On-Hudson.com

Central Hudson Is Conducting Tests Of LED Parking Lot & Streetlight Fixtures

ttp://www.newstreetlights.com/index_files/LED_street_light_news_Central_Hudson_Power_approves_rate_tariff_for_new_LED_streetlight_installations_266.htm

Central Hudson Power approves rate tariff for new LED streetlight installations

New Streetlights staff

 

In response to requests from municipal customers, Central Hudson Power, an electric utility in the mid-Hudson River Valley of New York, has issued a revised rate tariff for LED streetlight fixtures. The New York Public Services Commission approved the plan for the revised tariff in November 2010. Several communities in the Central Hudson Power service area have expressed an interest in installing the energy efficient streetlight technology, including Poughkeepsie, New York, which is testing LED streetlights in a pilot program.

 

Central Hudson Power is conducting its own research and testing of LED parking lot and streetlight fixtures. In cooperation with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) the utility is testing LED parking lot fixtures manufactured by Phillips, and LED streetlight fixtures supplied by Fala Technologies of Kingston, New York, and Greenhouse Strategies of Rockville Center, New York. “The goal of the pilot is to evaluate cost, test actual energy use, and gauge the durability of the LED fixtures,” said John Maserjian, director of media relations at Central Hudson Power.

 

Currently, the LED rate tariff will only apply to municipally owned streetlights. Central Hudson Power supplies power to 80 communities in its service area, many of which are pursuing energy efficient lighting options. Several municipalities have applied for grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) fund, which can be used for LED streetlight installations.

 

Electric Car InfraStructure Takes Shape In Texas

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-electricvehicle_19bus.ART.State.Edition1.3ede9fc.html

NRG to start network of electric car charging stations in Houston

 

 ELIZABETH SOUDER 
esouder@dallasnews.com

NRG Energy Inc. is attempting to launch the electric vehicle revolution in the center of the Oil Patch: Houston.

The company announced Thursday that it will spend $10 million to build a network of charging stations for electric cars in Houston and offer customers all-you-can-use charging for a flat fee. It's the first such network in the U.S., and NRG will extend the concept to Dallas and other cities next year.

The move is a relatively inexpensive play by a company accustomed to spending billions on power plants. NRG wants a piece of the transportation fuel market, the country's largest consumer of energy.

"That's a very attractive market for the electric industry," said NRG chief executive David Crane.

The idea is to install enough home and public charging stations around town so that electric vehicle drivers feel confident they won't get stranded.

NRG will partner with electricity companies for the offer. Some partners, such as TXU Energy, are working on their own plans for charging stations.

TXU, a unit of Energy Future Holdings, is donating money to the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth to install free public charging stations.

Drivers can sign a three-year contract for one of three service packages.

For $49 a month, a customer gets a home charging station. For $79 a month, the customer also gets access to NRG's network of more than 50 public stations. Those stations will pop up at retail locations such as Walgreen, Best Buy Co. and H-E-B grocery stores.

For $89 a month, the customer gets all the electricity he can use in his vehicle, at home and on the road.

Customers who want the all-you-can-use package must buy it through one of NRG's retail electric provider partners: Green Mountain andReliant Energy (both owned by NRG), TXU Energy and Direct Energy. Crane wants to add more to the list.

Crane said Texas is a good place to build the charging network because the electricity industry is deregulated. Also, the state will be among the first to get electric vehicles early next year, as Chevy rolls out the Volt.

Texans tend to park in their own garages, where they can easily install home chargers, Crane said. And, he said, a city like Houston, with highway grids that look like a hub with spokes, offers good, strategic spots to install public chargers.

He said he will eventually offer pricing packages that make it cheaper to juice up at night, when total demand for electricity declines.

Charging a lot of vehicles in the middle of the afternoon, when demand for electricity spikes, can strain resources and push power generators to fire up older, dirtier plants.

Arun Banskota, president of NRG's electric vehicle services unit, said he expects the network to begin turning a profit in four or five years. Crane said he needs about 1,000 customers in Houston to make money.

That's a modest number, but consider the prospects for electric cars. J.D. Power and Associates estimates global sales of electric vehicles will hit 20,000 cars next year and rise to 300,000 by 2015. Half of those will go to China.

