MRRI scientists worked with Pratt Institute’s Master of Landscape Architecture students to prepare for upcoming field work by building experimental floating wetlands and eel mops.
The eel mops will be used this winter and early spring to survey grass eels migrating from the Sargasso Sea up the Hackensack River. The eel mops mimic suitable habitat for the glass eels, providing a safe haven from the open waters. After deploying the eel mops in certain spots along the river, MRRI scientist will check them once a week to try to estimate the number of glass eels migrating up the river.
To build the floating islands, MRRI scientists and Pratt students first collected last year’s growth of Phragmites australis to create thatch matting to be used in the floating islands as a planting medium. The thatch was used to create matting and then placed into plastic tubing filled with discard plastic bottles, which was then all wrapped in coconut fiber matting. The islands will be planted in the spring and placed around the Meadowlands to create substrate for birds and fish to use.
