2021 Massachusetts River Herring Counts

Spring has sprung and so have our local river herring runs! Check back here every week for updates on the spring counts at the eight locations listed below.

2021 River Herring Counts

Location	2021 River herring Count	2020 Total Count	2019 Total Count	2018 Total Count
Acushnet	4,300 (4,200 - 4,100 - 3,300)	3,100	16,819	6,354
Essex	6,550 (5,890 - 3,318 - 1,318 - 876)	4,290	9,505	28,260
Herring Brook Pembroke	32,298 (20,191 - 9,806 - 5,271 - 1,281)	187,776	476,609	348,634
Herring River Harwich	315,715 (269,607 - 212,512 - 165,245 - 64,963 - 23,155 - 16,026)	747,566	1,223,363	864,748
Monument River	93,000 (40,000 - 16,000 - 85)	290,000	526,929	316,618
Stony Brook Brewster	86,173 (66,146 - 43,528 - 28,826 - 14,081 - 2,366 - 830)		434,583	131,851
Weymouth-Back River	231,106 (49.900 - 0)	283,749	282,816	333,209
Squibnocket Pond- Aquinnah	15,264 (9,064 - 4,076 - 1,698 - 757)	37,293	36,736

River herring counts are primarily alewife.

These counts are from DMF operated electronic fish counters. Previous weekly total running tally count for the season are shown in parenthesis. Counts from video and visual estimates will be available later in 2021. 

Last updated:	April 12, 2021