Banskota said: "We're dependent upon electric vehicles really being adopted en masse for our product to also be viable."

McGill University Study Indicates GPS Users Have Higher Risk Of Memory & Spatial Orientation Problems

http://www.dailytech.com/Study+GPS+Units+Cause+Memory+and+Spatial+Problems+/article20169.htm

ScienceStudy: GPS Units Cause Memory and Spatial Problems 
Tiffany Kaiser 

Excessive use of GPS units could lead to Alzheimer's disease

McGill University researchers conducted a series of three studies which magnify the effects GPS systems have on the human brain, and found that avid GPS users have a higher risk of suffering from problems with memory and spatial orientation. 

Veronique Bohbot, associate professor of psychiatry at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University, along with a team of McGill researchers, found that those who use a GPS system to navigate often have a higher chance of damaging a region of the brain that controls memory. 

Humans generally navigate using one of two methods. The first is a spatial navigation strategy where landmarks are used to build cognitive maps that help us figure out where we are without the use of a GPS. The second is a stimulus-response strategy where we drive in auto-pilot mode, making turns in certain places because repetition tells us that this is the best way to reach a specific destination. This second strategy is more closely related to the way GPS users navigate.

"When it comes to finding my way, I've become a GPS zombie," said Jean Snyder, a 47-year-oldoffice manager in Highland Heights, Ohio. "I'm sure I'm not doing my brain any favors."

When functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or fMRI, was performed on those who navigate both spatially and through stimulus-response strategies, people who used a spacial navigation strategy had increased activity in an area of the brain involved with memory and navigation known as the hippocampus. 

McGill researchers found that excessive use of aGPS unit may lead to atrophy of the hippocampus as we age, which puts the person at risk for cognitive problems such as Alzheimer's disease later in life. Alzheimer's disease affects the hippocampus first before any other part of the brain, which leads to problems with spatial orientation and memory. 

In addition, researchers found a "greater volume of grey matter" within the hippocampus of spatial strategy-using adults. On a standardized cognition test, which helps diagnose cognitive impairment, these adults scored higher than those who don't use spatial strategies. According to the study, these results suggest that spatial memory increases hippocampus activity, which then results in an increased quality of life. 

While researchers have found evidence relating hippocampus activity to memory, there are still questions surrounding this research. For instance, researchers are unsure as to whether using spacial strategies causes the hippocampus to grow, or if having a "robust" hippocampus causes an individual to use spacial strategies. 

Either way, using spatial strategies instead of the GPS would be helpful in lessening thedeterioration of memory. The study isn't encouraging everyone to throw their GPS units away, but to take a break now and then. 

"We live in a society that's so fast paced that it encourages us to feel bad if we get lost," said Bohbot. "What I say to people is that we can use GPS to explore the environment, but don't become dependent on it. Developing a cognitive map may take longer, but it's worth theinvestment." 

These studies were presented at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting on November 14. 

