Environmental News

Fish Flotilla Celebrates Migration

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Riverkeeper, festooned with fish, leads the parade

June 15, 2025

By Elizabeth Tucker–

In the late spring, a “Serengeti-scale” migration takes place under the quiet surface of the Hudson. Vast numbers of fish leave the unprotected waters of the Atlantic Ocean, seeking the sheltered shallows of the river and its tributaries. Upstream, these fish spawn in a nutrient and mineral-rich environment where slow-moving waters allow particles to settle. There, hatchlings can feast and avoid predators, gaining size until they are strong enough to return to the deep ocean.

Many of the fish in the Hudson, such as the Atlantic sturgeon and short-nose sturgeon, American shad, striped bass, river herring and lined seahorse follow this migration cycle. The American eel follows a different cycle. Its eggs hatch in the warm Sargasso Sea, and the tiny glass eels then drift with ocean currents, traveling more than a thousand miles into the river systems where they grow and mature.

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To make these underwater journeys visible this past weekend, Riverkeeper converted its boats, normally devoted to water quality testing and pollution surveillance, into a floating parade of shad, herring, and bass. They were joined by the schooner Appollonia, clad as a golden sturgeon, and the steamer John J. Harvey, built in 1931, formerly one of the world’s most powerful fire boats. The flotilla, produced by Rhiannon Catalyst of Catalyst Culture Labs and designed by Greg Corbino, assembled at Chelsea Piers at 10:30 a.m. As the boats departed, a prayer was spoken: “May our voices rise with the fish to heal what is broken.” The flotilla arrived at its terminus at Croton Point in the midst of the Hudson River Music Festival at 4:00 p.m..

The Atlantic sturgeon, which can live for 60 years and reach up to 800 pounds, bears armored plates on its back, a testament to its presence on this planet for 150 million years. When sturgeon spawn, they emit a rumbling sound, “sturgeon thunder” (sturgeons make other sounds as well, including rapping and purring). Once called “Albany beef,” hunted also for its caviar, sturgeon rapidly declined until a 40-year ban on fishing in all Atlantic coast states was issued in the late 1990s. Both the Atlantic and the short-nosed sturgeon are still endangered but rebounding gradually.

In order to complete their seasonal journeys, fish need access to free-flowing streams. But more than 2,000 obsolete dams obstruct the Hudson’s tributaries. These dams also increase flood risk by reducing streams’ natural capacity to react to changes in water volume. Riverkeeper was recently awarded $600,000 from New York State to support the removal of dams. The flotilla is planned to become an annual event.