In fact, there are fish in the Hudson River
Photo: Helena Kilburn
They tend to laugh when I tell them my post-college job was fishing in the Hudson.As someone who lacks a specific outdoor brand for the job, this seems like an unlikely position to me, but even less likely to people Yes Fish from the Hudson River. Many people believe that rivers cannot support life. The river itself is dead.
Starting in September 2020, my first year in New York was filled with the then-popular “New York is dead” narrative. For those outside the city, it is unimaginable that culture can recover from the impact of COVID.
In the early days of the pandemic, with empty streets and closed businesses, I could see that could be true. But when I moved in, the story came more from the coalition of New York residents leaving the city, if they had the means to do so. The voices of this group seem to be loud, and their declaration that New York is over has entered the minds of those who have not experienced it firsthand.
My friends and I would walk through Washington Square Park, noting the irony in this story. With skateboarders racing around us, groups of friends chatting on blankets, and the din of musicians filling the air, it’s hard to take it seriously.
It was during this time that I started working as an environmental educator at Hudson River Park, where fishing is part of my job. This is my first job in the field since graduating from college last summer – I did it in the living room of my childhood home as I left the college campus in March 2020 to live with my parents.
I vividly remember driving from college in Tennessee to my parents’ house in Massachusetts, crying when I saw the New York skyline, worrying about my dream of moving to the city, the only place I’d really be comfortable, never really of.
Four months later, my two best friends and I moved into an apartment on Blick Street. Still in the middle of the pandemic, we created a social pod, bought takeout drinks, and I got a job in Hudson River Park.
The Hudson River, as the Lenape people call it muhkantak, notorious. New Yorkers and tourists alike see it as mostly filthy to the point of danger, and a dumping ground for corpses in mob movies.
This reputation is not without foundation. With industrialization, this historic trade route fell prey to excessive waste and chemical dumping. If you Google the Hudson, one of the first suggested results is “The Hudson is the dirtiest river.”
However, one of the results of other suggestions was “Is the Hudson clean enough to swim in” and the answer is that on most days, Yes.
With the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972, the river began to turn. As the mass dumping campaign draws to a close, the tides circulate the water, and as these mollusks filter the water, there is a growing focus on rebuilding the river’s oyster colonies; each removing pollutants from the river at a rate of 50 gallons per day. Individually, the animals won’t make much of a difference, but as their populations return to the millions, these communities are helping make the Hudson a home for creatures like 10-foot sturgeon, eels, and even seahorses. The hospitality ecosystem makes a huge contribution. Under the guidance of the New York State Department of Health, many fish populations are abundant, some of which are healthy enough to be caught and eaten by the city’s residents. With time, tides and oysters, the river has returned to an extraordinary state of health.
As for New York, there has been an undeniably tragic loss in our dear city. But just as the river has its tides, New York has its social distancing protocols, and just as the river has its oyster communities, New Yorkers come together, get vaccinated, and work to help their city recover.
During these turbulent times, I moved to my favorite place to work in a downtown park.I see the surprise on the faces of the students as they study because they don’t need to wear masks due to working outdoors how many lives in the river where they lived all their lives. And, best of all, I saw New York come back to life as I stood by the Hudson.
Helena Kilburn is a graduate student at Columbia University Master of Sustainability Management program.
