DMF hosted a river herring counting workshop on March 12, 2025, at our New Bedford laboratory (the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology). The workshop followed a DMF workshop held 20 years ago in Gloucester that ushered the modern effort to count river herring in Massachusetts during their spring spawning migrations. The 2025 workshop focused on updates and lessons learned on volunteer visual counting, electronic, and video counting methods. Over 100 participants from local volunteer groups, watershed associations, municipalities, state, federal and non-government organizations attended the workshop both in-person and virtually. The workshop featured eight presentations (available for download below) as well as group discussions concerning current issues and directions for future monitoring efforts.
Session 1: Visual Counting and Estimation
- Statistical Sampling for the Estimation of River Herring Run Size Using Visual Counts – Gary Nelson (DMF)
- Results and Lessons Learned using the DMF Visual Counting Program – John Sheppard (DMF)
- APCC's River Herring Monitoring Program Fostering Stewardship and Conservation – Michael Palmer (Association to Preserve Cape Cod)
- Mystic River Herring Monitoring In-Person vs Video Monitoring: Comparing Processes and Results – Daria Santollani & Andy Hrycyna (Mystic River Watershed Association)
- Experiences Managing A Herring Run Count on Cape Cod Challenges and Benefits of A Volunteer Visual Count Program – Heather Rockwell (Barnstable Clean Water Coalition)
Session 2: Video Monitoring and Machine Learning Applications
- HydroAI – Peter MacLeod (Innovasea)
- Using Underwater Cameras & AI to Count Migrating River Herring – Zhongqi Chen (Woodwell Climate Research Center)
Session 3: Electronic Counting
- Electronic Counting of River Herring – Bradford Chase (DMF)