correction, that was 69 striped bass over Holyoke Dam last year, and 647 herring... still an ongoing near extinction event for upper Connecticut River herring, a 99.9% drop from the mid 1980s half million alewives per year..
That is all that made it to the lift (647 herring). I seen many thousands of them last year while shad fishing and have noticed a steady increase over the past few years. The reason they aren't making it to the dam is, there is one deep hole a few hundred feet from the lift. In that hole are many large striped bass waiting for them! We would see schools go by (upstream) and a few minutes later they are going back downstream in fear of their life. This goes on all day long. What they need to do is go out and do a survey on the water and not use the lift numbers as a stock assessment. Just because 647 herring made it over the dam doesn't mean the river isn't loaded with herring, because it is!
Many herring may hold up in that hole, I have no doubt that is true. But it does not change the fact that the river herring picture is a complete train wreck. Populations into the river are at epic lows. That is the reality.
In the 1980's and early 90's 300,000 would cross the dam every year.Now we see 1000 as an improvement. . . . .
I'm not saying it is fishing in the river driving this decline. Its not, but this is the spawning ground and the regional population is in total chaos.
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