Location: Pembroke
Guides:
Fred Gralenski
Fee: No fee
Description
This easy hike will focus on the alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, an anadromous fish that migrates up rivers about this time of year to spawn in lakes. Schoodic Riverkeepers and State and federal fisheries managers have been taking a closer look at the aspect of rivers and streams being nurseries for the Gulf of Maine; in 2016 the St. Croix/Schoodic River was opened to spawning anadromous fish after an 18-year closure.
We should 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 discuss the life cycle of anadromous fish, and how they can survive in both salt and fresh water; 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, show their interesting anatomy as plankton feeders, and discuss their use as nutrition for soils, lobsters, and people.
This event includes a small amount of driving around the river and the lake. There are no restrooms.
Meeting Place
Pembroke
GPS Coordinates: 44.960716, -67.161674
Meet in Pembroke on US 1 just north of Little Falls Rd. Park in the parking lot that is next to the falls and the (closed) Crossroads Restaurant. No restrooms.
Meeting Place Map