Fish Ladders
by Cyd Bloomfield
What are fish ladders? In a way its fairly self-explanatory, fish ladders are a way for fish to get from one elevation to another. Granted, they don’t have rungs or generally look like human ladders, but the concept is the same.
The first fish ladder was built in the 1830s by an engineer in Scotland named James Smith. Smith created this with the same intention that we have today: Smith noticed that due to a dam being constructed for a mill, the salmon were unable to get upstream. He devised a series of pools at incremental heights so that the fish could jump over multiple smaller obstacles instead of a single large one. This technique is known as a pool-and-weir fish ladder and is still one of the most common types of fish ladders today.
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The photos above showcase two different types of fish ladders in a dam on the Peconic River. The reservoir in photo 1 flows into the river in photos 2 and 3, but if there were no fish ladders organisms who use this river to migrate wouldn’t be able to get up the dam. There are a few different kinds on fish ladders, two of them are on display at this location. Photo 2 features what is referred to as a Baffle Fishway. This fish ladder is connected to the top and bottom of the dam using a rectangular, metal tube. Inside this tube is a series of metal plates on the bottom that slow the flow down and allow fish to more easily swim upriver. In this part of the river alewives are one of the most common anadromous migratory fishes. Photo 3 shows a slightly different fish ladder called an eel pass. This involves a climbing structure to which eels can grip to and make their way up the dam.
Fish and Rescue
by Lucas Chen
Image 1 shows an air duct style of fish ladder. Fish ladders are important for migratory spawning fish like alewives and eels because of the elevation difference from the dam. This particular one is for alewives but is currently not open because the season has not started yet.
Image 2 is the dam and the other type of fish ladder. This fish ladder is for eels to migrate back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. This dam was created for a cranberry bog because they need still water.
Image 3 is a loggerhead sea turtle that was over 250 pounds. This turtle was brought to the rescue center to rehabilitate. Here we can see that Maxine is giving the turtle antibiotics.
Image 4 shows a third fish ladder in Grandgabel Park. The fish ladder consists of rock piles that flows into the Peconic estuary. This one is very different from the previous two because the elevation change is not as drastic as the dam, so the rocks make a natural looking formation. These are also used by eels and alewives.
The Limits of Rehabilitation with Funding
by Clare Dana
This Friday we toured the New York Marine Rescue center in Riverhead, New York. We got a chance to tour their facilities, meet some of their current rehab residents, and learn about the ins and outs of the process and what it takes to run this rehabilitation center. The center currently has the ability to rehabilitate turtles, seals, and small cetaceans. Being the only affiliated Marine Rehabilitation Center in New York, they respond to all strandings and reports of injured marine animals in the area. Our guide, and the director of the center, mentioned that the center used to respond to large cetaceans but have stepped back from that because of resources. On top of that, they also had to step back from housing small cetaceans in their facilities for the same reason. This struck me and made me realize the limitations that arise due to funding in the marine conservation field. Seeing that the only center for rehabilitation in New York is limited to specific species because resources cannot be supported is quite saddening.
The director told us how up to 2017 the center would respond to whale strandings (which usually resulted in euthinasia) and could support small cetacean rehabilitation at the center. She also pointed out the tanks that used to be used for the small cetaceans, one of which is now being used for loggerhead being rehabilitated. We must recognize just how expensive this process is between uptake and maintenance of the facility, medications, and food all being provided by a not-for-profit organization. Even beyond the rehabilitation stage when animals are released, the tags used to track them can each cost somewhere between $5,000 and $15,000 so the center must choose what animals will receive these.
It is unfortunate to see these limits placed on the ability to contribute to the conservation of our local marine species. Especially as we see more negative effects on these animals as a result of climate change and human interaction. Sometimes, there will be spikes in the strandings of specific species, and when this occurs, NOAA will designate a UME (unusual mortality event) which demands an immediate response to investigate the cause of the sudden die-off. The only positive outcome of this is that the declaration of a UME will lead to an increase in funding to support marine rescue and research centers to rescue, research, and rehabilitate the designated species. I feel this is symbolic of the harsh reality of marine conservation, that it takes a significant die-off of a species to provide adequate funding to these facilities. It makes you wonder what the potential these facilities and rescue/research centers could have were not limited by funding.
Image1: This is Chestnut, a forever resident at the rescue center. Chestnut was struck by a boat causing an imbalance of buoyancy in her shell so she cannot be released. The rescue center has created a contraption to help Chestnut to stay balanced. Chestnut’s little body band is just one example of what the rescue center needs proper funding for to ensure a comfortable life for the injured animals.
Image2: This is Queen. She is the loggerhead turtle that is currently residing in the tank that used to be used for the small cetaceans the rescue center used to house and rehabilitate.
The Inside Scoop at the Rescue Center
by Abighail McKinney
This week’s class took a visit to the NY Marine Rescue Center. They showed us turtles, manta rays, and seals. They took us through the process of rescuing a marine animal and how they perform a physical before bringing them in. After a period of treatment usually they come to the conclusion on whether or not an animal is qualified for release. At the Rescue center, they have Chestnut, a green turtle there that is unreleasable. Due to the injuries caused by a recent boat accident, her shell grows more upward, inducing air pockets that cause imbalances during movement. Because of this, her home will remain in centers as such for the rest of her life.
Unfortunately not all animals are as lucky, if they are unable to find a forever home for animals such as one of the blind seals they had. They are resorted to being euthanized because they cannot be released under those conditions. This is normally the most ethical way to deliver a “good death” for marine reptiles/cetaceans/pinnipeds.
