CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Because of school vacation week, the crowd at the Stony Brook Herring Run in Brewster included children as well as adults.
BREWSTER – For many Cape residents, it’s not spring unless the herring swim up river and migrate to their spawning areas.
A number of people turned out to watch the herring this week in the waters near the Stony Brook Grist Mill and Museum in Brewster.
Ninety-year old Brewster resident Marie Knight watches the herring every year.
“It’s really excited to see these little fish as they jump against the water pressure,” said Knight.
Mary-Beth Cassett visited the site with her family, which she says she does every year.
“It’s the sign of spring for the Cape, and it’s just exciting to see all these fish in one spot,” said Cassett.
“When I was a kid, we used to be able to lean over, reach in and catch them with our hands which was very cool,” she said.
In 2011, a petition to list river herring as endangered was submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Though the fish have not been declared endangered, there has been a moratorium on the harvest, possession or sale of river herring in Massachusetts since 2006.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has listed both species of river herring, alewife and blueback herring, as species of concern due to an overall decline coast-wide.
