Easing coastal fish migrations

River herring, a migratory species found along the New England coast.

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary’’ in GoLocal24.com

The law of unintended consequences perhaps:

As part of the multibillion-dollar post-Superstorm Sandy federal cleanup, a small amount – about $11 million – of the money has been used in southern New England and the Middle Atlantic states to remove dams and other blockages that have prevented fish from migrating between the sea and coastal rivers, blockages that have much diminished their numbers. Species include sea-run brown trout, Eastern brook trout and river herring.

This has already paid dividends in an increase in these fish in some places. As Tim Dillingham, the American Littoral Society’s executive director, told the Associated Press in regard to the construction of a culvert connecting a New Jersey pond and the ocean: “The restoration of connectivity to allow fish to spawn has been a great success. We’re seeing fish come back in numbers we hadn’t seen before.’’

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