Spaceport America Dedication

SPACEPORT RUNWAY DEDICATION   Photo by Mark Greenberg UPHAM, NM – The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) today dedicated the nearly two-mile long “Governor Bill RIchardson Spaceway” at Spaceport America, representing significant progress toward launching commercial customers into space from the desert of New Mexico. Governor Bill Richardson, Sir Richard Branson and approximately 30 of more than 380 Virgin Galactic future astronauts attended the event along with guests from around the world and watched a flyover and landing by Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo, in a captive carry with SpaceShipTwo. “We are celebrating the world’s first spaceway at the world’s first purpose-built, commercial spaceport,” said Governor Richardson. “New Mexico is not only helping to launch the commercial spaceflight industry, but we are launching new jobs and opportunities for the people of southern New Mexico. Today marks a significant milestone on our historic and exciting journey.” The nearly two-mile long runway was officially named the “Governor Bill Richardson Spaceway” at the event, and Governor Richardson joined Sir Richard in placing their handprints in clay as a permanent commemoration of the historic day.NMSA Chairman Ben Woods said the board of the NMSA had met early today to formally and unanimously approve the name of the spaceway. Sir Richard Branson commented, “It is incredible to be here today with Governor Richardson and be part of the runway dedication at Spaceport America. To see for myself how far the construction has come from when I last visited New Mexico is truly inspiring – I for one can’t wait for the grand opening – today has brought it one step closer to reality for me. The last few weeks have been some of the most exciting in Virgin Galactic’s development. Our spaceship is flying beautifully and will soon be making powered flights, propelled by our new hybrid rocket motor, which is also making excellent progress in its own test program. The investment deal with our new partners Aabar has successfully closed, securing funding for the remainder of the development program and we are seeing unprecedented numbers of people coming forward to secure their own reservations for this incredible experience. To be here in New Mexico to witness this historic moment is the perfect end to a great month.” Governor Richardson, Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Galactic future astronauts and the guests were all invited to tour the terminal hangar facility, which is nearing completion. The iconic building, meeting Gold LEED standards, will serve as the operating hub for Virgin Galactic and is expected to house up to two WhiteKnightTwos and five SpaceShipTwos, in addition to all of Virgin’s astronaut preparation facilities and mission control. Held immediately following the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS), the Spaceport America Runway Dedication marked the culmination of “Space Week” in New Mexico, and was made possible in part thanks to premier event sponsors Summit West Construction, Gerald Martin Construction Management, AECOM, Molzen-Corbin, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, of Albuquerque, NM, and the New Mexico Tourism Department. Other speakers at the event included: Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of NASA; George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic; Patricia Hynes, Executive Director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium; and Rick Homans, Executive Director of the NMSA. Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of NASA, said, "With the recent signing of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 by President Obama, it is clear that our nation's future space efforts will be working even more closely than with the growing commercial space transportation industry,“ She added, ”Innovative approaches that foster this new commercial industry will bring more competition and opportunities that will lower the costs of spaceflight and payload services for America’s aerospace programs, and introduce new human space transportation systems.” The 42-inch thick spaceway is designed to support nearly every type of aircraft in the world today. It is made up of 24 inches of prepared sub-grade, followed by four inches of asphalt, and finished with a 14-inch layer of concrete. The spaceway will accommodate returning launch vehicles, fly-back rocket boosters and other space launch and training vehicles. Spaceport America has been providing commercial launch services since 2006. The state-of-the-art launch facility is under construction near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and is expected to become fully operational in 2011. Officials at Spaceport America have been working closely with their anchor tenant Virgin Galactic and other leading aerospace firms such as Lockheed Martin, Moog-FTS, Armadillo Aerospace, and UP Aerospace to develop commercial spaceflight at the new facility. The economic impact of launches, tourism and new construction at Spaceport America are already delivering on its promise to the people of New Mexico. ABOUT SPACEPORT AMERICA: www.spaceportamerica.com Spaceport America construction progress: www.spaceportamerica.com/construction/construction-status.html About Virgin Galactic and to view more pictures: www.virgingalactic.com Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

 

Maritime Education Center @ Tribeca Pier 26 Slated For 2012 Opening

http://www.dnainfo.com/20101020/downtown/maritime-education-center-coming-tribecas-pier-26-2012

Maritime Education Center Coming to TriBeCa’s Pier 26 in 2012

The Hudson River Park Trust recently rebuilt Pier 26, shown earlier this year. (Tribeca Citizen)

Julie Shapiro

TRIBECA — A temporary maritime education center could open on the new Pier 26 as soon as 2012.

The center will likely host scientists from the City University of New York, who will conduct experiments in the Hudson River, said Ronald Spalter, deputy chief operating officer for CUNY. CUNY also hopes to work with local nonprofit The River Project to teach visiting schoolchildren and members of the public about the scientists' research.

"We want to bring people from the city to [Pier 26] so they can understand what science means and how it plays a role in their lives," Spalter said at a meeting of Community Board 1’s Waterfront Committee Monday night. "It’s a perfect match."

The center would be a low-cost placeholder until the Hudson River Park Trust raises at least another $10 million to build a long-planned permanent, maritime science center, called an estuarium, on the pier.

The trust already has $5 million and some planning money for the estuarium, but it could take years for the rest of the money to come through, said Noreen Doyle, executive vice president of the trust.

In the meantime, the trust will likely allow CUNY to use the space on the pier that would otherwise sit empty, Doyle said. But the trust will not provide a building and may not even be able to give CUNY electricity.

