Laptew Productions » alewife

Herring Gull Lives Up To Its Name

mlapuser — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:47:12 +0000

Not all herring gulls are at the landfill

It’s nice to see a herring gull actually eating a river herring and not a french fry.

A herring gull grabs an alewife in the Narrow River

With an expandable throat, these most common of all the “seagulls” in our area, are quite capable of wolfing down an entire river herring.

herring gull swallows an alewife in one gulp

Narrow River – Wide Assortment of Wildlife

mlapuser — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:03:54 +0000

Headwaters of the Pettaquamscutt or Narrow River

Gilbert Stuart's birthplace is the site of a fish ladder

Anadromous Fish Return from the Sea to Spawn

Alewives return to their natal river

Catadromous Species Spawn at Sea and Their Offspring Journey into Freshwater

glass eels

After hatching in the Sargasso Sea, “glass eels” or elvers infiltrate streams, creeks and marshes in Rhode Island

These resilient animals can live over 20 years in our ponds and lakes before heading back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die

: American Eel

The “Fish Moon” and River Herring

mlapuser — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:49:55 +0000

Herring Return on Full Moon

The Full Moon in April Motivates Herring to Move

The 2012 herring run started early this year; perhaps due to the unseasonably warm temperatures in March. However, very few herring ran up the river during the last week–I was getting a little nervous.

Did the industrial fleet of pair trawlers get ‘em?

Pair trawling equals overfishing

Would this be the worst year yet?

Pair trawling tight to the Rhode Island shoreline

Perhaps the recent cold snap that dropped water temperatures over four degrees had more to do with the reluctance of the alewives to swim up the Narrow River?

Maybe it was the lack of rain and weak tides that conspired to reduce the number of spawning fish?

Just as I was starting to give up hope, a fresh batch of chrome-plated fish made their way up the small fish ladder and eventually into the pond. It won’t be until June when we get the final fish counter results to know how strong or weak this years run has been.

Returning Herring

mlapuser — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:50:03 +0000

Herring ready to spawn

Snow forecasted for this afternoon. I wonder where these river herring are right now? I will project that the first river herring will be seen the second week of March at Gilbert Stuarts birthplace and museum.

Fall color and still water

mlapuser — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:08:36 +0000

When will the river herring return to Bissel Cove this year?

This photo was taken during an early morning outing last fall. This area has a very steady flow of water and it didn’t freeze up very much this past winter.

The big question is when will the herring first show up this year? How many will return? How many were intercepted at the mouth of the bay by the industrial fishing fleet?