The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the return of its Hudson River Eel Project, now entering its 19th year. The long-running community science initiative brings together teachers, students, and volunteers to monitor migrating juvenile American eels in tributaries along the Hudson River estuary.
Led by DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program in partnership with the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, the project supports multi-state conservation and management efforts. Each spring, participants don waders and deploy specialized fyke nets to collect, count, and release young “glass eels” as they move inland from the Atlantic Ocean.
The program engages roughly 1,000 volunteers annually and has documented more than two million juvenile eels since its inception. DEC staff and volunteers also relocate many of the fish above barriers such as dams and waterfalls, improving access to upstream habitat where eels can live for decades before returning to the ocean to spawn.
Field work takes place daily from mid-March through May at 12 monitoring sites from New York Harbor to the Capital Region. Participants also record environmental data including water temperature and tidal conditions.
Data collected through the program contributes to coastwide monitoring efforts under the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. In 2023, volunteer-generated data from the Hudson River project was included in a benchmark stock assessment, highlighting the value of community science in fisheries management.
The initiative is supported by several partner organizations, including NEIWPCC and the New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell. Its success has also inspired similar eel monitoring programs in other states.
Those interested in volunteering can contact DEC at eelproject@dec.ny.gov
for more information.
