Herring Run Improvements Planned After First Harvest In 22 Years

 HARWICH – Herring count statistics for the 2026 spring spawning season show a slightly below average year.

 Natural Resources Director Stephanie Ridenour said the preliminary count data estimates more than 471,000 fish passed through the automated counter placed at the Johnson’s flume ladder along the Herring River in West Harwich by the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries several years ago.

This is the first year since 2004 that a moratorium on the harvest of herring was lifted. Residents and non-residents were required to purchase a permit to harvest herring at Johnson’s flume on seven days specified by the natural resources department. The permit allowed for the taking of up to 20 fish per person on each of the days. 

Ridenour said 93 permits were sold to residents and all 30 of nonresident permits were also sold. The total harvest was 4,405 herring, she said. 

The town herring program operates under a sustainable fishery management plan created by the natural resources department and the state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), which was approved by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. 

The plan allows for up to 10 percent of the times series mean (TSM), which is the population matrix which over sequential years tracks how fish stocks change. The TSM for Herring River, according to Ridenour, is 546,854 herring. The recreational harvest in 2026 accounted for less than 1 percent of the TSM, she said. 

Continuance of the recreational harvest program after the spring 2027 harvest will require renewal of the sustainable fisheries management plan, she said.

 The natural resources department has been busy seeking to improve herring spawning access to other headwater ponds, she added. 

 The fishway at the Route 124 bike path was just repaired. She said some of the boards lining the fishway were beginning to fail this winter. Working with Brad Chase, state DMF diadromous fisheries project leader, and his fishways construction team, repairs were completed on Aug. 10.

Plans are underway to replace that culvert and fishway. Ridenour said the replacement is at the 30 percent design stage.

There were infrastructure failures at the fishway between Black Pond and Long Pond, along the Harwich/Brewster town line, caused by winter ice, she added. Ridenour said the state DMF and natural resources department are planning to make repairs in September.

 The culvert/fishway at Upper Cold Brook, on the west side of Bank Street leading into Grass Pond, is not passable for fish, according to Ridenour. Repairs are in the design stage, she said. 

There will also be a boat ramp and parking lot replacement along the Herring River at the Route 28 bridge crossing, including stormwater upgrades. It’s a win for water quality, noted Ridenour. Water quality is important to the life cycle of river herring, Ridenour said, adding that plans are in place to move forward with a Hinckleys Pond diagnostic assessment funded by the Community Preservation Act.

She urged residents to volunteer for natural resources programs in town that oversee water quality and herring management issues, such as the Harwich Conservation Trust’s herring count program, spring and fall cleanups through the natural resources department and water quality monitoring through the Harwich Ponds Coalition.