Hudson River Fish Advisory Project Update 2009-2016 .
Hudson RiverFish AdvisoryOutreach ProjectProject Update2009-2016
Executive SummaryThe New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) offers health advice,or fish advisories, on eating fish you catch. We do this because of chemicalcontamination of some water bodies. In 2008 we initiated the Hudson RiverFish Advisory Outreach Project, a twenty-year initiative with a goal that allHudson fish and crab consumers know about, understand and follow theHudson fish advisories. The project area extends for 192 miles of the HudsonRiver, which is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, fromBaker’s Falls in Hudson Falls (Washington County) to the southern tip of theManhattan Battery in New York City (NYC).PCBs, man-made chemicals that were banned in the 1970’s, concentratein fat, and build up along the aquatic food chain. Eating Hudson River fishcan be a concern because the fish can have many thousand times morePCBs than the surrounding water. PCBs can have a greater effect on thedevelopment of young children or developing fetuses, and NYSDOH advisesthat women under 50 (of childbearing age) and children under 15 not eatfish or crabs from the Hudson River from Corinth in Saratoga County to theNYC Battery.NYSDOH reaches out to people who fish the Hudson and to their families,and works with a variety of groups: fishing and boating associations, marinas,municipal, park and recreation staff, immigrant and food bank networks,social service providers, and many more. We developed a range of freematerials to communicate the project messages to different audiences,including brochures, posters, signs, a children’s activity book, a magnet, anda pocket card. In total we have nine pieces in up to five languages. We valuethe many municipal offices who distribute our materials with the fishinglicenses they sell, the community organizations who give out our materials,and municipal and other propertyowners who post our signs.Hudson GREENECOLUMBIAULSTERDUTCHESSORANGEPUTNAMMost people who fish the Hudsonalso fish other local waters. OurWESTCHESTERnewest brochure, Hudson ValleyROCKLANDRegion Health Advice on Eating FishYou Catch, gives the advice for theHudson River and other water bodiesNewin the counties along the Hudson –Yorkand has a positive spin on fishing.CityIt lists some waters with New YorkState Department of EnvironmentalTheBatteryConservation (NYSDEC) public accesswhere the whole family can eat fish.We are working with the NYSDEC to include NYSDOH advice in thepopular NYSDEC Pocket Ranger fishing and hunting phone app.1Staff member Audrey Van Genechtenteaching children about differenttypes of fish in the Hudson River atBangladeshi Day in Hudson, NY.In 2009 and 2014, we issued Requests for Applications to establishmini-grants for local outreach. Some funded partners reach outto the low-income community at food banks, Headstart programsand health clinics, and do fish consumption surveys to help us learnmore about who eats Hudson fish. Other partners present the advicethrough classroom activities and environmental science programs.
In 2015, Arm-of-the-Sea Theater visualized Hudson fish advisory messages through their unique theatricalproduction, Hook Line and Sinker: Fishing the Hudson River.We and our partners share the health advice with the public at county fairs and many community events,from Washington and Saratoga Counties to Manhattan. To reach immigrants who are often less awareof the advice, NYSDOH collaborates with organizations like Latinos Unidos of the Hudson Valley, the U.S.Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and the Chinese-American Planning Council, who are trustedagents in the immigrant community. The success of the Hudson River Fish Advisory Outreach Project hingesupon connections on the ground to people who eat Hudson fish. We look forward to working with ourexisting partners and invite others to join with us in this important public health effort.Table of ContentsHudson River Fish Advisory Goals and Messages .3Materials . 5Minigrant Partners . 7Other Collaborations . 8Reaching Newcomers . 10What We Are Learning and Moving Forward . 12Outreach Partners . 13Appendix 1: Preliminary Consumption Survey Results . A1On a rainy day at NYC Parks’ “RiverFish” event at the West Harlem Piers, Arm of theSea Theater couldn’t perform their full production of “Hook, Line and Sinker” but theirstriped bass and catfish characters came out to interact with fishermen of all ages.2
Hudson River Fish Advisory Goals and MessagesFishing is fun and fish are an important part of a healthydiet. Fish contain high quality protein, essential nutrients,healthy fish oils, and are low in saturated fat. However,fish in some waterbodies in New York contain chemicalsat levels that may be harmful to health. To help peoplemake healthier choices about which fish to eat, theNYSDOH issues advice about eating fish you catch. Oneof the waterbodies for which NYSDOH has health advice,known as a fish advisory, is the Hudson River.The Hudson River Fish Advisory Outreach Project has agoal that all people who eat fish from the Hudson Riverknow about, understand and follow the fish advisories.The project area extends 192 miles along the HudsonRiver from Baker’s Falls in Hudson Falls (WashingtonCounty) to the southern tip of the Manhattan Batteryin NYC. This area is a federal Superfund site and iscontaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),a family of man-made chemicals used in commercialand electrical products until they were banned in the1970’s. Health concerns related to PCB exposure includeskin diseases, effects on the immune, nervous andreproductive systems, effects on development and theincreased risk