The Story of Anadromous Fish

The Story of Anadromous Fish. From Freshwater to the Ocean and Back Again. , An Ancient Cycle , Egg to Adult , Rivers to Ocean , American shad, Atlantic salmon, river herring and other fish that migrate from the sea to freshwater to spawn are known as anadromous fish. Their story begins with a small egg , just one of thousands , laid in a freshwater stream. This tiny egg begins a cycle as old as time, one that will take it from the stream of its birth to the cold waters of the Atlantic and back again, to spawn in a river like the Ashuelot. Anadromous fish may complete this journey many times during their lives., A History of Abundance , Fish for the Eating , It's hard to imagine the springtime abundance of shad, alewives and Atlantic salmon that once swam here. Stories tell of fish being so numerous, a person could walk across the rivers on their backs. Before European settlers came to New England, the native people of the river valleys celebrated the spring run of salmon and shad. Fishing at waterfalls and rapids, they used spears, reed nets and weirs of woven twigs and pliable bark to catch the migrating fish. Some of the fish were eaten immediately, but most were smoked and dried to provide food for the winter and for trading. During the fishing season, treaties were formed, speeches were made and marriages were celebrated., Decline of a Vast Resource , Barriers and Pollution , Beginning in the 1700s, settlers built small dams to run grist and saw mills on tributaries of larger rivers. These barriers prevented fish from reaching historic spawning and nursery habitats. In less than a century, from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s, the massive fish migrations had all but disappeared from most of New Hampshire's rivers. Over-fishing, the construction of thousands of dams and canals and dumping of manufacturing waste products into these rivers all contributed to the decline of shad and salmon., Restoring Anadromous Fish , The Return of Salmon, Shad and River Herring , In 1968, state and federal agencies began working together to map out a strategy to restore migrating fish species to the waters of New England. The Clean Water Act, finalized in 1977, dramatically improved the quality of our rivers by regulating discharges of pollutants into the water. This provided an important component needed for restoration , the good water quality essential for healthy fish populations. , Yet the most vital issue for migratory fish remained: restoring their ability to move through the rivers. Adult fish need to migrate upstream and young fish must make their way to the ocean. To make this possible, resource agencies and private dam owners worked together to build fish passages that allow anadromous fish to migrate upstream and to identify where unsafe or unwanted dams could be removed. Removal of dams, like the McGoldrick and Winchester, and building fish passages will eventually improve access for anadromous and resident fish species alike. Thanks to these efforts, perhaps one day migratory fish will make their way up the Ashuelot River once again.