The Oyster Toad, a fish that calls the Hudson River home (image courtesy of scienceray.com)
Because of the Hudson River's infamous history as a polluted waterway thanks to its industrial neighbors positioned on the river's banks, it's difficult to imagine the Hudson and its tributaries serving as the habitat for countless marine fauna. I, too, was skeptical when I learned in my introductory environmental science courses in college that living organisms could survive in the Hudson. The fact of the matter, however, is that the waterway functions as the permanent home for many creatures and as the spawning and breeding grounds for others.
Looking at the physical make-up of the water will make it easier to understand how and why the Hudson can sustain a biologically abundant environment. As Riverkeeper notes on their website, "The Hudson River is not your typical river." By this, they mean that a large portion of the river is a tidal estuary-or an arm of the sea, where salt water from the ocean mixes with freshwater from northern waterways. This mixture, in turn, creates "brackish" water that runs from the mouth of the Hudson all the way up to the Federal Dam at Troy and ebbs and flows with the ocean tide.
As a result, the tidal estuary composition of the Hudson enables it to support an extensive list of aquatic species. This list includes: the hogchoker, striped sea robin, oyster toad, skup-porgee, weak fish, lion's mane jellyfish, grass shrimp, mantis shrimp, zooplankton (copepod), seaweed, phytoplankton etc. Additionally, for species such as the migratory shad, sturgeon, herring, alewives, blue crab, mackerel, menhaden, and striped bass, the Hudson operates as a spawning ground.
Alarmingly, since the 1980s, the abundance of shad, tomcod, bay anchovy, alewife, blueback herring, rainbow smelt, hogchoker, white catfish, weakfish, and white perch has declined. As Riverkeeper points out, if habitat loss, power plant fishkills, sewage overflows, overfishing, and influx of invasive species continue, the instability of the Hudson ecosystem is likely to further collapse, and the decrease in abundance of marine species is indubitable.
In recognition of these threats to the Hudson as a home for marine fauna, Riverkeeper has initiated several campaigns in an attempt to preserve the Hudson as a healthy habitat and spawning area for the aforementioned species. Their Fishable River Campaign seeks to stop the deterioration of the Hudson River's fish species and return their numbers to original levels by working to address the destructive effects of industrial plants, sewerage spillovers, and ocean bycatch, among other things, that harm the ecosystems present in the Hudson. Moreover, in their fight for habitat protection and improvement, Riverkeeper monitors and evaluates planned and current development projects that may negatively impact important habitation structures and intercedes when necessary.
I encourage you to join Riverkeeper and support these campaigns that aim to tackle the adverse impacts that have come to endanger the integrity of the Hudson River's habitat.
