​After a cold start to our Spring sampling season (Wreck Pond was literally frozen), Sampling Event #3 certainly turned the tides. Our fyke net was set up in the evening of 4/3/19. A strong full moon and blow out tide made for calm, low water conditions in Wreck Pond. With warming air temperatures, water temperatures, and diving northern gannets out at sea, the team felt optimistic towards what they would find in the days to come.

​On the morning of 4/4/19, the sampling team was thrilled to find eleven fish in the net, five of which being alewife river herring. The following morning, an additional thirteen alewife were discovered. In total, 24 alewife were captured during Sampling Event #3, 21 of which being successfully tagged. All seemed to have high levels of energy and were of a healthy size.

With temperatures dropping and all 2018 sampling complete, the Wreck Pond restoration team is now inundated with data entry. Months of data collected during the spring and fall fish sampling assessments is being entered and analyzed to see how the seasons compare to previous years. Overall, the 2018 fish sampling seasons proved to be historic. We tagged the highest amount of adult herring since 2006 and caught the largest run of juvenile herring to date. Wreck Pond monitoring is currently funded through 2021. To keep this exciting work going, the team continues to pursue additional funding to extend monitoring for years to come.

This time of year also brings the closing of the 2018 Citizen Science Monitoring season. This year the dedicated volunteers conducted 112 water monitoring assessments and 34 bird monitoring assessments totaling 280 volunteer hours. The data collected has further improved the wreck pond database helping to better identify the improving tidal range, increasing salinity further upstream, Atlantic Ocean - Wreck Pond tidal delay, and seasonal bird species arrival and departure to Wreck Pond. The restoration team is always looking to engage new community members to the program. In 2019, the Wall High School Environmental Club will be assisting with conducting monitoring assessments as well. A few elite citizen scientists also participated in 96 spring fish sampling assessments and 32 fall fish sampling assessments totaling an additional 128 volunteer hours. 

Wreck Pond has had its fare share of excitement in the past month. From flash flooding at the end of August, to some wild finds in the past couple weeks in the seine net. 

On August 20, the Spring Lake area was hit with a rain storm that released a substantial amount of rain in a short period of time. The fish passage culvert was still closed for the beach season, so due to the heavy amount of rain and the restricted ability for the pond to drain, surrounding residents experienced several flooded roads. In response to the rising water, the fish passage culvert was opened and a trench was dug from the eastern Sea Girt side of the pond to the ocean to release the excess water. 

The Wreck Pond team is nearing the last month of their Fall fish sampling season. Each Thursday, the team pulls the 100 foot purse seine net in hopes of capturing juvenile river herring. Although herring haven't been caught since July, there have been plenty of surprises found since. Fun finds the team has caught include: northern puffer fish, Atlantic needle fish, pipe fish, northern king fish, a baby squid, and a commone seahorse (smaller images below).