April 1
As we await the arrival of the returning alewives, many return to John Hay's timeless classic The Run, chronicling the herring migration in Brewster during the 1950's. The balance of history and science, conveyed with his characteristically eloquent language, has never lost its appeal. I suggest that readers look for the original publication (1959) or other early publications which feature the exquisite illustrations of his good friend, and Dennis resident, David Grose (Grose Gallery); as John intended the book to be, in the natural history tradition. His collaboration with David extended through the years and featured illustrations in two of John's other significant books, Nature's Year (1961) and The Great Beach (1963). Unfortunately, the 40th anniversary edition (1999) eliminated these drawings. David was generous enough to allow me to use his illustrations in our documentary of 2004, A Journey that Never Ends, John Hay's The Run and John and David were able to enjoy a reunion in their final years.
April 4
All is well and all is waiting here, meanwhile, down at the fish ladder, 731 herring have arrived between March 25th and April 4th.
April 8
Still no sign of the alewives returning to Slough Pond as of yet, though numbers are up into the 3,000's down at the ladder. Our passage is holding a good level of water except for the section closest to Slough where sand accumulates. The massive sandbag weir is holding the pond water back but for some lapping over the surface with the wind's fetch across the water, creating a slight flow in the stream. Other migrants have returned to the pond, osprey, swallows, and flocks of Canada Geese, as well as the unfeathered or finned- APCC arrived at the pond today to begin their annual data gathering which will continue monthly through November.
April 15
Our first alewife of the 2026 migratory season arrived today in the passage! Just one, a scout no doubt. Surprisingly, he/she made it all the way up to the sand bag weir through the shallower sandy end of the passage. There, however, he was blocked from entering the pond by the sandbags. He was later seen going back and forth in the stream. We expected their arrival between the 16th and the 23rd so they are right on time as usual. Wish he could have made it through to his home pond.
Ryan Burch of the Natural Resources Department and warden Doug Erickson also arrived once notified of the herring's presence. Burch has been managing water flow in the passage with staggered sandbags, a successful experiment begun last year. They walked the stream, cleared out accumulated debris by the culvert with a fork, and determined a few things, adjusting their management plan:
1.) Sand will need to be dug out on either side of the sandbag weir; done every spring as sand washes in from the pond. Warden Gary Kaser has volunteered.
2.) Burch will wait a week to arrange an opening in the sand bag weir, waiting on more fish and due to water management conducted by Erickson at the fish ladder.
3.) Warden Erickson would like to erect a screen at the Walker's end of the passage, that or a bucket in the culvert, to block the herring migrating into the stream and pond. Temporarily for a week or two. He believes any fish caught in the passage would survive that time. (We lost 10 adults this way in May, 2023.) Alternatively, he mentioned, if blocked they would just go somewhere else.
The screen was something he brought up at the Alewife Committee meeting in March and it was voted against by the committee including a no vote by speaker and biologist Brad Chase of the Division of Marine Fisheries who oversees the runs on the Cape. The warden's reasoning for the blockade is that he continues to "run it hard" at the fish ladder to promote a good velocity for the fish. This balancing act, not too little, not too much, is a calibration worthy of a team of hydrologists. He feels he needs to continue to do this; he has been running the water, drawing it down from the ponds, for over a month now and 20,000 herring have been counted there so far.
1.) Sand will need to be dug out on either side of the sandbag weir; done every spring as sand washes in from the pond. Warden Gary Kaser has volunteered.
2.) Burch will wait a week to arrange an opening in the sand bag weir, waiting on more fish and due to water management conducted by Erickson at the fish ladder.
3.) Warden Erickson would like to erect a screen at the Walker's end of the passage, that or a bucket in the culvert, to block the herring migrating into the stream and pond. Temporarily for a week or two. He believes any fish caught in the passage would survive that time. (We lost 10 adults this way in May, 2023.) Alternatively, he mentioned, if blocked they would just go somewhere else.
