Sept. 30th - Young herring spill over the weir.
...such numbers of herring to suddenly show up at the weir is a mystery. We (OPET) simply do not have good information about the distribution and abundance of the young herring in the Pond druing this Spring period.
My observations at the weir began the morning of June 21. The herring were crossing the weir boards enmasse. Bill Kerfoot, OPET, estimated there were perhaps 10,000 individuals at the weir. Many would cross and then turn upstram as though feeding. I did not detect movement into the culvert. To get an idea of size I photographed a sample in the bucket (shown on the left).
My friend Al Allenby stopped by to see what I was up to. He was as amazed as I was at the dense concentration of herring. But he also mentioned his concern about the herring getting throught the culvert and into the Lagoon. He wondered how the herring would get through the extensive algae bloom that covered much of the Lagoon.
I returned to the weir that evening. The herring were still crossing over the weir boards, but in less dense concentrations.
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Sept. 30th - Young herring spill over the weir. |
P.S. I would personally like to thank Al Allenby for his presence and helping me with the photographs.
Harbor Master in Falmouth, a job he held for eight summers, first as a dock mate then as assistant Harbor Master. Chuck still works as an Assistant Harbor Master in marine law enforcement.
In addition to Oyster Pond's herring run, Chuck oversees the other 10 herring runs in Falmouth. Keeping the runs open for the passage of fish is just one aspect of managing this fishery. He also has to deal with poachers, not just for herring but also for American eels. "When the Aisan markets his $600 to $700 a pound for elvers we know we have to start watching for poachers on our runs," says Chuck. REcently a well-organized poaching operation from Canada was caught trapping grass eels from the Quashnet River in E. Falmouth to export to Canada and Asia.
AS shellfish constable, Chuck supervises all aspects of the shellfishery in Falmouth from overseeing the licensing of 100 commercial and 1,000 recreational shellfish licenses to administering and enforcing state and local shellfish regulations. With the help of Senior Americorps volunteers, he is overseeing a nursery of 1. 5million quahogs. When these specks of sand sized clamss grow to the size of a quareter they will moved to open shellfish beds around Town.
As Assistant Director of Natural Resources he trains and supervises other Natural Resource officers as well as the Animal Control officer. He trains new offices in both law enforcement and envrionmental work.
The law enforcement includes enforcing the Massachusetts hunting laws on Crane Wildlife, fresh water fishing laws and monitoring the use of All Terrain Vehicles or ATVs on the trails and back roads of Falmouth. Since working for the Natural Resources division four years ago he has made 65 arrests either for stolen ATVs, fisheries violations, drugs or outstanding warrants.
Chuck also assisted in trying to free the great white shark on Naushon Island. He helped Greg Skomal, the shark biologist from Martha's Vineyard, who headed up the efforts with the great white. Chuck worked on designing a rig to tail rope and tow the shark out to sea if necessary. During the shark episode, Greg stayed at Chuck's house, where reporters swarmed all over the place. There were television interviews in his front yard. News vans were parked everywhere. They got calls at all hours. "One morning we even got a call at 5:00 am from the BBC," says Chuck.
OPET looks forward to working with Chuck in maintaining a robust herring population on Oyster Pond.
-Wendi Buessler
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