The Long Awaited Year to Year Comparisons!

Well, we are now two weeks into our 2013 count.  With the cooler weather, the run has cooled off a bit, so we're taking the time to update our database.  We were not as prompt in our preparations as the herring were in starting the run.  Anyhow, we've now updated our comparisons to previous years for interest.  The Year to Year Comparisons are located on the Home Screen Link, which is here.

While we have a good start, officially the daily numbers are not as high as previously reported....

Why is that?

In the enthusiasm of the count over the last week, we've had lots of volunteers filling all twelve slots.  When we actually do 12 counts/day, we have to discount them slightly to better follow the state statistical model.  We ideally have three slots filled in every 4 hour window to maintain a 2 way, 3 period, stratified random sample.  Wow - sure sounds like a lot of statistical mumbo jumbo!  It is a bit; however, the state experts have verified that this model will help them better project the actual numbers that pass through our run, since there are also herring that run outside the 12 hour window that we are tracking, as well as the other 50 minutes in each hour.  So by randomly getting 9 counts in 12 hours, with the missed hours being sprinkled throughout the day, not just at the beginning or end of the day, it is more likely that our 90 minutes of daily counts (nine 10 minute counts) will extrapolate to a reasonably accurate projection of a "true" daily count, since we don't have the resources to count continuously.

So while the peak daily count reported on April 10 was for more than 300 fish, that was for 12 intervals, or 120 minutes of counts, so it has been adjusted to 237 fish to reflect 90 minutes of statistical counts.

By properly tracking these adjustments, the state will then extrapolate our 90 minutes of daily data for a complete daily count.

Are there any budding scientists out there who want to learn more?  Drop us a comment and we'll share the state protocol with you, so that you can help calculate the "real" numbers of herring!

They're still coming!

We had a great start to the week with such beautiful weather and now winter is back!  But, on Tuesday we had 214 fish come through, on Wednesday we had 316 and on Thursday we had 263 counted.  So we are really close to that 1000 mark (we're at 990 right now!!!)  Hopefully, after today, the weather will brighten up and warm up and they'll come back in full force.  There are still quite a lot of fish in the river!
Thank you so much to all of the counters!  You are all doing a wonderful job!

Another great day!

We had another great day today, both weather wise and herring wise!  We finished the day with counting 214 fish and yesterday we counted 131 fish going over the board!

It's supposed to get cold again, so I hope we can keep up the momentum with these guys!!

Finally!!!

We had a super day today with fish.  As soon as the weather warmed up a little, the fish showed up!  We had double digits all afternoon!  We counted 103 fish today and that's not even the final total!!  So thank you for putting up with the zero counts all weekend and the really cold wind blowing yesterday.  Let's hope this keeps up!  Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than today so keep your fingers crossed...

Remember, if you take any pictures you would like to share, feel free to send them along and we'll put them on the blog!!

And we're trying again...

So, even though the temperatures have been quite low, every day we have been seeing fish coming through.  There haven't been a lot of fish, but we had 3 at 5:00 yesterday and 2 more at 6:00.  So, we're going to go for it!  Please check the calendar everyone!!!  There are a lot of open hours available so let's try to fill in that schedule!!  Dress warmly and be prepared for a lot of zero counts until the weather warms up a little!!

They were here!!!

Well, the fish were here, very briefly.  And then the weather turned.  So, we counted today and got all zero counts.  So, we went up to the flume at Middle Pond, and there they all were!!

 

 

We didn't notice any other fish coming through and the water temps were very low, so we're going to suspend the count for now and keep our eyes open for more fish to come through.  It has to warm up eventually!!

 

 

 

You can see that there were plenty of fish!

 

 

 



Are they here? Or not...

Well, we received news today that there were fish in the run!!  So, we went down to check it out and there were indeed about 20-25 fish.  But, and this is a big BUT, the temperature is supposed to plummet tonight and be cold for the next few days.  So, we will count today and tomorrow and see what happens.  If last year was any indication, the run will stop again until it warms up again.  So, we will keep you posted!