Commercial Fishing on the Hudson River w/John Mylod (Beacon, NY)

    On Thursday Mar. 21 at 7:00 pm The Beacon Sloop Club’s 2024 Lecture Series Presents, Commercial Fishing on the Hudson River w/ John Mylod, discussing the natural history of shad, herring, sturgeon, blue crabs, and the history of the Hudson River fishery.

     Albany was once known as ‘Sturgeontown’ due to the large amounts of ‘Albany Beef’ caught in the Hudson River. Shad nets and fishing weirs were once a sign of spring. At the time of the first European’s arrival the river was teeming with fish, sustaining a native population with its bounty.

     In the 18^th and 19^th century commercial fishing provided employment to a large number of fishermen both on the New York and New Jersey sides of the Hudson River.

In the 20^th century fish populations declined due to pollution and overfishing, much of it offshore, and commercial fishing all but disappeared.

     John Mylod, one of the last commercial fishermen on the Hudson River, served 15 years as the executive director of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. He is a writer and environmentalist.  An expert on all things related to the Hudson River, John often consults on films focusing on the river and serves as an expert resource for media outlets including radio and print press. He currently sits on the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Management Advisory Committee.

     Free, Beacon Sloop Club, 2 Red Flynn Dr., Beacon, NY. For more information: www.beaconsloopclub.org (845) 463-4660, (914) 879-1082