During the past year, two long-term efforts by the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to assist the management of diadromous fish came to fruition. DMF and MassDEP have developed a new policy to set guidelines for stream maintenance to improve diadromous fish migrations.
In April 2022, MassDEP released a new Wetlands Program Policy titled, Diadromous Fisheries Stream Management (BWR/WP 22-1). This policy will streamline local review and expedite execution of proposed stream maintenance projects under the Wetlands Protection Act, while setting responsible guidelines for this essential and time-honored practice. Secondly, MassGIS published a new Diadromous Fish GIS Data Layer in January 2023 that integrates DMF survey data on diadromous fish passageways with the DMF Diadromous Fish Restoration Priority List in a GIS format.
The Data Layer includes information on 490 structures that can influence diadromous fish migrations in coastal Massachusetts, species presence and time-of-year recommendations at watershed locations, and specific information on river herring and rainbow smelt spawning habitat. The development of these two management tools were years in the making. Both should contribute to improved planning and coordination for diadromous management and restoration in Massachusetts.