Fortunately, CUNY students are already designing an 800-square-foot off-the-grid green building as part of the US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. That building could later be reassembled on Pier 26 and serve as CUNY’s headquarters there, Spalter said.

The center would join a boathouse and a cafe that are also opening in 2012 on the pier. 

Members of CB1’s Waterfront Committee were pleased to hear of the project Monday night, though some worried that the permanent estuarium would never get built. 

"Every time we talk about it, it seems to disappear farther away," said Joe Lerner, a committee member.

Still, committee chairman Bob Townley called the proposal "wonderful." 

"I hope you can pull it off," Townley said.

Day In The Life Of The Hudson River Proves A Valuable Experience In Every Way

http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2010/10/21/greene_county/news/doc4cbc4f4cacf1b922985003.txt

A Day in the Life of the Hudson River

Coxsackie-Athens High School students wade into the Hudson River to catch and identify fish and other macroinvertebrates as they participate in a regional program sponsored locally by Cornell Cooperative Extension and River Haggie Outdoors. Thousands of students across New York State, from Battery Park in New York City to the Troy Dam, also participated. Photo by Melanie Lekocevic

Hands-on experiments give students close-up look at a vital local resource

By Melanie Lekocevic

GREENVILLE/COXSACKIE-ATHENS – Over the centuries, the Hudson River has been a critical resource for the region – boosting its economy, providing jobs, transporting goods to and from the area and serving as a natural resource unrivaled in both power and beauty.

On Thursday, high school students from Greenville and Coxsackie-Athens gained a new appreciation for and awe of the river that flows from New York City to Greene County and points further north.

Dubbed A Day in the Life of the Hudson River, the one-day program is hosted locally by Cornell Cooperative Extension in conjunction with River Haggie Outdoors, a local company that provides environmental education and outreach to promote watershed protection. Students gathered on the shore of the Hudson River at the Cohotate Nature Preserve in Athens.

It was the program’s eighth year, and involved some seventy high schools up and down the Hudson River, all of them analyzing the river and its various components scientifically, and then comparing the data they have collected with students from around the state.

“The students are collecting data on the chemical aspects of the river, looking at the oxygen content in the water. They are also fishing, and looking at biological aspects by identifying fish and invertebrates in the river,” said Cornell Cooperative Extension Educator Liz LoGiudice. “They are also analyzing the physical site of the area and how the landscape might influence the data they are collecting.”

Students from Greenville High School and Coxsackie-Athens High School actually waded into the river to net fish and other river creatures, analyzing and identifying them. They also took various samples, which will be compared with samples taken by students up and down the river, from Battery Park in New York City all the way up to the Troy Dam.

All the students’ results will be posted online so they can share and compare with fellow students more than a hundred miles away.

“This shows the students the difference in salinity levels at the different sites – how water in New York City compares to here,” LoGiudice said. “They can compare different fish that are caught and determine how different salinity levels affect the kinds of fish that are in the water, even though it is all from the same river.”

According to Greenville High School teacher Rachel Anderson, who brought juniors and seniors from her AP environmental science class, Thursday’s field trip was just the start of a year-long exploration.

“This is the very beginning of what we will do this year – a field study of different elements of the Catskill Creek watershed and the Hudson River,” Anderson said. “Today, they are learning what the different parameters are that they should look at – the water chemistry, the physical surroundings of the river and the life they can find in the water.”

According to Fran Martino from River Haggie Outdoors, the program’s goal is to give the students a renewed sense of appreciation for the river that has been such a big part of the county’s history.

“The idea is to help local students realize what a great resource the Hudson River is, and that it is an important spawning ground for various fish,” Martino said. “The river brings a lot to our economy and to our region, and we want to give them a sense of ownership and stewardship of the river.”

For students in Coxsackie-Athens High School, the program is part of a year-long effort to learn about the science of the surrounding environment in a hands-on approach.

“We study the river and do a lot of work in the Coxsackie Creek,” teacher Tony Loughran said. “When we come down here, the kids already have a good foundation of the chemistry of the water and macroinvertebrates, so when we get here they like to do fish identification and put it all together. Their data is sent to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory lab at Columbia University, and they get to compare their data with all the other sites along the river.”

Roughly 2,000 high school students participated in A Day in the Life of the Hudson River throughout the state.

