It's that time of year again on Staten Island, where eels become more than slippery creatures—they become data points in a much larger narrative about the health of the city's aquatic habitats. In a concerted effort spearheaded by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Staten Island students have been on the front lines of environmental stewardship, participating in an annual rite of spring: the eel count. As reported by ABC7NY, these young citizen scientists have been busy scooping up glass eels—juvenile American eels—cataloging them, which provides insight into the water quality of their local ecosystems.
The migration of these glass eels from the Sargasso Sea to the borough's shores, a whopping 2,000-mile journey, is noteworthy not only for its scale but also because it reflects the strides New York City has made in cleaning up its waterways, DEP's Robert Brauman likens the migration to a scene out of "Finding Nemo," but here the animated feature gives way to real-life environmental improvements and a resurgence in eel populations signaling the water is indeed cleaner, habitats are better—Robert Brauman told ABC7NY about the positive changes.
These efforts have not gone unnoticed, as students from Saint Clare School in Great Kills and Boy Scout Troop 25 have been getting a hands-on education by joining forces with the DEP. During the count at Richmond Creek Bluebelt, Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala praised these young environmental stewards for their commitment and expressed his gratitude for their involvement; his sentiments were conveyed in a piece from SILive.
Richmond Creek, a Bluebelt area which is one among over 96 spaces across Staten Island designed to enhance the borough's drainage infrastructure and provide a habitat for wildlife, has become a barometer of sorts for the health of New York's waterways, Staten Island’s Mid-Island being one of 16 sites where students and volunteers take to the waters with a special 10-foot cone-shaped net, wrangling the eels for counting and then setting them free again, this year a notable 8,520 glass eels have been counted so far—in a testament to the waters' improving quality, the DEP indicated that New York's waterways are healthier now than any period since the Civil War, as SILive reports.
What's clear is that through these monitoring efforts, not only is there an educational component but also a growing sense of community and shared responsibility for the environment. Students like Mark from Staten Island eloquently put their vision into perspective when he told ABC7NY, "We need to keep our environment alive because it's what we've been gifted. And in such a beautiful environment here on Staten Island, so I think we should do everything we can in our power to keep it as clean as possible." As spring unfolds and the eels continue to slither their way into city waterways, Staten Islanders can take pride in knowing their efforts are yielding tangible results, charting a course towards a cleaner, healthier harbor for generations to come.