of some types of cancer.PCB concentrations build up along the aquatic foodchain, or “bioaccumulate” in fish. Unlike mercury, PCBsconcentrate in the fatty tissue. Some fish species, such ascatfish, have higher levels of PCBs than others. Removing the skin and fat, and cooking fish so the juices drainoff, can reduce the PCBs eaten in a fish meal by nearly half.Boy fishing at Dutchman’s Landing Park in Catskill, NY.Generally, PCB contamination in Hudson River fish decreases south of Hudson Falls. The advice about eatingHudson River fish depends upon who you are, where you fish and what you catch.Objectives and Key MessagesThe Hudson River Fish Advisory OutreachProject objectives are:3 To encourage anglers and other fishconsumers to follow the health advisories. To promote awareness of the advisories byposting signs at major fishing access siteson the river. To maintain advisory awareness througheducation and promotional activities totargeted populations. To identify reasons that anglers or otherfish consumers may not follow the fishadvisories and to modify outreach activitiesso they are more effective.Catfish are an easy to catch, popular fish that are considereda “do not eat” species because they accumulate high levels ofPCBs. A common misconception about catfish is that they havehigh levels of PCBs because they are “bottom feeders,” but it’sactually because they are very fatty fish.
The key messages of Hudson River fish advisory outreach include: Fish are nutritious and good to eat but some local fish you catch can have levels of chemicals that maybe harmful to your health. Women under 50 (of childbearing age) and childrenunder 15 should not eat any fish from the HudsonRiver south (downstream) of the Corinth dam inSaratoga County. North of the federal dam at Troy, NYSDEC “catch andrelease only” fishing regulations apply and no fishshould be eaten. South of the Troy Dam, the advicefor men over 15 and women over 50 depends onthe location on the River and what they catch. NearTroy, the advice outlines eating only four species upto once a month, while the advice near NYC is thatsome fish can be eaten up to once a week. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish concentratein the fat. Removing the skin, cleaning the fish, andcooking it so juices drain away, can substantiallyreduce the amount of PCBs consumed. Some fish species contain higher PCB levels thanother fish, and should not be eaten at any location inthe river: channel catfish, white catfish, walleye andgizzard shad; NYSDEC regulations prohibit takingAmerican eel for food in the Hudson River.Project Coordinator Regina Keenan educating anglersabout the advisory at the World Outdoor Expo inSuffern, NY. Do not eat the “green stuff” (tomalley) in crabs, or use the cooking liquid. The health advice also applies to Hudson River tributaries and connected waters if there are no dams,falls or barriers to stop the fish from moving upstream.To meet our objectives, we create partnerships with local groups, and reach out to both people who fish theHudson and to their family members. We have developed a rangeof free materials to communicate the advice, and staff and partnersparticipate in a variety of venues throughout the 192-mile ProjectArea - from health clinics to county fairs and outdoor shows.A NYSDEC “Catch and Release Only” signposted in Schuylerville, NY warns anglersabout contamination in fish.4
MaterialsA major focus of the Hudson River Fish Advisory Outreach Project effort is to develop a range of educationalmaterials that target different audiences. Our materials include maps and pictures of fish to make them moreuser-friendly. Project staff talk to a wide range of people at community events, health clinics, schools, churchesand other venues to evaluate how people understand our messages and graphic images. We continue learningfrom our audiences new ways to present information and gain insight about what works best. The Projectdeveloped a website with materials in English and Spanish, including public service announcements for radio.All Hudson-related outreach materials are listed rs/fish/hudson river/BrochuresThe Project produced a brochure withthe health advice on eating Hudsonfish in English and Spanish in 2009,updated it in 2011 and translated itinto Chinese in 2015. Through a widenetwork of partners and venues, theProject distributes annually about7,000 English and 2,500 Spanishbrochures to the public.In 2015, we re-developed our NewYork City brochure to include theadvice for Long Island fresh andmarine waters. This brochure istranslated into five languages andincludes the advice for the marinewaters around NYC including theHudson River down to the TheBattery.5In 2013, we developed a brochurethat details the advice on thenorthern Hudson between theFederal Dam at Troy and Corinth.With assistance from project partnerCornell Cooperative ExtensionSaratoga County, over 2000 copieswere distributed in 2015.Eating Hudson River crabs is very popular– in a Hudson “creel” or fishing survey,the NYSDEC found that people take homenearly 80% of the crabs caught in theHudson. Crabs have an organ similar to aliver that concentrates toxic chemicals likePCBs, cadmium and dioxin. This brochureillustrates how to remove this organ andrecommends discarding cooking water.It has been translated into Spanish andChinese.Our newest effort, Hudson ValleyRegion: Health Advice for Eating FishYou Catch, provides the health adviceon eating Hudson River fish for theProject Area’s thirteen counties thatborder the Hudson River. It lists somepublicly accessible waters in eachcounty that are better choices for thefamily to eat fish.Wallet CardsThese water-proof cards, aimedat anglers, describe the adviceand fit in your wallet.
