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THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, MARCH 18, 2022 Page 17 Mystic River Watershed Association releases 2021 herring numbers T he numbers are in! According to the offi cial estimate from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), more than 550,000 river herring passed through the fi sh ladder at the Mystic Lakes Dam in Medford in 2021. This count represents the latest chapter in an ecological restoration story in the heart of Greater Boston. This data also represents the commitment of hundreds of community science volunteers. River herring – alewife and blueback herring – are migratory species that spend most of their lives in the open ocean, but return to freshwater every year to spawn in the river system they were born in. They are threatened by overharvesting in the ocean and – crucially – by the loss of inland habitat for breeding caused by dams blocking access to inland lakes and streams. After a fi sh ladder at the Mystic Lakes Dam in Medford was built in 2012 – allowing fi sh in the Mystic River to reach Upper Mystic Lake for the fi rst time in decades – the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) launched a volunteer herring count in collaboration with DMF. Dozens of volunteers visit the dam to make 10-minute sampling counts of fi sh passing into Upper Mystic Lake every daylight hour from April to June, and the data are used to estimate the total number of fi sh passing through the fi sh ladder. River herring fi rst return to freshwater to reproduce at age three or four, when they are sexually mature. When the fi rst cohort of fi sh born in the newly expanded freshwater habitat reached reproductive age and returned for the fi rst time to Mystic Lakes in 2015, volunteer counts showed that the population of fi sh loyal to the Mystic River had doubled. Numbers continued to climb over the next few years to an estimate of as many as 780,000 fi sh in 2019. This is a remarkable success story: The single intervention of a fi sh ladder at Mystic Lakes doubled – and even tripled – a signifi cant wildlife population. For a sense of scale: 780,000 of these foot-long fi sh end-to-end would stretch 150 miles. In-person monitoring was called off in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is evidence from a video monitoring system and from around the state that river herring populations suffered declines from the eff ects of drought in 2016-2017, when conditions led to fewer juveniles surviving to maturity that year because of dried-up streams, higher water temperatures and other factors. So, in 2020, river herring counts on rivers were dramatically down all across Massachusetts, and fisheries scientists attribute this to those drought conditions three years earlier. The latest estimate from 2021 represents an apparent increase in the Mystic River population from the previous year, and this is what we might expect. Recoveries take time. There is every reason to expect that the number may well recover to previous levels. What would it take to make another leap in the population of fi sh that migrate up the Mystic River? The next big lake upstream – the next big tract of potential breeding habitat for river herring in the Mystic system – is Horn Pond in Woburn. In the past few years, volunteers at Horn Pond, too, have been counting the comparatively fewer fi sh that are able to currently enter that lake. There are now three years of data from Horn Pond. There are also four years of video monitoring from Center Falls Dam in Winchester, where another fi sh ladder – made possible by the advocacy of residents and public funds – makes it possible for fi sh to pass through the center of Winchester and on toward Horn Pond. Given the means, river herring will swim many miles inland seekVOTES | FROM PAGE 1 cil continued its discussion about the possibility of purchasing the section of Revere Beach Parkway that passes through Everett. Transportation Planner Jay Monty said the Parkway was owned by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation before being transferred to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). “MassDOT is now trying to play catch up,” said Monty, adding that the traffic lights are one of several issues that ing suitable (and uncrowded) habitat to spawn. But some stay back to use the breeding habitat downstream. So, we see more fi sh at Mystic Lakes than at Center Falls, and more fi sh passing at Center Falls than make it into Horn Pond. The big promise of Horn Pond is the fi sh passage that will be designed and built in the next two to three years – funded by federal grants and the City of Woburn. We know now that fi sh try to get into Horn Pond. This year there were dozens of reports of hundreds and even thousands of fi sh at the base of Scalley Dam at Horn need attention. “The signal timings out there are horrible.” In addition, he said that during the summer MassDOT will present plans for a $30 million renovation project, which is expected to take place over the next three to fi ve years. Matewsky said there are currently 52 street lights that do not work. “We have to beg the state to get anything done,” he said. “I hope the state takes this seriously. This doesn’t happen in Medford, it doesn’t happen in Revere.” Pond on many diff erent days. DMF has worked to make the current small bypass stream at the outlet of Horn Pond accessible to river herring, and some fi sh obviously fi nd their way. But we know many more do not pass that point and return downstream. Money from two federal environmental damages settlements – including the famous Superfund cases in Woburn – will bring millions of dollars of investment in building a fi sh ladder at Horn Pond. Fisheries scientists believe this will expand the population of river herring in the Mystic system even further. Monty agreed that MassDOT continues to be sluggish. “It’s like pulling teeth; we take the wins we can get,” he said. Hazard Mitigation Plan The council voted unanimously to accept the city’s updated Hazard Mitigation Plan. Prior to the vote, Conservation Agent Thomas Philbin said he and his colleagues have been working with offi - cials in Chelsea on a $50 million eff ort to construct a seawall and tide gate in the Island End River. The project’s funding application has ~ LEGAL NOTICE ~ CITY OF EVERETT Will the Mystic herring run reach a million fi sh? Will next year be the biggest year yet? Stay tuned for more data from a remarkable urban wildlife migration. In the meantime, you can learn more about volunteer opportunities to participate in MyRWA’s in-person and video counting programs. MyRWA is currently seeking volunteers to help monitor the herring migration in 2022. Finally, this can never be said enough: All the data we have about the river herring population on the Mystic River we have because of volunteer community scientists. been submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition, Engineering Director Erik Swanson said a tide gate will be installed at the end of Spring Street. Ward 6 Councillor Alfred Lattanzi said residents at Wellington Parkside have been complaining about fl ooding from North Creek. “I’ve gone down there and the water sometimes is about a foot high,” he said. “It’s been brutal down there.” Swanson maintained that the new tide gate will eliminate the fl ooding problem. PUBLIC HEARING FOR PETITION FROM MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC COMPANY D/B/A NATIONAL GRID OF NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS - Rescheduled To all parties interested in the public hearing. Be it hereby ordered: Massachusetts Electric Company d/b/a National Grid of North Andover, Massachusetts desires to locate poles, wires, and fixtures, including the necessary sustaining and protecting fixtures, along and across the following public way or ways hereinafter referred to, and to make the necessary house connections along said extensions, as requested in petition with said company dated the 24th of February, 2022. The following are the streets and highways referred to: Plan # 29672806 Elm St - National Grid to install 2 JO Poles, remove 2 JO Poles and relocate 5 JO Poles on Elm St beginning at a point approximately 415 feet west of the centerline of the intersection of Jefferson Ave and continuing approximately 1200 feet in an east direction. DOR project # 607652 – Road Work. Replacing existing Steel Trolley poles w/new wood poles (P2118 and 445-84). Replacing pole to pole guys, anchor and down guys. Installing new P/P guy (2118 to pole 2629) and anchor /Down Guy at pole (2118). Relocating a total of 5 poles (P430, P432, P434, P435 and pole 440). Wherefore it prays that after due notice and hearing as provided by law, it be granted permission to excavate the public highways and to install and maintain JO poles, together with such sustaining and protecting fixtures as it may find necessary for the transmission of electricity, said poles to be located substantially in accordance with the plan filed herewith marked: Elm St - Everett - Massachusetts Hearing to be held with the Everett City Council, held at 7:00PM, on the March 28, 2022 at the EHS Library at Everett High School. March 18, 2022

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