This episode of Radia comes from the folks at Free 103.9, NY and was produced by Sam Sebren.
Sam Sebren and Liz LoGiudice bring you a glimpse into the transmission of Anguilla rostrata, aka the American eel; by tracing the eel’s story from the Hudson River to the Caribbean, sometimes by way of Europe and the Pacific. Sebren and LoGiudice look at the American Eel Project’s Hudson River Estuary Program. Teams of scientists, students, and over 200 community volunteers monitor and count glass eels at 12 HREP sample stream locations along the Hudson River in New York State in the United States.
Each year, glass eels – the tiny, transparent young fish – navigate the Atlantic Ocean all the way from the Sargasso Sea to the rivers along the East Coast. Every March and April, these young fish migrate into the rivers and freshwater streams, where they mature for 20 years or more before returning to the Sargasso Sea to mate and die. This episode of “Radia” tracks their progress in the Hudson River, and around the world. The entire show serves as a metaphor for the “Radia” stations and weekly transmission.
Liz LoGiudice is an environmental educator and eel devotee who helps to coordinate the Hudson River Eel Project in Greene County. Sam Sebren is a volunteer citizen scientist for the HREP American Eel Research project, and a multidisciplinary artist who began his career in the East Village New York arts scene in the 1980s. Sebren uses the medium of radio to activate dialogue around ecological and social justice issues impacting New York’s upper Hudson Valley. LoGiudice and Sebren collected and edited audio from various eel experts and volunteers of all ages at various locations during the 2012 eel counting season.
