Herring on the run early this year

Feb 27, 2023

Middleboro and Lakeville residents don’t need robins to hop or crocuses to pop to alert them that spring is almost here.

Instead, they can listen for the splash of the season’s first herring.

Each spring, primarily from mid-March to late May, herring make their annual trek from Narragansett Bay upstream into the Nemasket River and to the Assawompset Pond complex, where they will spawn.

But even as snow swirls, their journey has already begun.

The first fish to make the trek are known, fittingly, as “scouts.’’ These fish “stick their noses into the river’’  before the onslaught a few weeks later, said David Cavanaugh, a member of the Middleboro-Lakeville Herring Fishery Commission.

This year, the “scouts’’ were observed in mid-February. “That’s the earliest we’ve seen them in recorded history,’’ said Cavanaugh.

Commission members were surprised last year, when the scouts were first observed in late February. This year, they were here early enough to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Cavanaugh attributes this to the warmer than usual weather, which results in higher water temperatures.

The peak of the migration takes place in the first two to three weeks in April. When the population is at its most robust, “you can walk across the river on their backs,’’ Cavanaugh said.

You can also see a range of wildlife looking for an easy meal, he said. “Just about anything with fur or feathers’’ will swipe them from the river. The list of predators includes osprey, bald eagles, gulls and mink. 

They also serve as “bottom feeder’’ chow for fish caught by the commercial fishing industry, another reason supporters say that keeping the population vital and healthy matters.

The herring that survive their trek wind up in the Assawompset Pond complex, where they spawn. 

The eggs hatch in the spring and the baby herring, known as fry, swim down to the river to the ocean in the summer and fall. They face challenging odds: Only one in 100 eggs survives to return as an adult herring.

The herring make their first run when they are three or four years old. Once they make their first trip, they will return each year to the same location.

Middleboro plays a crucial role in ensuring the herrings make their long journey safely. 

The town is home to the only three obstructions they face: Dams at Oliver Mill Park and Wareham Street and the Assawompset Dam. 

So Middleboro constructed fish ladders at all three sites to help them circumvent the dams in a gradual process.

Besides serving as a needed bypass for the fish, these locations provide residents a viewing site for the herring’s run.

These herring can attract a crowd, said commission member Thomas Barron. “This is one of the biggest tourist attractions’’ in town, he said.

He often sees grandparents who visited as a child bring their grandchildren for a multi-generational experience. 

The historical element adds to its appeal, commission said. “It’s been happening for 10,000 years,’’ he said. 

And it only happens one season per year, which qualifies the fish as a harbinger of a welcome season.

“Spring has come,’’ Barron said, “once you’ve seen them.’’