NYPD & FAA Receive Reports Of UFO Sightings Over Manhattan

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/objects_over_chelsea_cause_ufo_stir_4EfYYhIhIAgrq7PjCUmGaL

Objects over Chelsea cause UFO stir

FRANK ROSARIO

 

Has Chelsea become so trendy even Martians are scouting for co-ops?

A silvery vision of a dozen balloon-like dots hovering in yesterday’s clear-blue sky over West 23rd Street had thousands speculating the mysterious objects might be UFOs.

Callers began phoning the NYPD and Federal Aviation Administration at 1:30 p.m. with reports of the strange, silver objects high in the sky.

"Some people saw something described as yellow with blue lights surrounding it," said FAA spokesman Jim Peters. He added that if the objects were weather balloons — as some suggested — his agency had no prior notification they’d be launched.

 

Witness Daniel Calhoun, 52, admitted, "Common sense says it wasn’t a UFO.

"Common sense says it was a plane or a balloon, but this thing stopped everyone in the street for two blocks. Any New Yorker will tell you, that alone is extraordinary."

Pete Bryant, 32, said, "I saw five or six lights shining in the sky. There was no way that thing was a balloon.

"There was something weird about it. Light just doesn’t reflect off balloons like that. "If Martians were to land anywhere, New York is a much better location than some backwoods town in the Midwest."

Tim Powell, 28 , described the objects as "the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen."

"It looked like a jellyfish made of lights that just hovered in the sky like it wanted to be seen," he said. "I was half expecting the aliens to beam down and introduce themselves."

And Richard Molina, 42, compared what he saw to the "creatures from ‘Predator.’ "

"It freaked me out. It was a real Superman moment, too," he said.

"Everyone looked up in the sky. It really was an event."

Additional reporting by Doug Auer and John Doyle

The Park Spark Project Turns Dog Waste To Energy

http://parksparkproject.com/home.html

Park Spark project!

Anywhere people are walking dogs can be a source of heat and light by introducing a Methane Digester into the equation. As long as people are walking dogs and throwing away dog poo, a flame can burn.

The Park Spark project is the transformation of dog waste into energy (methane) through a publicly fed methane digester as an interactive urban intervention that questions our current waste system, and at the same time creates an opportunity for others to participate in the (re)imaging of the byproduct energy (methane).

The Park Spark project is a digester (see "HOW IT WORKS" section), which can be above-ground or buried underground except for a tube and a hand-crank, so that people can feed the digester and stir the mixture inside. Learn about the environmental benefits of burning methane and how to "green" your park.

The methane captured by the Park Spark is piped to gas burning lamppost like an 'eternal flame'. This eternal flame will burn until someone or a group of people propose an idea to use the heat and light of the constantly burning flame and make a public project. (See "GET INVOLVED" section)

http://parksparkproject.com/home.html

The Catskill Aqueduct"s Hudson River Siphon A Modern Marvel Even On Current Standard

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5761436/great_feats_of_engineering_the_hudson.html

Great Feats of Engineering: The Hudson River Siphon

John Carter

Getting Water to NYC

The Hudson River siphon is a good example of how monstrous the NY Water Supply System really is even though the average New Yorker hasn't a clue about how the system works. One of the marvels of the system is a tunnel  1,100 feet beneath the surface of the Hudson between Storm King Mountain and Breakneck Ridge. All it takes is one trip down the Storm King Highway and you will realize why George Washington considered West Point the Gibraltar of America. The fortifications he caused to be built are a wonder of military engineering. 
What carries water down from the Catskills to New York City is the Catskill Aqueduct system that has to cross the Hudson River. It was not practical to bridge the river because the depth of the sediment at the bottom was too deep to place the necessary footings, so it was decided to use an inverted siphon instead.

The inverted siphon is an old technology dating back to the days of the Romans based on the simple fact that water always seeks its own level, and for the thing to work all one has to do is have one end where the water runs out to be lower then the end where water runs in. This was the sort of device they chose to cross the Hudson. 

