Bremen Alewife Update 5-20-2010

Contributing Author - David Wilkins

With help from the Bremen Conservation Commission's  Bennett Collins we installed the new 2010 fish ladder below the RT 32 southern culvert on Tuesday  (see pic).  I noticed a single alewife in the brook while we were lugging materials down the bank for the ladder. This was  a "scout" alewife. They are often seen inland days or weeks before the runs begins. Do they return to the school in the bay and report conditions? Who and how are scouts selected from the school?  Are they male or female? 
There is so much we (I) don't know about river herring.

With the high tides changing later each day combined with the warm sunny forecast, I would not be surprised if we start seeing small schools of alewife moving in in the coming days. They have always run late in Muscongus Brook starting late May when the high tides are at dusk.