Weymouth conservation project a win for herring
Jessica Trufant
The Patriot Ledger
April 21, 2021
WEYMOUTH – George Loring, the man in town making sure the river herring population stays healthy, said he has worried every year about a gate meant to keep the fish out of a flood control conduit in Jackson Square.
In Loring’s 32 years as Weymouth’s herring run warden, thousands of migrating fish have died after getting trapped in the conduit because the gate meant to keep them out was old and ineffective.
That has now changed, thanks to a project that will improve the habitat for both herring and smelt.
“I can finally sleep at night,” Loring said Wednesday.
State and town officials gathered Wednesday to celebrate the recent improvements to the Weymouth Herring Run. Each spring, hundreds of thousands of river herring travel up the run to reach Whitman’s Pond, where they spawn. The herring run in Weymouth is one of the largest in Massachusetts.
Herring make their way up the Weymouth Herring Run as officials gathered for an Earth Day celebration, Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
The fish are important because they are food for marine species the fishing industry depends on, such as cod, and they are critical to coastal and freshwater ecosystems.
The improvements, which wrapped up last fall, include a new diversion wall to keep herring out of the flood control tunnel as well as specific channel designs to improve the spawning habitat for rainbow smelt. The surface of the fish ladder, which the herring use to move upstream, was refinished.
The state provided $350,000 for the project, and the town funded the remaining $300,000.
State Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Ronald Amidon said the Weymouth herring run is “very unique,” with nearly 350,000 river herring using it each year to reach the pond, where each female fish lays up to 100,000 eggs. Amidon said the ecosystem relies on so-called “forage fish” such as herring and smelt.
Weymouth Herring Run wardens, George Loring, left, and Phil Lofgren, look at the new diversion wall that keeps herring out of the flood control tunnel reducing fish kills in the Weymouth Herring Run during an Earth Day celebration, Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
He praised the town for taking on the project to improve the herring run, which was obviously a success as thousands of herring swam past the conduit and up the fish ladder Wednesday.
“You can’t imagine how thankful we all are, and we really appreciate the effort,” he said.
Mayor Robert Hedlund said the well-meaning flood control project was completed in 1970, and soon after it started causing problems for the herring entering the conduit. He said a large number of fish died as a result.
“That really heightened the problem, and we knew we needed to go forward to make sure (funding) was in place,” he said.
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