“Unfortunately, southern New England saw a second straight year of poor river herring returns. Rhode Island counts were down again state-wide, as were the surrounding regions. We’ve continued to meet with our State and Federal colleagues to try to further understand these low numbers and collect additional data in attempts to get to the root of the cause.
The Gilbert Stuart site was once again under 5,000 fish. Our rough estimate for the season was 4,100.” states Pat McGee, Fisheries Biologist with the RI Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife.
Every spring, the alewives and blueback herring migrate from the ocean up Narrow River to Carr Pond above Gilbert Stuart for their annual spawning. Usually a mid-March through mid-May occurrence, in 2017, several visitors to Gilbert Stuart Stream saw (and filmed) migrating fish as early as February 27.
River Herring is a collective term for the alewife and blueback herring. The migrating population is predominantly alewife (scientific name Alosa pseudoharengus), with a few blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), who usually arrive later in the migration.
Locally, the river herring are known by a myriad of names, including bigeye herring, branch herring, freshwater herring, gaspereau, grayback, gray herring, kyak, sawbelly, and white herring.
Perhaps most commonly, the river herring are called buckie, also spelled buckey. Both spellings are pronounced buck´-ee, and should not be confused with Buckeyes (pronounced buck´-eye) which are several tree species of the genus Aesculus and the namesake for Ohio State University sports teams.
Phil Edwards, Supervising Fisheries Biologist with the RI Department of Environmental Management Division of Fish and Wildlife, has been counting the migrating fish at Gilbert Stuart stream for years. The attached chart shows a steady decline in the population due to overfishing until a moratorium was declared in 2006. A recovery in herring numbers was seen between 2006 and 2014 from historic lows in 2005.
2015 was a poor year for the fish statewide, but there was a bounce back in 2016 and Phil and his colleagues are hopeful for another strong migration in 2017.
Alewife and blueback herring have a similar look. As adults, both are about 10 to 12 inches long and have a maximum weight of approximately half of a pound. The ‘sawbelly’ nickname is earned by the sharply angled bony scutes on the belly of each fish.
As adults, river herring live in salt water and are prey for larger fishes, osprey, seals, otters and whales. The river provides access to the freshwater spawning areas, and the estuary plays a critical role for growing juveniles, who hatch in spring, then mature in the protected area until they move out to sea in the fall.
Gilbert Stuart Birthplace and Museum will offer an up close view of the migration at their Spring Fair and Fish on the Run event on April 23rd from 1-4pm. At the fair, the fish will be visible from the Museum’s nature trails and bridges at the fish ladder as well as via underwater camera.
Lower Gilbert Stuart stream is accessible from the Gilbert Stuart Birthplace Museum parking lot on Gilbert Stuart Road. Upper Gilbert Stuart stream and Carr Pond are closed until the Museum’s Annual Spring Fair, which is also the Museum’s opening day.
In 2001, John Elder Dick (who has since passed away), provided a history of and reflection on the herring migration. (Editor’s note: a few corrections have been made to John’s original piece.)
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY by John Elder Dick
Beginning in mid-April and continuing to mid-May the annual phenomenon of the “buckey” run occurs in the Narrow River. While not as plentiful as in previous years and centuries, at one time this annual run formed an important industry on our river. “Buckeys” is the regional colloquialism for alewives or herring. Spring starts the spawning urge, when they enter the mouth of the River and proceed upwards to Buckeye Brook and Gilbert Stuart Stream to spawn.
These primitive and prolific fish, dating back some 150 million years have throughout history formed an important food and still do in many cultures. Schools in the millions covering square miles have been reported. They swim in precise formation, so tightly packed together that no fish can turn without hitting another!
In “Pettaquamscutt Perspectives” a collection of oral history of the area, C. Foster Browning told of their history and his fishing of them. He goes back to before the Revolution when teeming masses of them were caught, smoked, salted and shipped to hot climates – South America and the West Indies. There they were traded for dye wool. British blockade of shipping during the Revolution put a temporary stop to the trade. After the war it is recorded that about 1000 barrels of fish were shipped from our area. Foster tells us that in 1914 he got $4.30 a barrel, good money then, 400 fish in a barrel. The business crashed when commercial dyes became available. Then buckeys were caught only for smoking use and lobster bait. Using a seine, he then would catch smoke and sell some 12-18,000 a year. For many years in our area when the shad bloomed, buckeys were at their height, and people looked forward to dinners of salted smoked buckeys, rather like a good scotch kipper.
My own memories go back to friends of mine who lived in the old Carpenter homestead, a former stagecoach stop in Perryville. Bill had his own smoker, built from a refrigerator, where above smoking pans of maple and apple chips they slowly turned a golden color. Soon the call would come, “You coming down? They’re ready.” Down I’d go and around the huge table in that farm kitchen we’d gather and feast on smoked buckeys, boiled pokeweed, sautéed fiddle head ferns and jonny-cakes. A South County feast for the Gods.
In more recent times Mark Hutchins, a retired math teacher from South Kingstown High School, reminisced with me about his days from 1969-1984 fishing for them. He fished the upper lakes selling the catch for lobster bait. Figuring 32 bushels to a ton, he would get 60 bushels a day at $4 a bushel seining from the end of March to May. Mark said fishing was best with a southwest wind, which drove current and fish up the River. He said they were so prolific, that at Buckey Brook some waded in with a golf club and chipped them out onto the shore.
Beginning in the 1980’s, the catch fell off, but he sees signs of their increasing again. Today, aside from those of us who relish a smoked buckey most of us enjoy immature herring as sardines, still a prolific industry. And by the way, when you open that can, believe it or not they are all hand sorted and packed. No machinery has ever been developed to do the job as well as flying fingers.
Take a trip up to Gilbert Stuart and enjoy this annual phenomenon. And remember, once upon a time this was a flourishing industry here on the shores of the Narrow River.
Special thanks to Phil Edwards, Robert Kenney, and Charles Biddle for their contributions to this article.
Click here to read the article River Herring, the Fish You Didn’t Know You Needed October 23, 2020 – Rebecca Colby ’21 Ph.D, Kayla Morin ’19 MS, and Peter Goggins ’21 (CAHNR)
