Heckofa Lotta Herring

This time of year, migrating fish make their way from the ocean to the freshwater rivers where they spawn. The numbers of one migrating fish, called the alewife, are higher than they’ve been in years.

Migrating fish have had to put up with a lot. Centuries ago, the early industrialists put up dams that blocked the migrations. Water pollution didn’t help. And development and water use have sometimes dried up streams. In the mid-1980s, the number of alewives and other river herring dropped dramatically and they’ve been low ever since. But this year, the alewife run is very strong. For example, at Bride Brook in East Lyme there are 160,000 fish, more than double than last year. Fisheries biologist Steve Gephard of the state Department of Environmental Protection says new fish passage is probably helping at Bride Brook and other places. But he says, it’s not clear why the numbers are also quite high up and down the east coast

"It’s really hard to speculate at this point why the runs are so much better this year in 2010. Furthermore, one year does not a recovery make. We are thrilled with these new numbers and we’re keeping our fingers crossed. But what will really be telling is what happens next year.”

This year there have been so many alewives, some streams are turning black with migrating fish. The numbers of blue back herring, which are just starting to migrate, have also been quite high.

For WNPR, I'm Nancy Cohen.