Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Seining With The Shad Restoration Project

An exciting collaboration is underway as the result of Riverkeeper and the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic settling an enforcement action with Mirant Corporation over violations at their Lovett power plant.


Seining with the SUNY-ESF team in Catskill
Riverkeeper allocated the full amount of the settlement ($115,000) to a new project, which is focused on researching parts of Hudson River habitat most favorable to successful spawning of young shad.  Chris Nack, grandson of legendary shad fisherman, Everett Nack, is one of the principal leaders of the project, which is a partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.


This is one of those rare cases where an environmental violator, in this case an industry that was killing fish, pays its fine directly to the affected community - the fish!


Through this research, we're one step closer to the day when the Hudson will once again have thriving populations of all its native fish species.

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