the Hudson River we will learn more about the timing and location of the runs. Monitoring would last for two months from April 1st to May 31st and we would like to recruit 10 volunteers per stream. Each volunteer would go out at least twice a week for 15 minutes to record observations on the run.
If you are interested contact Amy Bloomfield at r3hermon@gw.dec.state.ny.us or by phone at 845-256-3172.
