NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2002 -- The Bronx River is thriving biologically and is a breeding ground and nursery for over a dozen species of fish and other aquatic organisms, from shrimp and horseshoe crabs to flounders and striped bass.
That's the conclusion of an ongoing study (coordinated by Barbara Warkentine, Ph.D., Professor of Biology) of the river's estuary, which runs along a highly industrialized section for two miles north of its mouth at Hunts Point.
Despite the tires and car parts found along its shore and in its channel, the study has found that the river is home to a surprisingly diverse fauna, including blue crabs, killifish and silversides that migrate into and out of the waterway. This summer, the study discovered the presence of two fish species, the naked goby and the seaboard goby, not seen before in the river, which they reported to the State Museum at Albany for its official records.
Assisting Dr. Warkentine, an aquatic biologist and coordinator of the Marine Environmental Science Program at SUNY Maritime College, is Dr. Joseph Rachlin, director of Lehman College's Laboratory for Marine and Estuarine Research (La MER), and Dr. Antonios Pappantoniou, also of Lehman's Department of Biological Sciences. The collaborative relationship has made SUNY Maritime College and Lehman College the lead entities in studying the Bronx River.
According to Dr. Warkentine, the quality of a river's water can be judged by the diversity and sensitivity of the species that live there. "Because sea anemones and oysters are sensitive species, they are classified as 'indicator species' of water quality. Both of these species currently inhabit the Bronx River's estuarine section - an indicator of the high quality of its water despite the years of neglect and dumping that have made its shoreline relatively unsightly."
The river's estuary, which extends north to River Park at 181st Street, is a tidal area where salt water is gradually diluted by freshwater. The 23-mile river runs through the center of the Bronx and southern Westchester, ending at the Kensico Dam just above White Plains.
Dr. Warkentine adds that, in terms of water quality, the river is safe for boating and even wading, although care has to be taken to avoid sharp pieces of metal that litter the bottom. The team has spoken with community residents who regularly catch - and apparently safely consume - bass, flounder, blue crabs and other migratory species, but know to avoid oysters and other shellfish which live on the river's floor and may contain contaminants.
The river is also home to shore birds, such as egrets, cormorants, blue herons, swans, ibis, mallards and a variety of gulls.
To conduct the study, Dr. Warkentine and the team use SUNY Maritime's 46-foot-long research vessel. On August 9th, while on one of their regular sampling runs, they observed a dinoflagellate bloom in the vicinity of Lafayette Avenue, which turned the river the color of red wine.
Blooms of these microorganisms often temporarily lower the water's oxygen levels, creating stress for both migrating and resident fish. This phenomenon is frequently associated with fish kills, but to date this has not occurred in the Bronx River. By August 14th, the condition appeared to be abating.
Despite such occasional events, the scientists agree that the river is ready for a major clean-up and restoration so it can be used by the community as a valuable recreational resource.
Congressman Jose Serrano, whose district includes the river's estuary, has worked in conjunction with Governor George Pataki to successfully secure funds from the federal government to support grants for restoration and educational studies of this body of water.
The study is currently in the second year of funding from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through a NOAA/PFP/CPF grant and are awaiting word on an additional two-year funding proposal submitted to NOAA and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WSC). With the additional funding, they will increase their focus to include more of the estuary as well as the freshwater sections of the Bronx River, running through the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo.
The team has been studying the fish and invertebrates of the river since 1999, when they began in the freshwater sections, which had been previously surveyed in 1997 and 1998 by New York City's Department of Environmental Conservation. In 2000, with the NOAA funding, they became the first to focus their attention on the estuarine portions.
Prime data and representative species the study has collected from the river include: winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus); weakfish (Cynoscion regalis); striped bass (Morone saxatilis); bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchelli); menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus); snapper bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix); silverside (Menidia menidia); killifish (Mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus); striped killifish (Fundulus majalis); butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus), naked goby (Gobiosoma bosci), seaboard goby (Gobiosoma ginsburgi); northern pipefish (Syngnathus fuscus); blue crab (Calinectes sapidus); horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus; shore shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio); sand shrimp (Crangon septempsinosa); ribbed mussels (Modiolus demissus); oysters (Crassostrea virginica); soft shell clam (Mya arenaria); comb jellies (Mnemiopsis leidyi); striped sea anemone (Haliplanella luciae); and snails (Rough periwinkle, Littorina saxatilis).
