Peak muskie fishing season is upon us and Save The River would like to remind anglers to practice catch and release during muskie season.

For over 20 years Save The River has been educating and encouraging anglers to use catch and release when handling muskies to ensure the future of this unique species in the St. Lawrence River.

Save The River’s Muskie Catch and Release Program encourages catch and release by giving anglers a limited edition Michael Ringer print to commemorate their catch. All you have to do is fill out our affidavit and submit it to Save The River and we will send you your personalized print in the mail.

Tips for safe catch and release:

• Try to unhook the fish without removing it from the water
• Never hold a muskie vertically
• Put a damp towel over the fish’s head to prevent thrashing
• Take your measurements and photos quickly and carefully place the fish back in the water

The release of legal size muskies ensures a strong, naturally reproducing muskie population as well as large trophy fish for generations to come!

To learn more about this program or to notify us of your catch and release visit our website or call our office 315-686-2010.

Special thanks to Colby Bowman for submission of this great release photo taken this fall.

Clayton, NY (September 14, 2010) – Save The River’s Beach Watch Program found high bacteria levels at two of its monitoring sites this season, including Potter’s Beach that has never reported high bacteria levels before. Save The River recorded high bacteria levels at Wilson’s Beach in Cape Vincent as well, a site that has had consistently high bacteria levels in past years.

Save The River’s Beach Watch Program expanded its season with volunteers monitoring six swimming areas over a nine week period in July and August, sampling swimming areas that are not monitored by other organizations. Of the six sites sampled, four were within the state and federal standards for swimming water quality including Round Island near Clayton, Scenic View Park in Alexandria Bay, Lake of the Isles on Wellesley Island and Frink Dock in Clayton.

Monitoring at Potter’s Beach on Grindstone Island found bacteria levels above the accepted standard for swimming water quality on three dates in 2010 including: July 19th, August 9th, and August 16th. This is the first time high bacteria levels have been reported at Potter’s Beach. Save The River is currently working with partners and local landowners to investigate possible causes and will be increasing water sampling at this site during next year’s swimming season.

Save The River continued increased sampling at Wilson’s Beach this season to closely monitor the bacteria levels at this site. Wilson Beach bacteria levels spiked above the state standard for testing on four dates, August 2nd, August 26th, August 23rd and August 30th.

Save The River believes Wilson’s Beach is experiencing high bacteria levels due to the presence of thick mats of Cladophora. Cladophora is a native type of green fibrous algae which can harbor harmful bacteria causing beaches to fail the one time testing parameter for swimming water quality. The reason for high bacteria levels at Potter’s Beach is currently undetermined. Save The River will increase sampling at Potter’s Beach to monitor water quality in greater detail next season and work with partners to examine potential causes of pollution at the beach.

All samples are taken by Save The River volunteers and analyzed by Converse Laboratories in Watertown, a state certified testing facility. Samples collected each week are tested for Enterococci, a bacteria. High levels of bacteria can cause health problems such as rashes and gastrointestinal illness, and are most dangerous for the very old, very young, or anyone with a compromised immune system.

Save The River’s Beach Watch Program has been monitoring swimming water quality in the Thousand Islands since 1999. Check our website for detailed results for the entire season and for more information on the program. To sponsor or volunteer for this program, call Save The River at 315-686-2010.

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For more information, contact:

Jennifer Caddick, Save The River Executive Director

E-mail: jennifer@savetheriver.org / Phone: (315) 686-2010 / Cell: (315) 767-2802

Save The River extended the sampling season to nine weeks for the 2010 Beach Watch Program, collecting more samples and capturing a larger snapshot of swimming water quality for the season. Sampling dates for 2010 were: July 6, July 12, July 19, July 26 and August 2, August 9, August 16, August 23 and August 30. Sites sampled include: Wilson’s Beach in Cape Vincent, Potter’s Beach on Grindstone Island, Frink Dock in Clayton, Round Island near Clayton, Lake of the Isles on Wellesley Island and Scenic View Park in Alexandria Bay.

Save The River continued increased sampling at Wilson’s Beach in Cape Vincent as a result of consistently high bacteria levels in prior years. Bacteria levels spiked above the New York State standard for swimming water quality at Wilson’s Beach on four dates in 2010 including: August 2, August 16th, August 23rd and August 30th.

Sampling at Potter’s Beach on Grindstone Island also found bacteria levels above the accepted standard for swimming water quality on three dates in 2010 including: July 19th, August 9th and August 16th. This is the first reported high bacteria levels for this site since the beginning of the Beach Watch Program.

The remaining four beaches – Round Island near Clayton, Scenic View Park in Alexandria Bay, Lake of the Isles on Wellesley Island and Frink Dock in Clayton – were within the state and federal standards for swimming water quality .

Why are sites having high bacteria levels?

Save The River believes Wilson’s Beach is experiencing high bacteria levels due to the presence of thick mats of Cladophora. Cladophora is a native type of green fibrous algae which can harbor harmful bacteria causing beaches to fail the one time testing parameter for swimming water quality. (Visit this post for more information on this issue.)

The cause of high bacteria levels at Potter’s Beach is currently unknown. Save The River will work with partners and local landowners to determine a possible cause to increased bacteria levels at Potter’s Beach and will increase sampling at this site next season to monitor bacteria levels in greater detail.

Read our 2010 Beach Watch Fact Sheet, which includes a detailed listing of sampling results for the season.

For more information or questions, call Save The River at (315) 686-2010.

Special thanks to this year’s Beach Watch Volunteers. Their efforts this year helped to extend our program from 5 weeks to 9 weeks, allowing us to monitor throughout the prime swimming season.

Maria Purcell – Potter’s Beach, Clayton

Julie & Paige Durdon – Potter’s Beach, Clayton

Dick Withington – Round Island, Clayton

Kira Clark – Scenic View Park, Alexandria Bay

Ron & Jean Daly – Lake of the Isles, Wellesley Island

Curtis Buker – Wilson Beach, Cape Vincent and Frink Dock, Clayton

Our volunteers take grab samples each week from the above listed sites for the Beach Watch Program. Samples are taken early every Monday morning for nine weeks and our volunteers head out early to make sure the samples are collected in time to be sent to Watertown for analysis.

To learn more about our sampling parameters and to read about this year’s results visit our Beach Watch page.

The photo to the right is Paige Durdon, who is a 7th grader at Thousand Islands Middle School.

Save The River has received the test results from Week 9 (August 30) for the Beach Watch Monitoring program. One sample site, Wilson Beach in Cape Vincent, “failed” this week. All other beaches sampled “passed.”

Week 9 Results (8-30-10)

Wilson Beach: FAILED

Potter’s Beach: PASS

Frink Dock: PASS

Round Island: PASS

Lake of the Isles: PASS

Scenic View Park: PASS

Why Did Wilson Beach “Fail” This Week?

Save The River believes Wilson Beach is experiencing a scenario where unsafe bacteria levels are linked to the presence of thick mats of Cladophora, a native type of green algae that harbors harmful bacteria. This algae is often found washed onto the shore of this site. To read more about this issue and how other Lakes within the Great Lakes are affected by this visit our blog.

About Beach Watch

The program provides a snapshot of water quality at popular swimming areas which are not monitored by other groups during peak recreational swimming season. Our goal is to ascertain whether there is a health risk to swimmers from Enterococci in the water. Enterococci is a bacteria found in warm-blooded animals, including humans, which is closely linked to human health concerns.

There are many potential sources for Enterococci bacteria in swimming areas, including: improper sewage disposal, agricultural run-off, animal waste and various other environmental factors.

Although the results cannot be used to conclusively say that a location is safe for swimming, Save The River advises beach goers to practice safe swimming habits to reduce the likelihood of acquiring a bacteria related illness, such as rashes or gastrointestinal illness. A few simple steps should be followed: choose swimming sites with good water circulation, never swallow swimming water and wash hands after swimming and before eating. If you are very young, very old or have a compromised immune system you are more susceptible to acquiring bacteria related illnesses.

Questions?

If you have any questions, concerns or would like more information on our Beach Watch program, please stop by the office or call, 315-686-2010.