Photos from friends of river herring and shad

Summer is officially here and although some rivers may still see a few river herring and shad swimming upstream, for the most part their annual migration has come to an end. Anecdotal reports from around New England indicate that some herring runs had higher counts than in the last few years, but others are still struggling and all remain well below historic numbers. Counters, lifters and rescue efforts were featured in various news articles, and we applaud their work!

Thank you for sharing your photos and tales of river herring and shad runs over the last few months. If you haven’t been in touch yet, let us know in the comments here what happened in your neck of the woods…or river.

mussina_river herring

David Mussina submitted this great photo of two river herring netted at the old Mystic Lakes dam during a river herring bucket brigade at the Lower Mystic Lake in Massachusetts. They were swiftly transported to the Upper Mystic Lake. He asks: “These fish look to me like bluebacks. What do you think?”



mcwha_herring_in_net

mcwha

Bill McWha sent in photos from another river herring lift: the second year of helping river herring over the Main St. dam in Wakefield, Rhode Island. This year, volunteers netted and lifted 7,757 herring, 1,250 of which were trucked to other river systems by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.



brennsel_herring

Barbara Brennsel from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, sent in a shot of lively river herring from the Bournedale run on Cape Cod. These fish were trapped in a section of the run that did not allow access to their spawning pond. Luckily, the Bourne Department of Natural Resources netted and moved them to where they needed to go. Barbara is working on a book called “The Alewives’ Tale” which we look forward to seeing next year!

 

emerson_shad

Clay Emerson took this photo of a “beautiful female American shad on her way up the Delaware River.” He is an avid catch and release fisherman and says “shad are by far the most intriguing fish I've ever met. Every year I look forward to their arrival in hopes of meeting a few face-to-face.”

Thanks everyone!

 

3 Response(s)
Mystic MyRWA
on July 07, 2011

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Check out this video of blueback herring in the Upper Mystic Lake! http://www.youtube.com/user/My...7MzU7c5-ec
Paul Lauenstein
on July 07, 2011

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These are wonderful photos. They remind me of when I was a boy 50 years ago, and visited a herring run. I remember putting my hand in the water, and feeling the herring brushing by. The precipitous drop in the herring population is heartbreaking.
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