North Shore Volunteer River Herring Counts

An expanding program of NGO-sponsored and citizen-based monitoring programs has collected data on the spring upstream spawning runs of river herring in the Great Marsh and the North Coastal Watershed, Essex County Massachusetts. Monitoring began with the Parker River in 1997 and now includes the Essex, Ipswich. Little and Saugus Rivers. Despite some modest efforts at restoration, it appears that population levels are much below historic levels and well below the production capacity of the spawning habitats of the lakes and ponds of these river systems. More study is needed to determine the apparent decline of river herring. Waterbody or Watershed Names: Little River (Gloucester); Saugus River (Saugus); Parker River (Georgetown and Newbury); Ipswich River (Ipswich); Essex River/Alewife Brook (Essex)