by Dr. Brent Boscarino, high school science teacher

On May 11, 2017, a group of PDS HS students utilized an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to monitor and record the annual blueback herring migration during the group’s routine American eel sampling at the Fall Kill in Poughkeepsie, NY. The ROV was awarded to PDS faculty members Brent Boscarino and David Held through the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley’s Taconic IPA Science Education Grant in 2016. The ROV is also being used to help monitor food web interactions and habitat choice of aquatic invasive species in the Finger Lakes, Mohawk River and Hudson River basins.

This video clip captures 40 seconds worth of stock footage of herring swimming upstream in the Fall Kill to spawn. It is interesting to note the strength of the flow and turbidity of the Fall Kill on this date following a week of high precipitation in the Hudson Valley, as well as the degree of pollution that continues to plague Hudson River tributaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g8yR9ghVlc&feature=youtu.be

For questions about the monitoring program, aquatic invasive species, ROV usage or to access even clearer stock footage of herring egg deposition, movement or behavior, please contact Dr. Brent Boscarino directly at the following email address: bboscarino@poughkeepsieday.org