An alliance formed with initial funding from the Marine Small Grants Program has encouraged student anglers to drop their lines in the East River at the Brooklyn Bridge Park as part of an effort to build a fish database.

Contact:

Antoinette Clemetson, Marine Fisheries Specialist, New York Sea Grant, E: aoc5@cornell.edu, P: (631) 632-8730 
 
Stony Brook, NY, November 1, 2023 — In this 14+ minute presentation, Christina Tobitsch, Education Manager at Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and others discuss the East River Ichthyological Alliance (ERIA) and its initial funding provided via the Marine Small Grants program, a partnership between New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).

The ERIA project, which was formed in 2019 through a network of environmental education organizations and fishing enthusiasts to study fish diversity in New York City’s East River strait, has produced peer-reviewed papers, lesson plans using real, local data (each targeting a different academic level), and numerous community members. 

"The purpose of this collaboration is to combine and examine community science data through various fishing programs we lead along the East River," said Tobitsch. "This includes seining, rod and reel fishing, and trapping with oyster-monitoring cages or killie traps."

As for the data gathered from these fishing programs, Tobitsch added, "Alone, each site provides some sense of water quality and fish diversity, but jointly our data begins to provide a clearer picture of East River conditions and trends among species."

You can learn more about one of sites where data has been collected via the media clip "Small Grant Project Supports Fishing Clinic in Brooklyn".

ERIA represents one of six "2019 Marine Small Grants Projects" funded via a $74,000 first cycle that has enhanced fishing access for people of all abilities, and improved fisheries data collection to enable more New Yorkers to enjoy the state’s diverse marine resources. 

Funding — raised through fees from the Marine and Coastal District license plate — have been provided via the partnership between NYSG, NYSDEC, and the Marine and Coastal District of New York Conservation, Education, and Research Grants Program. When supporters register their cars with these license plates, which feature the Montauk Lighthouse and a striped bass, they are also pitching in to support marine sport fishing and recreational angling, as well as public awareness and appreciation of marine and coastal natural resources.

For more on these grants that support conservation and public appreciation of marine, coastal, and estuarine resources, see "License Plate Funds Support Small Fishing and Environmental Projects With Big Impacts". 

Statewide, small grants have created big opportunities for sportsmen, residents, and visitors to access New York’s aquatic resources. For more, see "Small Grants, Big Impacts: Making NY’s Coastal Resources Accessible for All".


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.