The average run of the herring is 5 weeks in the spring. As soon as warmer spring weather arrives, the Alewives as we call them in Massachusetts, both male and female travel 23 miles from salt water to ponds. The females contain about 30,000 eggs and spawn once. The old fish return to the ocean the same summer, and the babies in the fall. The young ones do not return to the fresh water for 3 years.
It was dark and drizzling today, so my photos were not illuminated very well, but I edited this one. The drawback of going on a nicer day is the number of folks lining the stream and fish ladder as they try to swim upstream against the current. This Herring Run is in the town where I taught kindergarten for 26 years after 2 years in Northern Maine. We used to come here on field trips with our 5 year old students, my teaching partner and I, aides and chaperones had to have eyes in the back of our heads to keep the kiddos safe and DRY!
I didn't see any successfully jump to the next level, the current flowing downstream was so strong today after all the rain we have had.
I retired from public school teaching after happily spending twenty eight years playing in Kindergarten. Now I fill my days watching cat antics, taking endless...
