March 21, 2018

Underneath the Wreck Pond Railroad Bridge, the orange buoy is out of the water. This past Monday (3/19), the Society wrapped up its second Wreck Pond sampling event of the year. Unlike our previous sampling event earlier in the month, no river herring were caught. Further, only a couple fishes were caught throughout the event: five white suckers were caught Saturday morning (3/17), and two white perch were caught Monday morning. We believe it is likely that the harsh March weather impacted fish movement (as I write this, the fourth nor’easter of the month is barreling across the state). Throughout the net set, winds were blowing hard west creating upwelling and lowering inshore water temperatures. Ocean temperatures were in the low 40 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature not preferable for river herring migration. Further, winds have been creating blow-out tides with little water remaining to support fish movement during low tide underneath the railroad bridge.
 Earlier this month, we registered our first detection of a tagged alewife at the new culvert. Fish 548 was caught in the fyke net the morning of March 1st. She was tagged and released, and later detected at the entrance of the culvert 15 minutes before midnight. Her abrupt departure, may be an indication of fallback, in which the stress of capture and tagging resulted in her abandoning her migration.

​Keep a lookout for the orange buoy from March 29th to April 2nd when we will be out there sampling once again.