10 of 13 Signature Hudson River Fish are Declining
In Serious Jeopardy: Many Hudson River fish species are in serious long-term decline and may be at risk of collapse if aggressive measures are not taken quickly. The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation held a series of meetings with area fisherman and other interested parties to develop recommendations for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to determine the best methods of protecting this fishery. The Pisces Report, a recent study commissioned by Riverkeeper, found that ten have declined in abundance since the 1980s: American shad, Atlantic tomcod, bay anchovy, alewife, blueback herring, rainbow smelt, hogchoker, white catfish, weakfish and white perch. Only three species—striped bass, bluefish and spottail shiner—have increased their population, due to circumstances that favored them. Major causes include:
- loss of habitat and spawning grounds
- overfishing and ocean bycatch
- low dissolved oxygen from sewage plant discharges
- impingement, entrainment and thermal pollution from power plants.
American shad (Alosa sapidissima)
Atlantic tomcod (Microgadus tomcod)
(left) Hogchoker (Trinectus maculates)
(right) Bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli)
Alewife (Alosa psuedoharengus)
Blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis)
Rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax)
White catfish (Ameiurus catus)
Weakfish (Cynoscion regalis)
White perch (Morone americana)
voracious predators of smaller fish and shrimp. Spottail
shiner, a minnow that feeds on zooplankton and benthic
(bottom-dwelling) organisms, is also on the increase.
THREE SPECIES DOING WELL
Striped bass (Morone soxotilis)
(left) Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix)
(right) Spottail shiner (Notropis hudsonius)
