Location: Pembroke: Pennamaquan River
Guides: Fred & Linda Gralenski
Fee: no additional fee
Description: This easy hike will focus on the alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, an anadromous fish that migrates up rivers at this time of year to spawn in lakes. The fisheries managers, both state and federal, are taking a closer look at the concept of rivers and streams being nurseries for the Gulf of Maine; in 2016 the St. Croix River was opened to spawning anadromous fish after being closed for 18 years.
We hope to see Bald Eagle, Osprey and other birds feeding on the migrating alewives; and although river herring don’t make spectacular leaps like salmon, they can negotiate some very fast water, and their capabilities are impressive.
We will learn about the life cycle of diadromous fish, and how they can survive in both salt and freshwater, their impact (both real and imagined) on freshwater lakes, and their importance as forage for birds, mammals, and other fish. We will net a few alewives and show their interesting anatomy as plankton feeders, and describe their use as nutrition for soils, lobsters, and people.
This event includes a small amount of driving around the river and the lake.
GPS Coordinates: 44.961048, -67.160660
Directions: Meet alongside Route 1, just north of Little Falls Road in Pembroke. Traveling north on Route 1, there is a gravel pull-off on the left close to the bridge over the Pennamaquan River.