On patrol: Westbound on the Mohawk

We left Waterford westbound Saturday morning, Oct. 17, moving through the Erie Canal locks into the Mohawk. Young-of-the-year herring, starting their migration to the Atlantic, are stunned by the lock’s plumbing, and getting picked off by gulls.

Along the Mohawk River we met our partners from SUNY Cobleskill and took water samples, testing for the fecal-indicating bacteria enterococcus, as we have done monthly since July. Students Heather Baker and Angela Zhu were aboard helping – terrific. We sampled west to Amsterdam. Professor Barbara Brabetz and students sampled east from Rome by land.

(Read about the project in this great article on the SUNY website: Studying the Cleanliness of the Mohawk River.)

On Sunday we continued westbound from Fonda – trying to make Rome. It was cold overnight with frost on deck at dawn.

A beautiful morning on a beautiful River.

Approaching Utica Sunday afternoon – snow.