So When Do We Expect the Herring Run to Start?

At the kickoff meeting this week, that was the primary question.  If only a herring was at the meeting....

The herring will start the run when the water temperatures reach nominally 51F.  It's much cooler for 2013 than it was at this time in 2012.  For a comparison, please take a look at the Saltwater Temperatures in Cotuit Bay and at Eel Pond (Waquoit Bay) located here.

While the herring that will migrate up the Marstons Mills River all come through Cotuit Bay and Prince Cove, we have seen that the water temperatures are warmer at the temperature sensor in Cotuit, since that sensor is further from the cooler tidal inlet.  The temperature sensor at the entrance to Eel Pond is directly at the inlet, so the variations in temperature between the warmer bay and the cooler Nantucket Sound at each tide change are less pronounced.

For a look at the Waquoit Bay sensor raw real time data, please go to the NOAA weather conditions at the sensor located here.

Herring Count Meeting from 3/16/2013

We had a great turnout for the Herring Count Meeting on Saturday!  Thank you to everyone who came.  We noted at the meeting that the water temps have been running much colder this year than in previous years, so we don't anticipate that the run will begin anytime in the very near future.  But, just to be on the safe side, feel free to sign up for any available slots and we will let you know if the fish have arrived.  So, don't go count until we tell you to!

Here's just a quick reminder how to get your dates and times on the calendar:

Go to the "Open Counting Hours" link and look at the schedule.  Once you have determined the dates and times you would like to count, please send an email to herringcount@yahoo.com and let us know what you have decided.  We will post the times and you will see your initials appear on the calendar.  It's that simple.

And please sign up to have emails sent to you from this blog.  You will be automatically notified when we have posted something new.  And please feel free to call or email us with any questions or concerns you may have.  Our phone number is 508-420-0780 and the email is: herringcount@yahoo.com.  We are only at the office from Mon-Fri, 9:30-4:30, so email works best.

Once again, thanks to everyone, whether you could make the meeting or not.  We are hoping for another banner year this year!!!

Counting Meeting

Just a quick reminder for everyone that we are holding a meeting tomorrow, March 16th at 3:00 pm at Liberty Hall in Marstons Mills.  We just want to round everyone up and make sure we are ready for another great herring season!  So, if you counted last year, or if you want to count this year for the first time, please try to attend!

It's that time of year again!!  The herring will be arriving before we know it!  If you counted last year, and want to count again this year, please contact us at  herringcount@yahoo.com or info@3bays.org.  Last year we had an early arrival for the fish, but we are pretty sure after the winter we've had and the colder temperatures, the fish may be later in arriving this year.

We will be holding an informational meeting for all of the herring counters on Saturday, March 16th at 3:00 pm at Liberty Hall in Marstons Mills.  Please plan on joining us and bring along any friends who would like to be counters as well!

Let's hope we have another fabulous year and we count even more herring than last year!!

Last Counts of Banner Year on May 17th (Day 58)

We've wrapped up the counting after today's (Day 60) zero results.  2012 has been best year since we started counting following the MA protocol in 2006.  8892 fish are reported for the 58 days that the run lasted, including 10 days in early April when we stopped official counting after several days of zero counts.  On April 11th, 2012, the fish returned in earnest, and we resumed the counts on April 12th (Day 23), with several hundred fish observed each day for the next 2-1/2 weeks. 

As shown in the Year to Year Comparison, the 2012 count was 7300 fish higher than the average for the previous six years of counting, and nearly 460% higher than the average of the last six years. 

8892 fish counted over 90 minutes each day for the 58 days we kept records is equivalent to more than 71,000 fish that came through Mill Pond's ladder.  This estimate is conservative as it assumes the fish only moved during the 12 hours (7 am to 7 pm) for which we monitored and counted fish, and on all the peak days we observed fish in every hour of the day.

We had more than 50 counters participating in the 2012 count.  Some of the counters provided dozens of counts over the eight week period.  We had several rookie counters this year who also were able to participate in some of the exceptionally high volume counts during the peak days in mid-April, as well as several counters who have participated every year since formal counting began in 2006.

Thanks to the effective participation of so many Barnstable residents, we have a solid database of information for this exceptional year.  We introduced a new scheduling tool to allow counters to observe available openings online and volunteer to count at open times.  In accordance with the state protocol, we introduced the monitoring of local water temperature at each count.  This new data will ideally help us better assess in future when to expect herring running during the migration.

We started tracking saltwater temperatures to help us better project the start of the migration. 

We set up this new website as a vehicle to communicate to the counters and any other interested parties, to share our findings and observations. 

The following are some last thoughts from one of our 2012 rookie counters, on her last day of counting, which was a zero count:

"I've been so glad I volunteered to help out this year.  It's been a wonderful experience, seeing the fish, helping science in my small way, visiting with all the children and others that have come to view the herring. It's also been inspiring in a way, to stand as silent witness to the surge of life renewing itself as it has for eons and to contemplate our place in history as I stand in such a historically significant place.

Yeah, it's all good!"

Day 56 - Eight Weeks, and Still We're Seeing Fish!

Looks like we are mostly winding down, but still we are having some limited observations since we started in March.  I guess we won't double the 2008 totals, but 2012 is shaping up to be a remarkable year after < 500 fish in 2010, and < 60 fish in 2011.    This past weekend (including Mother's Day) we observed nearly the total counted in 2011!

There's still a respectable number of fish in the Middle Pond flume today - numbers are down from a week ago, but there's still quite a few there.

I guess I'll have to add another week of data collection in tomorrow's Year to Year count.  Who would have thought there would still be fish migrating eight weeks into it?!

Another Low Count Today; However....

The sun came out late in the day, and the herring started running again!  With the 2.5+" of rain we had over the last couple of days, we think the fish were tucked away and resting a little, with the heavy flow of water through the culverts under Rt 28 and Rt 149.  It's hard enough to swim upstream without this massive flow!

Today there are still significant numbers of herring in the flume entering Middle Pond, so we're planning on continuing the count.

Middle Pond Flume - 8:30 am May 10, 2012

Zoom View of Flume

We had 116 fish observed on Monday, May 7th, when the weather was beautiful and water flows were normal, so we want to be sure that we're accurately projecting the end of this record setting year!