2023 Seining Season - First Half Data Summary

CURB’s 2023 seining season got started all the way back on February 10^th, and in that time we have documented 28 species of fish, crabs, shrimp, and jellyfish. Seining is a method of collecting fish by dragging a 30-foot net along our shoreline. The fish are counted, measured, and released with the data being sent to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. During a typical season, we average around 650 hauls of the seine net.

 

Our leading catch to this point has been blue crabs, with 666 caught through 7/21. This is already more crabs than we caught all of last year. Our top 5 catches also include 413 shrimp (grass and sand), 232 comb jellies, 223 mummichogs, and 191 moon jellies.

As is typically the case, catches were limited during the colder months but really started to take off in May and June. In fact, we had our second highest June catch total in 18 years of seining. Then, as we got into July, catch counts took a nosedive, which is unusual since the summer and fall months produce some of our best catches. What could have caused these lower numbers? Rain and lots of it.

 

July was a very wet month in the Hudson Valley with several excessive rainfall events and flash flooding. This heavy rain caused a steep decline in the salt levels in the river from a high of 16 ppt on July 3^rd down to just 0.4 ppt on July 17^th. Here in the Yonkers area we usually run above 10 ppt during the summer months. The lower salinity levels appear to have affected our catches. Comb and moon jellies, which we were catching in high numbers in June, were gone by July. We also have been catching some freshwater species including largemouth bass and a pumpkinseed. If we get into a drier weather pattern, the salinity should rise back up to levels more typical for mid-summer.

See below for a selection of additional graphs:

 

 

 

The CURB team will continue to seine through November, weather permitting. Volunteers are welcome to help with our daily seines. For more information, please contact Jason Muller at jmuller@sarahlawrence.edu. Our data may be tracked on the seining page of our website.