10 Yonkers Students Participate in the EELS Team Internship
This past fall CURB was joined by 10 Yonkers high school students for our EELS Team internship program. Students from Lincoln, Saunders, and Yonkers High School all participated in 7 weeks of hands-on research and group workshops. The research for the fall was focused on Hudson River seining and eDNA (environmental DNA) sampling. Group workshops covered topics such as fish identification, Excel basics, resume building, and formulating a research topic.
Our seining research was particularly exciting with the students catching 3 fish that are rare for our location. These included a blackcheek tonguefish (just 4 caught since 2005), inshore lizardfish (4th since 2005), and smallmouth flounder (5th since 2005). In addition, the students also participated in the river-wide “Day in the Life of the Hudson & Harbor” event, collecting and submitting water quality and catch data.
The students will return in February for the final 6 weeks of their paid internships, with the focus of the research turning to the American eel migration project. They will also do another round of eDNA sampling. To wrap up their research they will be presenting group projects during a community event on April 5th. More details to follow!