NSRWA staff and our partners have been buzzing with excitement over the last week as river herring have been spotted traveling up the temporary bypass channel in Veterans Memorial Park – hundreds of them. From there, they have continued up the South River, passing through culverts and along residents’ properties, making it all the way up to the Chandler Pond Dam. For now, that is where their journey ends. For the last 369 years, their journey was hindered by the dam and poorly functioning fish ladder at Veterans Memorial Park.
A temporary bypass channel was constructed so that fish could pass during the project. This temporary channel will eventually be removed.
For those who have worked on this project since its inception in 2012, this is truly a dream come true. While we expected herring to return to the South River we did not anticipate such a large, nearly immediate response. The majority of returning fish are likely blueback herring that prefer to spawn in fast-moving waters and typically migrate at this point in the season. This is not a surprise as the South River has historically been dominated by bluebacks as dams have blocked alewives from reaching the upstream lakes and ponds where they spawn.
The removal of the Veterans Memorial Park Dam has been a unique project from the beginning, requiring collaboration and creative thinking to meet the needs of all stakeholders. It seems fitting that the project’s conclusion is equally distinctive. This is one of the only dam removal projects where the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has approved the construction of a temporary bypass channel to pass fish during the migratory season. Throughout construction, Flynn Enterprises and DMF worked closely to ensure sufficient flow for fish passage, requiring multiple tweaks to the bypass channel throughout the process. As a result, river herring have not only passed through this site but experts have also observed spawning behavior. This is significant because any juveniles that survive will come back to this system to spawn in 3 years.This spring’s spawning run will last until late June, when construction will resume. This timeline follows time-of-year (TOY) restrictions managed by DMF, which are primarily in place to protect vulnerable species during their migratory and spawning seasons. In this case, the TOY restrictions and the cooperation of project partners have proven remarkably successful. Until then, the site remains closed and we remind people that these fish are protected and taking them or interfering with this spawning run is illegal.
This project would not have been possible without support from the Town of Marshfield, Marshfield residents and Veterans, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and NSRWA. We are also grateful for our citizen scientist herring counters who have helped us gather data at this site since 2008.