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While for most, the warm days earlier this week probably brought thoughts of sunny spring days spent at the beach or the park, but for us here at the Littoral Society, the warm days brought thoughts of one thing: river herring. River herring migrate into freshwater to spawn in early spring, with the start of their migration triggered by warming ocean temperatures. In anticipation of the herring run into Wreck Pond, we spent the past week installing antennas in the watershed. These antennas are used to track the movement of river herring previously tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. Like a fish EZpass, when a tagged fish swims through or past an antenna, its tag number is registered on a computer along with the date and time. Our tagging work has already provided some interesting information on the alewives spawning in Wreck Pond: data indicate spawning alewives spend about 20-30 days in Wreck Pond, and are most active at night. In addition, two fish (Samantha and Bonnie) have been recorded spawning in Wreck Pond in multiple years. Next week we will be starting our fish sampling. Using a fyke net, we hope to capture adult river herring migrating into Wreck Pond to spawn. We also record information on all other species we catch. If you have an interest in helping to sample, contact Zack at Zack@littoralsociety.org. Stay tuned the next several weeks for more updates on this year’s monitoring.    
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Earlier this month we held a luncheon for our citizen scientists to thank them for all the hard work they had done the previous year. During the lunch, Society staff updated the attendees on the status of the Wreck Pond work and how the data collected in the citizen science program is helping to improve our understanding of Wreck Pond and our restoration work. Delicious sandwiches were provided by Bing’s Beach House Deli in Avon. In addition to the bird and site monitoring, we plan to expand the program this year to include plant monitoring and trail cam surveys. If you have interest in becoming a citizen scientist, please contact Julie at Julie@littoralsociety.org.    |
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April 2018
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