On the evening of May 26, three employees of the Maine Department of Marine Resources and four volunteers from Friends of the Presumpscot River (FOPR) gathered on the banks of the Little River in Gorham to release about 1,500 blueback herring. The Little River is a tributary of the Presumpscot River, and its branches flow through much of the northern portion of Gorham.

Earlier that day, Maine DMR employees completed the process of collecting the herring at the Lockwood Dam on the Kennebec River in Waterville. The fish were transported to Gorham in a special truck with a water tank connected to it. All the fish successfully made the journey to the release location, near the Mosher Road bridge. Using a relay system, the seven team members released the fish into the river, netfull after netfull, as it was important to get all the fish released before sunset.

This is the second year that blueback herring have been released into the Presumpscot watershed. The Little River’s access to the ocean has recently been restored. Several downstream dams on the Presumpscot in Portland, Falmouth, and Westbrook have been removed over the past 10 years, due to the advocacy of FOPR and other environmental organizations.

It is expected that the fish will lay their eggs in the upper reaches of the Little River and its tributary streams. Once the eggs hatch, the young hatchlings will eventually swim downstream to Casco Bay and the ocean. Later in their life cycle, they will return to the Little River to spawn.

These efforts are an important part of restoring sea-run fish to the Presumpscot, since herring and other anadromous fish imprint on their hatching location and return year after year to the same spot to lay thousands of eggs. The number of alewives (a related species) has increased greatly in the Presumpscot and its tributaries during recent years, as part of a similar restocking program. Blueback herring are well on their way to reaching similar strong numbers.