Volunteers Needed For Counting Plymouth Herring

Plymouth has reported today that they are seeking volunteers to count river herring. This was reported on after the Town of Plymouth stated that volunteer efforts are needed to donate their time to help count river herring while they climb the fish ladder on Town Brook which leads to Jenney Pond during the anticipated annual migration from saltwater to freshwater.

The average time for counting the herring is estimated to take approximately ten minutes per day, which is expected to make the counting quick and efficient, specifically if the volunteer elects to do more than one count.

“It’s not real difficult” a natural resources warden at Plymouth’s Department of Marine and Environmental Affairs center Nate Cristofori told Wicked Local News. “You just need to count. It’s a good idea to bring a counter with you, either handheld or a phone app, because there can be a lot of them. At peak, there can be 300 or 400 herring passing through at a time”.

The migration, which occurs annually, will start later on this month and Plymouth will keep track of the fish migration throughout its duration. There are also time options for counters from three distinct time periods: 7-11am, 11-3pm, or 3-7pm. When a person asks to count for more than one day, they are requested to stick to the same time for consistency purposes, which aides in a more accurate data gathering.

The counting periods starts on March 29th and lasts for a duration of 12 weeks. Both Plymouth and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries share the yearly spawning number through collaboration between town and state efforts.

Similar efforts are also being conducted in other Cape Cod towns such as Mashpee, which sought volunteers to do the same back in Spring 2020. The town of Mashpee has led efforts to include the two river herring species, alewives and bluebacks, on an endangered species list.

The North and South Rivers Watershed Associations has been seeking volunteers for the same purpose since at least Spring 2014. A great effort on the part of the towns and the state to bring back those numbers to pre-1990s levels when the population of the herring started declining steeply.

Sources used:

Volunteers wanted: Count herring as they migrate along Town Brook (wickedlocal.com)

Volunteers Sought To Count Herring, The Depleted Harbingers Of Spring | Mashpee News | capenews.net

Volunteers needed for annual herring count - News - The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA - Quincy, MA