Overview Description of the Beach Seine Survey: A Component of the Historical Hudson River Biological Monitoring Program

The Hudson River Biological Monitoring Program (HRBMP) is a large-scale comprehensive long-term survey program covering the Hudson River Estuary (HRE) from Battery Park (river mile [RM] 0) to Albany (RM 152), NY. The initial purpose of the HRBMP was to quantify HRE fish distribution, relative and absolute abundances, and species population and community health, to understand the potential effects of Indian Point and other power generation facilities and anthropogenic activities. The historical HRBMP, gifted to and curated by the Chen Lab at Stony Brook University, includes the six core surveys conducted from 1974 through 2017. The three major river-wide fish surveys (Long River Ichthyoplankton Survey [LRS], Fall Juvenile Survey [FJS], and Beach Seine Survey [BSS]) follow random stratified survey designs consistently over their survey period. Although the overall survey design is relatively stable, all the survey programs in the historical HRBMP experienced large and frequent changes in survey protocols to address emerging issues and logistic limitations over the multi-decadal survey period. The HRBMP programs collect some data on older fish, but mainly target the early life history stages from eggs to young-of-year (YOY). From 1974 through 2017, the BSS collected approximately 58,000 beach seines and over seven million fish, including data on more than 70 species in the HRE. The initial key fish species targeted by the BSS were, American Shad (Alosa sapidissima), Atlantic Tomcod (Microgadus tomcod), Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis), and White Perch (M. americana).  

Citation to use for the BSS metadata record:

The Beach Seine Survey (BSS): A Component of the Historical Hudson River Biological Monitoring Program (HRBMP). HRBMP Metadata. The Chen Lab, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.