River herring return to Weymouth in droves 4-26-18
River herring return to Weymouth in droves
Wicked Local Weymouth
By Ed Baker
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Posted Apr 25, 2018 at 3:13 PM
Updated May 1, 2018 at 11:11 AM
The first wave of the river herring have migrated from the ocean through the Back River to spawn at Whitman' s Pond, but it is anybody's guess when the main body of alewives will be swimming upstream, according to George Loring, Weymouth Herring Warden.
Traffic in the Weymouth Herring Run is backing up as the alewives migrate from the ocean through the Back River to Whitman's Pond.
"There is probably up to 50,000 in the pond right now and about 100,000 waiting to go," said George Loring Weymouth Herring Warden.
Loring previously said the first wave of river herring began migrating to the pond a little more than a week ago, but activity in the channel quieted down until a few days ago.
"They are coming up ragtime now," he said.
The river herring is a small silvery fish that migrates from the ocean to Whitman's every spring to mate and lay eggs before they return to the sea a few months later.
Loring said the main body of alewives generally returns by April 23 depending on the water temperature. .
"They could wait until May," he said."But with these warmer temperatures the water is getting warmer every day."
Last year, the alewives arrived in the channel early April by the thousands, according to Loring.
He said alewives prefer water temperatures between 56 and 60 degrees to migrate to Whitman's.
"It the water is too cold they don't like it and if it is too warm they don't like it," he said.
The river herring's journey through the Back River makes them vulnerable to birds of prey that include king fishers, black crowned night heron, osprey and seagulls.
"The night heron and seagulls especially want the herring," Loring said.
Loring said seals also enjoy feasting on river herring.
"I saw seals the day before yesterday in Hull and I'm sure they are feasting on herring," he said.
Loring said river herring are also desirable food for tuna fish and sharks.
"We have been averaging about 250,000 herring coming up the channel during the last five or six year," he said.
Loring said the alewives that have arrived at Whitman's will likely swim back out to the ocean in mid-May while the main body of river herring is swimming upstream.
"There usually is a traffic jam," he said. "It gets tough."
Loring said the alewives journey to Whitman's and back to the ocean has been made easier by a recent cleanup of the channel by 60 volunteers.
"They did an awesome job this year," he said.
Loring said the volunteers cleared the channel of fallen branches and litter.
"The stream pretty much was clean, but we needed help with trimming branches along the bank," he said. "It was mostly sprucing work that was done. In the past, we had big pieces of junk that had to be removed."
Loring said a ban on catching river herring or possession of alewives imposed the Division of Marine Fisheries in 2005 remains in effect.
The ban was imposed because the river herring population was declining due to over-harvesting and destruction of their habitat by development.
The fish is considered a valued bait by fishermen and invaluable to the food chain, according to ecologists.
The moratorium does not restrict commercial bait fish vessels and processors from possessing river herring provided the catch occurred in federal waters and the possession of river herring by count does not exceed 5 percent of the total batch of bait fish catch.
Violators of the ban are subject to a $50 fine and various state penalties.
