Coming Soon: Herring!
Any time now the herring will start to appear in the rivers, completing their journey to freshwater lakes and ponds to spawn. Herring start running once the water reaches approximately 50F and with the mild winter we are having that should be sooner than usual. Herring are anadromous fish, meaning they spawn and grow in freshwater and then migrate to oceans where they spend most of their adult lives. Typically they migrate to freshwater beginning in April and then start returning to the ocean at the end of the summer. There are two types of herring: alewife and blueback herring. They feed on plankton and in turn are prey to osprey, humans, and commercially important fish such as striped bass.
The Herring Run on the Mashpee River.
Herring populations have faced a dramatic decline due to overfishing, water pollution, and barriers to migration. Since the 1700s some type of herring management has been occuring on the Cape, and in 2005 Massachusetts set a moratorium on herring fishing that prohibits all but the Wampanoag tribe from catching herring. This ban still continues today. In order to improve the chances of herring making it to freshwater, the rivers are cleared of branch dams and other obstructions each year with the help of the Wampanoag Tribe and AmeriCorps Cape Cod. Once the herring begin to make their runs volunteers, coordinated through the Mashpee Land Stewards with the help of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, count the number of herring that pass a specific mark in 10 minute intervals. This data is then used to analayze if the herring populations are improving or not. If you would like to help monitor fill out the volunteer sign up form on our main page.
A typical herring.