PosterThe Project works with food banks,where the idea for posters withsimple messages originated. Foodbank staff requested somethingthey could post at their sites. DOHdeveloped the colorful “Can YouEat That Fish from the Hudson?” inEnglish and Spanish. The posteris used in health clinics, housingauthorities, libraries and othercommunity spaces.Activity and Coloring BookRefrigerator MagnetTo create another path to familieswho may eat Hudson River fish, in2011 the Project created a HudsonRiver Creatures Activity Book, achildren’s coloring and activity bookwith simple advisory messages.The coloring book can be foundin public libraries, health providerwaiting rooms, and locations thatsell fishing licenses. Over 10,000coloring books were distributed in2015.PCBs concentrate in the skin and fatof fish. Removing fat and skin, andcooking fish so the juices drip off canreduce PCBs in a fish meal by almosthalf. This information is depicted ina refrigerator magnet “Cut the Fat toCut PCBs”, which is also available inSpanish and Chinese.SignsAnother way the Project lets people who fish on the Hudson River knowabout the advisory is through posting signs at popular fishing locations. Thesigns were developed through stakeholder focus groups. The free 11” x 14”coated aluminum Hudson River fish advisory signs are available in English,Spanish, and Chinese.Posting is voluntary by property owners. Signs have been put up at over 250riverfront locations. In 2011 and 2012, Project staff made a special effort toreach out to municipalities and area boat clubs, and 70 additional sites wereposted. We appreciate the commitment of the municipalities, agencies, boatclubs, marinas, and non-profit groups who have posted signs, and are happyto work with other property owners.Keeping signs up is an ongoing process. We have begun a GPS database ofwhere our signs are posted and each year check a portion of the River to seeif the signs are still up, or if additional signs are needed. From Troy to HudsonFalls, the NYSDEC posts signs that reinforce their catch-and-release-onlyfishing regulations for this section of the River.6
Hudson River Fish Advisory Outreach Minigrant PartnersNYSDOH recognizes that with 192 miles of river,local partners are essential to communicating theadvice. In 2008, NYSDOH held public meetings inAlbany, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Yonkers andPomona to announce the project initiation. Weissued a Request for Applications, and awardedcontracts totaling 60,000 to four partners in2009. The original funded partners includedCornell Cooperative Extensions (CCE) of DutchessCounty and Rockland Counties, and two projectscoordinated by non-profit Hudson Basin RiverWatch.CCE Rockland joined with the county AmeriCorpsand did outreach to people fishing the river,developed a Rockland-specific brochure whichOur Rockland partners posting a bilingual fish advisory sign atthey distributed throughout the county and postedNyack Beach State Park.English-Spanish signs with the advice and picturesof the fish. Transport of Rockland partnered withCCE to stock the brochures and post a message with the advice in county buses with an annual ridership of 3.4million each spring. Hudson Basin River Watch partners staffed displays and did consumption surveys at localhunting and fishing shows. An environmental educator working with Hudson Basin River Watch took the adviceinto local classrooms, and is currently based out of Rensselaer Land Trust.CCE Dutchess staff reached out to the community to form a Dutchess County Hudson River Fish AdvisoryOutreach Committee. The Committee included representatives from the NYS Fish and Wildlife ManagementBoard, the Coastal Conservation Association, Hudson Valley BassMasters, Mid-Hudson Trout Unlimited,Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Scenic Hudson, NYSDEC Bureau of Fisheries, and Dutchess County Parks andRecreation.The Committee organized a conference with 100 attendees at the Wallace Center of the Franklin DelanoRoosevelt library in March 2012. This highly successful event, “Bringing People Together to Celebrate Fishing onthe Hudson,” provided an overview of thenatural history and fishing on the Hudson,information on the upriver dredging projectand on habitat restoration, and workshopson fish advisory outreach and Hudson Riverfishing regulations.CCE Dutchess began conducting fishconsumption surveys in Dutchess Countyin 2013 and now coordinate surveys fromthe Cooperative Extensions in Columbia,Greene, Orange, and Ulster Counties. Theone thousand surveys they have collectedhave helped us gain a better picture of localfish consumption patterns in the centralHudson Valley.Attendees listen to a presentation by NYS DEC Naturalist Tom Lakeat the Wallace Center during a conference sponsored by the project“Bringing People Together to Celebrate Fishing on the Hudson.”7In 2014 we issued a new RFA, andexpanded partner funding to up to 90,000annually. We gained Cornell CooperativeExtension Saratoga County, Rensselaer LandTrust, Hudson Sloop Clearwater and Arm of
