creel survey

Rocking the Boat has been conducting creel surveys for several years. A creel is similar to a large fanny pack used by fisherman to keep the fish that have caught that day. The survey comes from when the game warden would survey the fish in people’s creel to make sure they were not violating any rules or laws about the fish they caught. Creel survey is the task of identifying and measuring fish. Interviewing fisher men along our river and measuring the fish they caught helps to gives us an idea of what type of fish can be found in the river. Another purpose of the creel survey is to gain an estimate amount of fishing going on in the Bronx River Estuary, and to understand who is involved in recreational fishing. Information that is gathered is sent to Professor Joseph Rachlin of Lehman College of the City University of New York's Laboratory for Marine and Estuarine research, (LaMER). Professor Joseph Rachlin takes all this information and creates a baseline about the river’s marine population. A baseline is an essential understanding to determine what projects we will have in our future.