This year’s count of herring in the Mattapoisett River was 4,050, an increase of 1,718 over the 2022 total of 2,332.
Counting conditions were ideal this past spring, the counter appears to have functioned without errors.
Alewives Anonymous, Inc. also set up an electronic fish counter on the Sippican River at Leonard’s Pond for 2023, the count up, being adjusted to 65. The low counts recorded, most days zero and seldom more than five, are unlikely to have been herring but pond and river fish. The one day of a significant count, 401, could not be corroborated with Buzzards Bay Coalition and their counter at Hathaway’s Pond, which had shown no counts for the same time period. Therefore, it has been disregarded.
The moratorium against the taking or possession of herring from the Mattapoisett River and the Sippican River, as well as many other rivers in Massachusetts, remains in effect. Over the years that the moratorium has been in effect, the herring population in the Mattapoisett River had increased to just over 55,400 in 2014, then was followed by some years of declining counts. The counting effort will continue and provide the necessary information to manage a future harvest in the Mattapoisett River; however, continued improvements in the counts are needed to support a sustainable fishery plan and to justify an opening. Once the herring population reaches a point where a sustainable harvest plan can be formulated, filed with Division of Marine Fisheries, and approved, harvesting could be resumed.