According to a press release issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, on February 21st, Environmental Conservation Officer Klein found people keeping fish in an area of the Upper Hudson River considered polluted and designated for catch and release only.
This includes the river section between the Federal Dam at Troy and Bakers Falls in the Village of Hudson Falls and all tributaries in this section up to the first barrier impassable by fish, such as a dam or waterfall.
That section of the river received that designation due to historic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination in the area, making the fish unsafe for consumption. Officer Klein made his way onto the ice and noticed two people fishing. The ECO approached the anglers, asked to see what they had in their buckets, and discovered a total of 131 panfish.
The ECOs ticketed the anglers for keeping fish in the catch-and-release section of the Hudson River, returned the living fish to the water, and seized the rest as evidence.
Photo of seized panfish courtesy DEC.
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