By Dave Sartwell
Correspondent
May 13, 2008 11:56 pm Outdoors Dave Sartwell The herring are now moving in full force up the Merrimack River with stripers following them on in. Although the main run is yet to come, there are a number of linesiders already up at the dam in Lawrence. We wrote last year about the tremendous decline we have seen in the herring runs over the last few years. This poor fishery is in a major collapse and there does not seem to be any hope in sight for its recovery. Where thousands of these fish choked every stream along the North Shore each spring, now only the Merrimack seems to attract any real returning populations and those are pitifully small. Although there are a number of reasons posited by researchers for this decline, almost all of them are a continuing tribute to the stupidity of man. The three main reasons for the collapse are dams across the spawning migration routes, increased human populations affecting both water quality and supply and commercial fishing. All three of these are manageable problems, but there seems an unbelievable amount of resistance to tackle any one of them. And, without a multifaceted approach to the problem, these populations will continue to decline. The Division of Marine Fisheries and other organizations have all recognized the problem and have made overtures to address the problems. But to date, it has been to little to late. There are over 100 identified herring runs in Massachusetts, but many of those runs have either ceased to attract herring or have declined to negligible numbers. The Parker river is a great example. This little river used to host a tremendous run of fish, but now almost no herring make it up river to spawn. Over time there were six dams placed across the river. Almost all of them serve no real purpose now, but hey remain impediments to the fish run. Ladders and other management devices have been placed in the river to help the migrating fish, but each man-made device is no substitute for the natural flow of the river. The flow of water out of the Parker has also been affected. There is a decrease in the water table along the whole flowage due to the amount of water being taken out of it. With this decreased water flow there is no way the fish can battle up through the natural and man-made barriers. How do you stop the taking of water from the system? Every new well, every new house, every expanded business takes the life out of this delicate stream. Even if the fish make it up into some of the freshwater ponds to spawn, the decreased level of water in the ponds during the summer may drop at the outlet, preventing the juveniles from flowing back to the ocean. The problems these small baitfish face in their struggles upstream to spawn pale in comparison to what they face when they come back downstream and swim out into the ocean. The harvesting of herring has been and continues to be an affront that goes on unabated. This mainstay food source for hundreds of different life forms gets pounded from every side. Although regulations have been put in place to protect them somewhat, they are no where near enough to protect this valuable resource. So what is their long-term prognosis? The patient is dying as we wring our hands, offer platitudes, and throw fairly meaningless and weak half-solutions at the problem. nnn The turkey season is in full swing all over the state. Some nice 20-plus-pound toms have been taken on Cape Ann and there seem to be plenty of birds about. In the early season the big toms may be a little quiet. Calling them away from the hens can be a bit difficult. Successful hunters find where the flocks are working and try to intercept them as they move about. As the season progresses, they will start to move out. This is when a good caller can move a bird. Set up fairly near where birds have been working. Put out a couple of hen decoys and a jake or two. Get in a safe spot with your back to a tree or stonewall, and make a hen call. Do not overcall. One little yelp every 10 minutes is more than enough. The big toms can hear that call a long way off. If he is interested, he will come. In most cases he will be coming in very quiet and he will be on full-alert. Anyone who has hunted these birds will tell you that they can move through the woods fairly quickly and can seem to appear out of nowhere. The decoys help keep his attention focused on something besides you as he comes into sight. When he sees them, he will be thinking about his approach. In any case, stay real quiet and let him come on in. Chad Devine and a friend were turkey hunting out in East Hampton last week. He had already taken a nice 20-pound bird and was looking for a second. He heard a big tom gobble over a ridge, so they thought they would sneak in a bit, set up and wait. They crossed over the height of the land, located an open spot, got all set up expecting the tom to be out in front of them a ways. Chad gave a hen call. They were startled out of their wits as a flock of at least 10 jakes no more than 50 feet from them all started to gobble at once. "You never heard such a racket," said Devine. "It scared us. We never did get the old bird to come in, but these jakes just wouldn't shut up once we got them gobbling. It was quite a sight."
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