MIDDLEBORO — The herring didn’t know it as they were scooped into nets from the Nemasket River last week.

But they’re helping their Ocean State counterparts climb the ladder toward a healthier population. 

Staff members from the Rhode Island Department of Fish and Wildlife netted nearly 1,300 of the fish out of Herring Park in Middleboro Monday April 24 and Wednesday April 26. They were then placed in a in a tank of oxygenated water atop a truck to be transported to the Ten Mile River in Rhode Island.

The goal is to transfer some of the “healthy, sustainable’’ population in Middleboro to bolster the Narragansett Bay watershed herring population, said Pat McGee, a biologist with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Division of Fish and Wildlife. 

For the past 10 to 15 years, Rhode Island wildlife officials have been making efforts to restore a healthy herring population. Efforts such as removing dams and creating fish runs within the Rhode Island waterway system help the fish travel safely to the Narragansett Bay and back, McGee said.

“We have a very viable and sustainable run, so it's easy to use our run for restocking,’’ said Middleboro-Lakeville Herring Fisheries Commission member David Cavanaugh. “We like to keep the fish within the Taunton River/Narraganset Bay system.’’

By adding some of the existing Middleboro population to Rhode Island, “we give them a head start,’’ McGee said.