If animals are releasable, Rescue Centers usually take certain precautionary measures around these animals. There is usually no talking and minimal human contact to ensure these factors don’t make re-release more difficult/stressful.
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| NY Rescue center Biologist feeds Chestnut (green sea turtle) Romaine lettuce. Chestnut floating her way over to some delicious lettuce |
Why euthanize them? You may ask, Are there no other options? Usually there aren’t, Euthanization is the fastest, humane option for marine mammals. Upon evaluation by a veterinarian the euthanization of unreleasable animals allows rescue centers to use their carcasses for research. From this stems a better understanding of these animals which may lead to better treatments in the future.
Reasons for Euthanization
● Debilitating injuries
● Human Dependency
● Re-Stranding
● Unable to find a forever home
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Device used to keep Chestnut afloat, due to her injuries. One side of her shell is more buoyant than the other. |
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Riverhead; NY Marine Rescue Center
by Nicholas Ring
The fingerprints of climate change can be seen all over our planet. Our warming ocean has caused worsting storms, bleached coral, and has had a strong impact on our glaciers, melting thing, causing climate change to worsen. However warming oceans has caused more damage the closer you look. Warmer oceans cause more tropical species to migrate to seasonal waters, only to die off if they don’t move back to tropical waters come winter. In a similar aspect, animals that migrate south for the winter now must adapt to waters colling down sooner. Sea turtles and other cold-blooded animals are often the victim of this “cold stun”. This phenomenon is called cold stun because as the environment gets colder their metabolism slows down, and eventually they’ll lose the energy to move, eat, and can die from this.
However, the workers and volunteers at the New York Marine Rescue Center do their best to ensure that those cold stunned turtles recover and are sent back into the wild. Many of them can be found washed up on beaches, or floating limp in the water ways around long island. And those who can be helped might be sent to Riverhead for medical treatment. Once brought in the cold turtles get their physicals and blood work looking for any injuries, illnesses, and other issues like malnutrition. The marine rescue center is well practiced in helping Loggerhead, Kemp’s Ridley, Green, and Leatherback sea turtles as they can all be found in the area during the summer and fall. While I thought it would be a better idea to get these turtles as warm as possible as fast as possible this can cause far more issues than it solves. Instead, these turtles need to be slowly brought up to temperature over about five days. This allows their body temperature to rise at a healthy rate. Once their temperature is brought up and they start swimming again, they can start eating and can now get any medal help they need. Then after a few months they can be released back into the water after getting an ID tag put into they rear flipper. At times they can also have a radio tracker glued to their shell, this is done after particularly bad cases are successfully treated to prove that the money invested was not done in vain. However, not all turtles can be released, and some need to stay for longer treatment.
One Green Sea Turtle whose been with the Marine Rescue Center for over ten years is Chesnutt. Chesnutt was cold stunned at sea and hit by a boat. While Chesnutt recovered from cold stun the boat impact had long term conciseness. The boat permanently disformed her shell, and over time it grew upwards instead of outwards, one side of her shell also started to float as it was filled with air. Unfortunately, this means that one side of her sinks, and one side of her floats. Their first solution was to make both sides sink; however, she changes buoyancy everyday and if one day she sinks too much, it can only end poorly. So, their solution is to give her a vest, that has a Styrofoam floaty on the side that sinks. This means that she can’t swim downwards at all, but it still gives her great mobility on the surface. This is because over time she’s adapted to the floatie, becoming an even better swimmer then she was before and can swim freely in her tank. To give her some complexity she was given an enrichment toy. It’s a floaty with to lines on either side with weights. I was told, she likes to sit under them. Although Chesnutt’s story is filled with more bumps than her shell, as of right now things have smoothed out as the Marine Rescue Center gives her the best care they can give. Just as they give any turtle, or marine mammal that comes there way.
Here you can see Chesnutt’s flotation device as she swims towards the camera.
As she swims away from the camera you can see where her shell is deformed.
And here you can see her swim past me with her enrichment toy in the background.
Riverhead Marine Rescue Center
by Ed LeMoine
On our trip to Riverhead, our main destination was the New York Marine Rescue Center located inside the Riverhead aquarium. The Rescue Center was first opened in 1966 and remains the largest marine rescue facility from Virginia to Maine coastwise. Maxine Montello, the director of the Rescue Program was kind enough to show us through all the facilities. While the aquarium itself is for-profit, the rescue center is a non-profit that works with volunteers and the community to find and hopefully rehabilitate turtles, seals, and other select pinnipeds and cetaceans. “Why is a Marine Rescue center necessary?” some may ask, and to them I’d ask if they would know what to do with a usually large, possibly irate sea creature on the beach before them. As mentioned, the rescue center works with the community to deal with situations akin to this.
Often through regular patrols or outreach, anyone can find a distressed marine mammal and call the rescue center stranding hotline. As soon as they can, a team of workers and volunteers will come to deal with whatever creature or situation has arisen. Animals can need anywhere from a few weeks to few months to fully recover but once they are, they’re free to be released. However, it should also be noted that there are sometimes cases in which the animal unfortunately needs to be euthanized. In even rarer cases, animals have permanent damage that renders them in a state unable to be released. The Riverhead Marine Rescue Center happens to have not one but two such cases; Chestnut, the green sea turtle that floats and David Bowie, the seal with no (or very small) eyes. With cases like this, permanent homes must be found for the animals as they are otherwise healthy and cannot be left to take up space in the rescue center. Bowie is on track to be moved but Chestnut is a special case, having been with the rescue center for well over 10 years.
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