Great Hudson River Fish Count set for August 10

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — On Thursday, New York's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced the Great Hudson River Fish Count. It's happening on Saturday, August 10 from the Five Boroughs to the northernmost tip of Albany County and everywhere in between.

You and your family can count fish for free at any location below:

• Peebles Island State Park
  • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Cohoes, under the Second Street bridge by the river

• Brooklyn Bridge Park
  • 10 a.m. to noon
  • Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Pier 4 Beach

• Norrie Point Environmental Center
  • 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
  • Staatsburg, DEC Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve and Hudson River Estuary Program

• Little Stony Point Beach in Hudson Highlands State Park
  • 10 a.m.
  • Cold Spring, DEC Hudson River Estuary Program, meet on the beach

• Schodack Island State Park
  • 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Schodack Landing, River Haggie Outdoors/Rensselaer Plateau Alliance
  • Register online

• Piermont Pier, Hudson River Field Station
  • 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Piermont, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

• Center for the Urban River at Beczak
  • 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Yonkers, 35 Alexander Street

• Croton Point Park, Mother’s Lap Beach
  • 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
  • Croton-on-Hudson, Westchester County Parks, Recreation & Conservation

“The Hudson River Estuary is an amazing and critical habitat for many fish species, and this annual event provides a great opportunity for New York families and visitors to get outside and see first-hand how unique the river is to the life cycle of so many fish,” said the DEC's Interim Commissioner, Sean Mahar. “With sites from New York Harbor to Cohoes, there are many places for young and old alike to participate in this year’s event and learn about DEC’s wide-ranging conservation efforts to protect and restore the Hudson River.”

The Hudson River—whose currents are freshwater or saltwater depending on where you are along the river—houses over 200 fish species. Participants catch them with minnow traps, rods and reels, or seine nets—30-foot nets pulled through the water. If you don't want to collect fish, you can still watch from the shore. After being examined up closed, the fish are supposed to be released.

Counting the fish in their natural Hudson River habitats gives the DEC and other environmentalists a better understanding of the ecosystem. They want participants to tag social media posts with @NYSDEC and #hudsonriverfishcount.

Related video: 220-pound fish caught in Hudson River: