CRISP Community Champions

Written by: Meredith Taylor, NYC Department of Environmental Protection Invasive Species and Restoration Supervisor

Russ & Nancy Falkena

On July 5, 2024, Russ and Nancy Falkena noticed their lines were getting fouled up with something. Mr. Falkena reported, “It was actually jamming up your fishing line. They plugged the eyelets and you couldn’t reel in a fish if you had one. You had to clean your line off every twenty minutes.”

As a member of regional Facebook groups, Mr. Falkena had seen posts, along with articles in the NYC DEP Recreation Newsletter that made him suspect that this issue might be an invasive species and he knew he had better report it. He was able to connect with DEP Aquatic Ecologist, Michael Spada and send in photos. Mr. Falkena said “Since there are various types, I sent him pictures. I took close-up pictures with my phone camera.” When the photos raised red flags, Mr. Falkena brought DEP samples that were used to confirm that they were fishhook waterflea (Cercopagis pengoi).

When he received the confirmation, Mr. Falkena also wanted to be sure that other anglers were aware of the situation. He and Nancy have been fishing on Pepacton for about three years and they had learned a lot from the Facebook groups. He wanted to give information back to these same groups to increase their awareness. He hopes that other anglers will stay alert and take extra precautions to prevent this invasive species from spreading and he wants to see others to help spread the word on social media too.

Michael Spada Aquatic Ecologist

NYC DEP

The observations of anglers, other recreational users, and the public are extremely valuable. DEP cannot be everywhere, so they rely on the public to help them be their eyes and ears and report any suspicious or out of the ordinary observations. Having information such as this may allow DEP time to implement strategies to preserve our shared resources and help protect the water supply.