Hudson River Eel Project 2019 Data - New York State ...€¦ · Hudson River Eel Project 2019 Data...

Hudson River Eel Project 2019

Chris Bowser ● Sarah Mount ● Aidan Mabey

2019 Glass Eel Data

When and where are glass eels arriving?

• Each spring, nets are placed in the mouths of streams• Teams of trained volunteers catch, count, and release eels

Albany

NYC

Saw Mill/CURB

Furnace Brook

Indian Brook

Fall Kill

Ender Kill

Saw Kill

Richmond Creek

Minisceongo Creek

Quassaick Creek

Black Creek

Hannacroix Creek

Eel Project SitesSpring 2019

Hunters Brook

Blind Brook

Poestenkill

We’ve caught and released over 900,000 glass eels since 2008!

2,388 9,089 10,975 7,628

85,297

103,193

49,758 48,538

141,770

87,905

144,986

239,776

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Total Glass Eel Catch Since 2008

Average catch per day since 2008

On average we caught 377 glass eels each dayat all our sites in 2019

16.633.3 25.4 17.2

132.2

164.8

94.1 98.9

225.7

125.4

184.7

377.0

0.0

50.0

100.0

150.0

200.0

250.0

300.0

350.0

400.0

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

How is the American eel population doing?In the past 20 years American eel (Anguilla rostrata) populations seem to be on the rise

But looking big picture, this is only a small amount of growth after a much longer period of overwhelming global decline

Total glass eel catch at all sites in 2019The Big Picture: over 200,000!

9712,773

8,252

94 7

13,028

9,086

17,791

28,908

1,849540

156,460

170

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

45,000

Average glass eels caught per day in 2019

9.7 17.3 58.0 1.6154.2

0.3

228.6 169.2275.2

442.5

37.6 12.0

2683.2

0.90

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Richmond CreekAlbany

NYC

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

2/27 3/13 3/27 4/10 4/24 5/8

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Albany

NYC

Richmond Creek, Staten IslandNew Moon Full Moon

Albany

NYC

Blind Brook

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

3/9 3/23 4/6 4/20

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Albany

NYC

Blind Brook, Rye

Albany

NYC

Beczak

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

2/26 3/21 4/12 5/9

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Albany

NYC

Beczak, Yonkers

Furnace BrookAlbany

NYC

0

5

10

15

20

25

3/5 3/20 4/4 4/19 5/4

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Furnace Brook, CortlandtAlbany

NYC

Minisceongo CreekAlbany

NYC

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

3/8 3/23 4/7 4/22 5/7

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Minisceongo Creek, West Haverstraw

Albany

NYC

Quassaick CreekAlbany

NYC

Albany

NYC 0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

3/15 3/30 4/14 4/29 5/14

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Quassaick Creek, Newburgh

Indian BrookAlbany

NYC

0

1

2

3

4

5

3/15 3/29 4/12 4/26 5/10

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Indian Brook, Cold SpringAlbany

NYC

Hunters BrookAlbany

NYC

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

3/28 4/4 4/11 4/18 4/25 5/2 5/9 5/16

Nu

mb

er

of

Elve

rs

Nu

mb

er

of

Gla

ss E

els

Hunters Brook, WappingersAlbany

NYC

Albany

NYC

Fall Kill, Poughkeepsie

Albany

NYC 0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

3/11 3/18 3/25 4/1 4/8 4/15 4/22 4/29 5/6 5/13

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Fall Kill, Poughkeepsie

Black CreekAlbany

NYC

Albany

NYC 0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

3/17 3/24 3/31 4/7 4/14 4/21 4/28 5/5 5/12

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Black Creek, Esopus

EnderkillAlbany

NYC

0

50

100

150

200

250

3/22 3/29 4/5 4/12 4/19 4/26 5/3 5/10

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Enderkill, StaatsburgAlbany

NYC

Saw KillAlbany

NYC

Albany

NYC 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

3/26 4/2 4/9 4/16 4/23 4/30 5/7 5/14

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Saw Kill, Annandale

Hannacroix CreekAlbany

NYC

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

4/5 4/12 4/19 4/26 5/3 5/10 5/17 5/24 5/31

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Hannacroix Creek, New Baltimore

Albany

NYC

PoestenkillAlbany

NYC

Albany

NYC 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

4/30 5/6 5/12 5/18 5/24

Gla

ss E

els

Cau

ght/

Day

Poestenkill, Troy

Where does the data go now?!

Data analysis and reporting

• DEC Eel Report

• Send data to the DEC Hudson

River Fisheries Unit & sent to

the Atlantic State Marine

Fisheries Commission

(ASMFC)

• Analyze data during off-

season to learn more about

eels!

Hudson River Eel Project 2019

Chris Bowser chris.bowser@dec.ny.govSarah Mount sarah.mount@dec.ny.govAidan Mabey aidan.mabey@dec.ny.gov