April 25, 2012 – Forget the recent headlines suggesting that there is no decline in the numbers of alewives, the precious little forage fish that, along with its lookalike blueback herring cousin, underpins the marine food pyramid.
Alewives swarming up local rivers to spawn in recent weeks have inspired talk that the fish are as plentiful as in the past, but the runs are deceptive. To the contrary, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is investigating whether to afford protection to the alewife and blueback herring, together called river herring, under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). A determination on whether to propose classification of the fish as ‘threatened” under the act may be made as early as this autumn.
“There is no evidence yet that there is a better alewife run than normal,” says Steve Gephard, veteran fisheries biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEEP).
Low water has made fish more evident and warm weather not only triggered the run almost a month early but probably brought more people to waterside to see the fish as they moved up from the sea. An accurate assessment of the alewife run cannot be made until another month or more passes, says Gephard, who also notes that blueback herring begin spawning runs in May. Low water, due to lack of rain, may impede upstream traffic of the river herring, says Gephard. Beaver are building dams to raise water levels, creating another potential barrier, he adds.
Read the full story at Ellington-Somers, CT Patch.