Save The Sound Sees Returns From New Haven Dam Removal - The Fisherman

Save The Sound Sees Returns From New Haven Dam Removal

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In 2016 Save The Sound and its partners removed the 220-plus year old Pond Lily Dam in an effort to restore New Haven’s West River to its natural form. Photo courtesy of SumCo Eco Contracting.

With help from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Save The Sound, an organization devoted to improving and protecting aquatic and shore-side habitats in Long Island Sound, removed the Pond Lily Dam across the West River in New Haven during the winter of 2016.

During the spring of 2020, the group surveyed the river with fish traps and captured just over 50 returning alewives—this year they recorded 56 in just one day! With a grand total of 200 alewives that swam into their traps between April and June. The trapped fish were counted and quickly released so that they could continue their journey north to spawn in Konolds Pond. And with the number of returning alewives nearly quadrupled over last year, the rejuvenation of the West River is great success story that has been noted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

After the dam was removed, Save The Sound obtained 1,000 alewives from Bride Pond in East Lyme to seed the West River and it is now estimated that some 1,200 alewives are spawning in Konolds Pond, which is nearly a mile above the site where the Pond Lily Dam once stood. The 132-foot dam was erected in 1794 and served as the water source for a gristmill. A fish ladder was added to the dilapidated structure many years ago, but it fell into disrepair. The alewives and blueback herring that spawn in the river were having a difficult time finding suitable spawning areas and their numbers began to fall rapidly.

Fisheries biologists say it takes 3 to 5 years for an alewife to reach spawning age, so this year’s tally was the first indicator of real success and of the West River returning to its natural state, a self-sustaining river that can support many species beyond the herring that visit every spring. In addition to the alewives, gizzard shad, American eel, brook trout and lampreys have been caught in their traps.

The herring are an important player in small river ecosystems up and down the Eastern Seaboard, they serve as forage for countless species of fish and wildlife in both fresh and salt water. Largemouth and smallmouth bass feed on the fry and adult herring, ospreys, great blue herons and other shorebirds also find an excellent food source in river herring. When they drop down to the Sound, they feed great numbers of striped bass and bluefish—along with many other fishes. The New England ecosystem is a complicated microcosm of the food chain, and the alewife is right in the middle of it all. If there’s one thing to take away from this project, it’s that compromised waterways absolutely can be rejuvenated and they recover quickly!

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