ALBANY - The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is seeking volunteers for its 2010 River Herring Monitoring Program for the Hudson River estuary. Volunteers will help log the timing of river herring spawning runs in Hudson River tributaries and record what streams the fish currently use.

River herring spend most their life in the ocean and come into estuaries to spawn. They include two species – alewife and blueback herring – which deposit eggs in freshwater streams in springtime. In recent years, river herring stocks have declined along the East Coast, including the Hudson River estuary. State biologists are seeking low cost ways to study them, and the DEC successfully launched the volunteer program in 2008.

Over the past two monitoring seasons 169 volunteers collected data on 11 Hudson River tributaries. The work of volunteers provided the DEC with valuable information on the presence and absence of river herring in a variety of tributaries, the location of key spawning habitats and seasonal influences on spawning. Estuary biologists found that water temperature appears to be the initial cue for herring to enter tributaries, with the ideal temperature at approximately 51 degrees Fahrenheit. Once spawning has begun, herring appear to use tidal fluctuations to their advantage when entering and exiting streams.

This year during April and May, volunteers will again observe specific stream locations. At training sessions throughout the month of March, they will learn to use simple equipment to record the stream conditions when herring move into the tributaries during their spawning run. This project helps meet goals established under the "Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda" to aid in managing this important group of fishes.

For more information on volunteering opportunities for this program visit the DEC website at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/41545.html