Well, it's been over a week since we officially suspended the count, and we probably should have suspended it even earlier. We continue to monitor the seawater temps in an effort to estimate the most probable restart of the herring run. Seawater temps in Cotuit Bay are essentially identical to what they were for this date in 2011, and the 2011 run started on April 17th. We have received reports of herring on April 5 from two different observers, and we also had an observation of some herring late today. We have posted the latest temperature plots here - it is very interesting to note that the herring made the trek at the same time the water temps at Cotuit Bay just touched 51F on April 5 and April 9. With the cloudy weather forecast for the next few days, we will likely continue to watch and wait before restarting the count in earnest.
There has been one herring gull parked at the top of the Mill Pond ladder at some times over the holiday weekend, and today we received a report of an osprey looking around, so hopefully they are good indicators of a restart of the run.
We appreciate those counters who check in occasionally with reports, to help us better assess the local situation, even when no fish are observed.
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