Schodack Island Fish Count
with Fran Martino
Saturday, August 10, 2:30pm - 4pm
Schodack Island State Park
Schodack Landing, NY
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This event will take place rain or shine.
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This is a free event, but pre-registration is required.
To register, click on the link below.
Registration closes at noon on Friday, August 9.
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Registration closed - this event is full!
About this event
You are invited join Fran Martino of River Haggie Outdoors to help explore the amazing variety of slippery, wriggly, and fascinating creatures usually hidden below the Hudson River’s surface. We'll be using a seine net to capture, identify, count, and release fish species found splashing in the net that afternoon.
Data will be shared with NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to help understand the variability in the numbers and distribution of fish, and how they may be responding to different salinity conditions, unusual weather conditions or other factors. Much of the catch may be young fish, underlining the importance of the river's nursery habitat.
You may join in the fun of hauling the net, which is always filled with surprises. If you don't want to get wet, helpers are always appreciated to take photos, record our catch, and share our results by texting or posting to Twitter or Facebook to compare notes with other participating groups.
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The Schodack Island Fish Count is part of the Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count, an annual event sponsored by the DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program and the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. Each summer, organizations all along the Hudson River and New York Harbor participate at riverfront sites to collect, count, and catalog fish species.
During the fish count, participating organizations encourage visitors to help collect fish using seine nets, minnow traps, or rods and reels. Seining involves pulling a 30-foot net through the water and checking out the fish, crabs, and other river-life caught in the mesh. The fish are identified, counted and released back into the river.
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What to expect & what to bring
Participants will collect fish using a seine net. Seining involves pulling a 40-foot net through the water and checking out the fish, crabs, and other river life caught in the mesh. Participants may watch from shore or jump into waterproof waders (provided) to help pull in the net.
If the weather is extremely hot, people may wish to wade in without the waders, but anyone doing so must have water shoes, sneakers or some type of footwear - no flip-flops! Please note that this is a rain or shine event.
The event leader will provide the net, buckets, sorting containers and fish ID booklets.
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About the event leader
Fran Martino is a self-employed environmental educator and outreach specialist operating River Haggie Outdoors since 2007. Over the years, Fran has contracted with Rensselaer Land Trust (RLT) to provide environmental education outreach and programming at various locations. They have partnered on several grant projects including the most recent project that was completed in November 2023 through the DEC's Hudson River Estuary Grant Program. Now that RLT and RPA have merged, this event is being sponsored through the newly merged organization.​
Questions
If you have questions or would like more information, contact Kim at kim@rensselaerplateau.org.
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