Each spring, millions of river herring migrate into Massachusetts’ coastal waters to begin their annual migration up our coastal streams and rivers. They are returning to the place of their birth, to spawn and create a new generation of river herring. River herring populations had declined sharply in the early 2000s. As a result, in 2006, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries implemented a ban on the harvest of herring. While the harvest ban was intended to reduce one stress on these fish, they still faced a series of threats including drought, changing climate, shifts in predation, and an inability to get to their spawning grounds due to dams or non-operational fish ladders.
Herring are a crucial link in the coastal food chain, as a source of food for striped bass, bluefish, osprey, herons and other coastal species. Following the harvest ban many rivers saw increasing numbers from 2012 to 2019. Unfortunately, declining and unstable runs were seen from 2020 to 2022. In 2023 and 2024, many runs bounced back strongly, including Herring Brook in Pembroke!
To help combat these problems, the North and South Rivers Watershed Association and MassBays National Estuary Partnership seeks volunteers each year from late March through early June to count herring. The counting is done in 10-minute blocks, seven days a week, six to nine times a day, at up to five different locations. These counts will help us continue to monitor trends in our local herring population.
This year should be an interesting one for our herring counts on several fronts. Foremost will be understanding the implications of the 2024 precipitation trends. Last year we went into the spring with a lot of water. High river flows seemed to draw in high numbers of fish at places like Herring Brook and provided good conditions in the fish ladder at 1st Herring Brook. However, we went into a drought in the late summer and fall. It is not yet clear what that might have meant for out migrating fish and whether flows will rebound in time for the 2025 run. Secondly, as of January 27, 2025, the Veterans Park dam and fish ladder are gone! Construction activities are still underway there, so this year we will modify the count to watch for fish migrating up the temporary bypass channel.
All of these key data points would not be possible without the dedication of citizen scientists who participate in annual herring counts. So we call on you again this spring to be a critical part of this long-running monitoring program. Your help is needed to count herring at one of six sites throughout the watershed – it only takes ten minutes! You will choose one of three four-hour timeblocks (7am-11am, 11am-3pm, and 3pm-7pm) and count any ten minutes within those four hours. You can sign up for multiple times and multiple sites according to your schedule. Counts start on March 24th in Pembroke and April 1st at all other locations and continue until May 31st at all locations except the South River (June 15th or slightly earlier).
Sign up to count at one or more sites here! For our past users, you’ll notice that this new scheduling system is a big improvement in that you are able to choose and manage time slots on your own.
- Herring Brook, Pembroke – Historically the highest population of herring in the watershed, it is a crucial site for tracking trends.
- South River, Marshfield – Dam removal is underway! Fish passage this spring will be through a temporary bypass channel during construction activities. This will be an exciting place to visit for fish counts and to see the river restoration progress.
- Bound Brook, North Scituate – Site of a 2017 dam removal, herring have only just started to return in small numbers.
- First Herring Brook, Scituate – With the help of a wet spring we documented the consistent presence of herring here in 2024. We hope to see that translate into even more fish in 2025.
- Third Herring Brook, Norwell/Hanover behind Hanover Crossing Macy’s – This is a challenging place to count fish. But after 3 dam removals and recent removal of 3 weirs, we still hope to have visual documentation of fish passing. Are you up for it?
Several in-person training sessions will be held for new volunteers. These will be held at multiple locations. However, the methods are generic to all sites so you can attend any training regardless of the site you have registered to count. Training sign-ups are included on the sign-up page. We will also post on-line training information as we get closer to the start of the counts.
Please join us in collecting important data that helps inform restoration in our watershed and helps us understand herring populations locally and regionally.