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River Herring Tagging Program
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04/15/07 |
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I received the below from
Chris Weiner of CHOIR this morning. It is a worthy
cause, and is well worth reading. |
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"Hi all!
My name is Holly and I am a graduate student working on an
MS under Dr. Martha Mather in the Wildlife and Fisheries
Conservation program, within the Department of Natural
Resources Conservation at the University of Massachusetts
Amherst. We're studying river herring restoration in coastal
Massachusetts streams as their populations have experienced
recent severe declines. River herring, the common name for
two closely related species (blueback herring and alewife),
are an important forage fish for many recreationally prized
marine and freshwater fish and are essential for the
ecological health of these systems.
While our focus is on the Ipswich River in northeastern
Massachusetts, our study will produce useful information
applicable to many rivers throughout Massachusetts.
In 2006, we radio-tagged 60 river herring, using both
stocked fish from the Nemasket River in Southeastern MA and
fish caught moving naturally upstream in the Ipswich River.
We were able to track the movements of these radio-tagged
fish by using stationary receivers located throughout the
river. In 2007, we will be tagging river herring from both
rivers again, and we wondered anyone from the Reel Time
forum (individually or as a group) would like to help us
purchase a radio-tag to improve our study. My co-worker,
Sarah Pautzke, ran the Adopt-A-Bass program last year and
mentioned that members might be interested in adopting the
forage fish for those stripers...(I can't guarantee the
herring will not be eaten by a striper!)
By purchasing a tag, you "adopt" one of the released river
herring. You can name your adopted fish, choose its river of
origin, and we will provide you with weekly updates about
where your fish has traveled within the river (we can post
on your forum and also provide updates on my website,
http://www.ipswich-riverherring.com/. In the fall once
our data collection is complete, we would be happy to come
to present information about what we learned in this study,
and to show you what your fish did in the river. Our project
this year is multi-faceted and will include examining the
behavior of spawning adults (through both telemetry and
kayaking the river looking for spawning fish...let me know
if you'd like to go kayaking with me!), gathering data on
habitat use and suitability, and determining juvenile
production.
The radio-tags can be purchased for $280. If you are
interested, please contact me soon, the Nemasket River fish
started moving upstream in early March, but cold temps have
kept the Ipswich fish from moving...Our tentative stocking
date is next Thursday, April 19 (this depends on weather and
management decisions), if anyone is interested in coming by,
let me know---the collecting site is at the Wareham St
fishway in Middleborough, MA and we stock at Salem Rd in
Topsfield, MA.
Thank you so much!
-Holly
UMass Amherst
Department of Natural Resources Conservation http://www.ipswich-riverherring.com/
" |
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