The first problem facing the engineers was to find out the depth of the sediments at the bottom of the river. The first method they tried was to drill a series of holes using a diamond drill mounted on a barge. This was slow and time-consuming work that created all sorts of problems with ships going up and down the Hudson River. They abandoned this approach when they discovered it wasn't practical. The next method they tried was drilling holes from the opposite shores that were 1400 feet deep. The two drill holes stayed in solid rock, so the engineers tried raising the depth at which the drills still remained in solid rock. From this work it was determined that the inverted siphon would have to cross the river at 1100 feet below its surface, or one-fifth of a mile deep. The contract for the work was rewarded to the T.A. Gillespie Company who already had bids from the city and state worth millions. They were not the lowest bidder with a bid $210,000 higher then the lowest bidder. This  later became the subject of a special grand jury investigation. The Hudson River siphon job was also known as contract Number 80. The investigation centered on the alleged graft charges relative to the contract for the job of constructing the Hudson River Siphon. This was not unheard of in either city or state cases of alleged bid-rigging.

The Hudson River siphon was built in the early 20th century as the world's largest inverted siphon. This amazing structure was built to a depth of 1100 feet below the surface of the river. The bore was 13 feet in diameter that was lined with concrete. Once this monster was filled with water and no one has entered it for over a century.

The Hudson River siphon is part of an even larger construction project called the Catskill aqueduct where construction began in 1906 and was finally concluded in 1924. The whole system is operated by gravity; water flows throughout the system at a rate of about 4 feet per second, or about 550 million gallons per day to the north of Kensico Reservoir in Valhalla, New York. The aqueduct system works well below its capacity and the daily averages of water delivered amounts to about 350 - 400 million gallons per day. It is estimated that about 40% of the total water supply for New York City comes from the Catskill aqueduct. The rest is from two other reservoir systems in the Catskills, and other reservoirs east of the Hudson River.

Hudson River Pier Marine Study Conducted By Rutgers Marine Scientists Yields Interesting Insights

http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/research/what-swims-beneath-2-20100903

What Swims Beneath the Pier – and What Doesn’t

New Yorkers love their piers; for fish, it depends

Ken Able, professor of marine science

Several times over the last four summers, Rutgers marine scientists have combined high and low technology to answer a straightforward scientific question: How do the fish in a big urban estuary react to big piers built by their human neighbors? 

Since the early 1990s, Ken Able, a fish biologist and professor of marine science in Rutgers’Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS), has studied this question in the Hudson Riverestuary. Most recently, he and his colleague Thomas Grothues, an associate research professor, have focused their attention on the piers jutting into the river from the west side of Manhattan. 

They’ve concluded that fish that hunt by sight – striped bass, for instance – like pilings and beams, but don’t like what Able calls “intense shading” caused by large piers. Fish that don’t depend on sight but use other senses to find food – eels, or tomcod – find the water under piers more congenial. Their findings will be put into reports for the Hudson River Foundation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which paid for their most recent work. 

Able has been studying the behavior of fish around piers and the deckless pilings where piers once stood on both sides of theHudson for nearly two decades. He’s used low-tech tools – nets, boats, and kayaks – to understand how fish interact with piers. They’ve also used high technology – most recently, dual-frequency identification sonar, or DIDSON. As its name implies, this sonar uses two frequencies instead of one, and so produces more acoustic information, which makes for more detailed images. 

Able’s researchers load a small boat with a kayak, the DIDSON, batteries, and a laptop computer in Jersey City. They motor to Pier 40 in Manhattan, at the end of Houston Street – a great, square structure, now home to soccer fields and little league diamonds, among other facilities. 

Once at Pier 40, the team attaches the DIDSON device to the kayak’s hull and a battery pack in the kayak’s stern. A researcher sits amidships, holding the paddle and facing a laptop computer attached to the DIDSON. He or she paddles under the pier, between the pilings, as far as possible (cross beams prevent the researcher from paddling all the way), recording acoustic images, and then turns and comes back to open water. The process is repeated until six representative sections at different depths have been covered. 

Though they’ve been under dozens of piers over the years, the estuary still holds surprises. Able said that he and Grothues were amazed at the variety and abundance of fish in what many people assume is a polluted system.

“Well it is polluted, but it’s recovering,” Able said. “We see blues, menhaden, and lots of prey species. And we see striped bass, big and little ones – and when I say big, I mean three-footers.”

 

Media Contact: Ken Branson
732-932-7084, ext. 633
E-mail: kbranson@ur.rutgers.edu