the Sea Theater as collaborators. CCE Saratoga County’sNutrition Educator works in Saratoga and WashingtonCounties, collects fish consumption surveys and reachesout to the public at county fairs, community festivals,health clinics, food pantries, and Headstart programs.Hudson Sloop Clearwater utilizes environmental educationprograms to convey the advice, with presentationsto groups ranging from science teachers to boatingassociations. These partners reach out to the publicthrough programs in Hudson Valley classrooms, libraries,camps and Hudson boat launches at invasive speciescheckpoints.Fran Martino teaches a group of students aboutHudson River fish they just caught in a seine net.The environmental educator linked to Rensselaer LandTrust has been with the Project since 2009 and uses avariety of ways to engage the public in learning aboutHudson fish and advice. One technique is the “Go Fish”game she developed - a hands-on activity in which thestudent picks a fish, a location and a picture of an angler.Then the student learns the health advice relevant forthat fish and angler (woman, man, or child). Working atschools, libraries and environmental education partnerslike Five Rivers Environmental Center and the New YorkState Museum, her programming has reached over 12,000people in Albany, Columbia, Greene and RensselaerCounties.A unique addition in tools to convey the advice was the imaginative theater production of “Hook, Line andSinker: Fishing the Hudson River” in 2015. Colorful imagery embeds the advice in a story about living near andfishing the Hudson. NYSDOH sponsored fourteen shows and more than three thousand people from NYC toSaratoga County saw the show in its first year. More shows for 2016 can be found at this ine-sinker/Other CollaborationsWe have many other important partners whohelp let people know the health advice on eatingHudson fish. The NYSDEC includes NYSDOHfish advisories in their annual freshwater fishingregulation guide, and this is one of the primaryways licensed anglers learn about the fishadvisories. The NYSDEC helped us grow ourdistribution list for fish advisory materials byincluding order forms for NYSDOH fish advisorymaterials with their mailings to municipalities.We also work with fisherman and sportsmen’sassociations, boat and yacht clubs and marinas.To share the advisory messages with families, theProject partners with a range of organizations:nutrition and environmental educators, healthcare providers, schools and after-school programs,food banks and faith organizations, social serviceproviders, municipal parks and recreation staff,A shot of the PCB molecule character and his friend, thecatfish, in action from Arm of the Sea’s play about the HudsonRiver fish advisory “Hook, Line and Sinker.”Photo by Chris Bowser.8
youth and neighborhood associations, perinatal networks, English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, andmany more. The network continues to grow and new partners are always welc
teaching children about different types of fish in the Hudson River at Bangladeshi Day in Hudson, NY. 1 Executive Summary The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) offers health advice, or fish advisories, on eating fish you catch. We do this because of chemical contamination of
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The Hudson River School Art Trail is a project of 218 Spring Street, Catskill, New York 12414 Phone 518-943-7465 www.thomascole.org Hudson River School Art Trail Trail Site Kaaterskill Clove The clove, a distinctive feature or "cleft" in the Catskills, was one of the places most painted by the Hudson River School artists.
The Hudson River School Art Trail is a project of 218 Spring Street, Catskill, New York 12414 Phone 518-943-7465 www.thomascole.org Hudson River School Art Trail Trail Site Kaaterskill Clove The clove, a distinctive feature or "cleft" in the Catskills, was one of the places most painted by the Hudson River School artists.
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