The screen was something he brought up at the Alewife Committee meeting in March and it was voted against by the committee including a no vote by speaker and biologist Brad Chase of the Division of Marine Fisheries who oversees the runs on the Cape. The warden's reasoning for the blockade is that he continues to "run it hard" at the fish ladder to promote a good velocity for the fish. This balancing act, not too little, not too much, is a calibration worthy of a team of hydrologists. He feels he needs to continue to do this; he has been running the water, drawing it down from the ponds, for over a month now and 20,000 herring have been counted there so far.
Meanwhile the gauge at the Slough Pond landing reads 5" which is down 1.5" from last week but still an optimal number for adult passage. The timing of water levels is critical for fish to pass through the channel. The passage requires daily monitoring and adjustments now to aid a successful alewife migration, avoiding issues run into last spring.
We support the vote taken by the Alewife Committee in March, setting policy for field practice, that blocking the channel, a herring migration route, is not permissible. One might consider that balancing water management, and therefore herring migration, in all the headwater ponds of the Stony Brook Watershed is a mandate.
We support the vote taken by the Alewife Committee in March, setting policy for field practice, that blocking the channel, a herring migration route, is not permissible. One might consider that balancing water management, and therefore herring migration, in all the headwater ponds of the Stony Brook Watershed is a mandate.
April 16
At least 50 herring in the passage early this morning making it all the way up to the sandbag weir which blocked their entrance into Slough Pond. An accompanying Bass, signs of spring along the banks, Fiddlehead Ferns, Star Flower, Mayflowers, and two dead alewives. The sandbag weir was NOT opened today to allow migration into their natal pond.
April 17
This is how it works here at Slough-
1 alewife on Wednesday, 50 on Thursday, 100's on Friday. This morning, still waiting to get through. We've lost .25" at gauge, that's 2" lost in the past two weeks. Timing is everything.
By late afternoon, the NRD's Ryan Burch in the company of, and with the expert guidance of, the DMF's Brad Chase opened the passage to allow migration into Slough Pond. With yesterday's and today's "aggregation of fish" there was no justification for any manner of closure according to the DMF. Additionally, there was no justification for closure based on water management at the ladder. According to Brad Chase, opening the Slough sandbag weir will not have an impact on the water velocity at the ladder and data supporting that can be gathered by comparing the gauge levels there. Brad Chase is a 40 year veteran of the MA DMF, a biologist and diadromous fish specialist who just completed a two-year herring habitat and nursery study commissioned by the Town with a special focus on Slough Pond.
The increasing number of migrants this week was to be expected and the run managed accordingly on a daily basis, contrary to the warden's assertion that if blocked they could survive for a week or two in the passage or go elsewhere.
We are grateful, as the fish are, for the DMF's intervention and professional knowledge and for the assistance of the NRD.
The photo below next to the gauge images was taken by artist Pete Hocking of Truro at the Wellfleet herring run- glass elvers!
This is how it works here at Slough-
1 alewife on Wednesday, 50 on Thursday, 100's on Friday. This morning, still waiting to get through. We've lost .25" at gauge, that's 2" lost in the past two weeks. Timing is everything.
By late afternoon, the NRD's Ryan Burch in the company of, and with the expert guidance of, the DMF's Brad Chase opened the passage to allow migration into Slough Pond. With yesterday's and today's "aggregation of fish" there was no justification for any manner of closure according to the DMF. Additionally, there was no justification for closure based on water management at the ladder. According to Brad Chase, opening the Slough sandbag weir will not have an impact on the water velocity at the ladder and data supporting that can be gathered by comparing the gauge levels there. Brad Chase is a 40 year veteran of the MA DMF, a biologist and diadromous fish specialist who just completed a two-year herring habitat and nursery study commissioned by the Town with a special focus on Slough Pond.
The increasing number of migrants this week was to be expected and the run managed accordingly on a daily basis, contrary to the warden's assertion that if blocked they could survive for a week or two in the passage or go elsewhere.
We are grateful, as the fish are, for the DMF's intervention and professional knowledge and for the assistance of the NRD.
The photo below next to the gauge images was taken by artist Pete Hocking of Truro at the Wellfleet herring run- glass elvers!
