River Herring Assessment on the Connecticut River

This video dives into the lives of alewife and blueback herring, species collectively known as river herring, whose once-massive populations in the Connecticut River have plummeted. These anadromous fish face challenges, from blocked migration routes and degraded habitats to deadly encounters with ocean fisheries. Ken Sprankle and his team at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service track these fish through electrofishing surveys, otolith age analysis, and scale collection. This project shows how restoration and policy must come together to give these fish a fighting chance. Many more details are available at ctriver.org/post/river-herring-2025