Fall Juvenile Survey (FJS)

Overview of the FJS, a survey component of the HRBMP

Historical Photo Gallery

Photos taken during the early days of the FJS in the 1970s.

Survey Specifics

Why

This survey was designed to estimate the abundance and spatiotemporal distribution of juvenile and older fishes, and provide a companion dataset to the Long River Survey. Although the FJS targeted a few key species (Striped bass, White perch, Atlantic tomcod, and Atlantic shad), information on all species caught were collected and recorded.

Where

The FJS sampled from the Yonkers region to the Poughkeepsie region from 1974-1978, the Yonkers region to the Albany region from 1979-1995, and the Battery region to the Albany region from 1996-2018.

How

Three different gear types were used. From 1974-1978, an epibenthic sled with a 1-m square mouth with an attached 3-millimeter (mm) mesh net was used to sample the shoal and bottom strata. From 1979-2018, a Tucker trawl with a 1-m square mouth with an attached 3-mm mesh net was used to sample channel stratum. From 1985-2018, a 3-m beam trawl with a 3.8-centimeter mesh net was used to sample the shoal and bottom strata. All species caught were identified and classified into four length classes based on life stage. Subsamples of key species were randomly selected and sent to the laboratory for total length measurements.

When

1974-2018; sampling occurred biweekly from July-August through October and July-August through November in later years using a stratified random sampling design.

The Renewed Fall Juvenile Survey: 2023 and Beyond

Photos taken during the 2023 FJS sampling season.

The FJS, conducted for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) by Normandeau Associates, Inc. and Stony Brook University, was restarted in June 2023. This survey is a continuation of part of the historical HRBMP, aiming to provide data on juvenile fish in the Hudson River Estuary to understand the stock status and recruitment dynamics for targeted species. The sampling followed a stratified random design and occurred every other week on the Hudson River Estuary between New York City and Albany, NY for a total of 10 sampling weeks (June-November). The FJS will continue in June 2024.