April 18
"This inhabitant of the sea weaves up through the overhanging springtime and seems part of it..." - John Hay, The Run. Seeing the return of these beautiful fish into our ponds every year calls up a reverent kind of joy, an invocation of spring, and an invitation to be part of it ourselves.
Not only was the sandbag weir opened yesterday but sand appeared to be removed from the upper stream and other sandbags repositioned or removed. It was impossible count the number of alewives moving through the passage this morning, spawning along the stream and quite excitedly in the pond. John called spawning a "dance" and it has its own music, as evocative of spring as the peepers' chorus is in the surrounding vernal pools. When the alewives can get home it feels like everything is right with the world.
April 20
A lone leaf and no fish today. The sandbag weir has been closed again and an additional sandbag blockade installed along the passage. If there are no fish this is a good way to maintain an adequate water level until the next migratory group arrives. In documenting these changes, we noted that sand has built up at the sandbags installed within the channel however, as the current is flowing around it, into the embankment, causing sand to build up in the passage rather abundantly.
A lone leaf and no fish today. The sandbag weir has been closed again and an additional sandbag blockade installed along the passage. If there are no fish this is a good way to maintain an adequate water level until the next migratory group arrives. In documenting these changes, we noted that sand has built up at the sandbags installed within the channel however, as the current is flowing around it, into the embankment, causing sand to build up in the passage rather abundantly.
April 25
No fish today, though a renewed run down at the ladder so it won't be long. Meanwhile, some developments along the passage...and a new low at the gauge.
April 27
A reconnaissance visit this morning by the DMF, led by Brad Chase, with BETA, the environmental engineering firm, for preliminary assessment of the potential restoration of the Slough Pond fishway. If the project is approved by the TOB- yet to be determined- all required studies, design plans, land surveys, environmental impact statements, etc., will have to be in order, for all essential departments of the TOB, and with full and necessary support of landowners. An agent from the NRD attended and two wardens walked the stream. No fish today.
A reconnaissance visit this morning by the DMF, led by Brad Chase, with BETA, the environmental engineering firm, for preliminary assessment of the potential restoration of the Slough Pond fishway. If the project is approved by the TOB- yet to be determined- all required studies, design plans, land surveys, environmental impact statements, etc., will have to be in order, for all essential departments of the TOB, and with full and necessary support of landowners. An agent from the NRD attended and two wardens walked the stream. No fish today.
April 28
The herring are running again in the channel after a huge influx down at the ladder, unfortunately, they cannot get through to the pond. The NRD and wardens should be able to assist with some sand removal, shifting of sandbags, and adjustment or removal of wooden barricades. Every year is different but last year's staggered sandbag weirs seem to assist the pooling and shoaling more effectively for migration than this year's arrangement. As Brad Chase of the DMF mentioned yesterday, shifting sand shoals are common on inland pond migratory routes.
April 29 & 30
As we round out the month, developments over the past two days are pictured below. One alewife made it all the way up to Slough Pond but was prevented from entering due to the sandbag and plywood weir, or dam, obstructing entrance. Other herring were spotted in the stream yesterday. A warden erected a screen, apparently of his own volition, along the passage Wednesday morning. Another warden took it down in the afternoon. As we all know by now, screens of any kind were voted against by the Alewife Committee, and the DMF, in March.
More fish, in great numbers, arrived today, Thursday. The lone fish was still waiting at the barricade. Many herring were seen skittering over the shoaled sand along the passage trying to make their way up to their natal pond. Apparently, some sand was removed by a warden yesterday but significant areas in the final few yards just below the pond were left untouched. The dam at the pond is holding back water to the passage as well as not allowing fish passage. Sandbags along the channel were moved to positions along the embankment and their accompanying planks, across and along the stream (except for the top weir), were removed.
Today, in good numbers, as expected, herring were seen coming and going in and out of the passage at the Walker's Pond end- spawning there as they often do by the roots of the low-lying trees, wild blueberry shrubs, and pond plants.
The fish are here and the time to release the dam is now, at least for a day or two. We hope this will be accomplished tomorrow, May 1st, with the attendance of the DMF. As of today, 191,703 fish have been counted at the fish ladder where the mill wheel will be turning tomorrow during Brewster in Bloom weekend.
