Bronx River Diary
Expedition 5: We Have Poppage!

Bronx River ©WCS/M.Krauss

August 15
Fish are busting out all over! (How does that song go? “All over the meadow and the hill…”) Well, maybe not on land, but they’re certainly making their presence known in the water. Yep, it’s official. Our juvenile alewives are popping.

It’s a little surreal, actually. You’re standing there, watching the river, thinking thoughts of fish…when suddenly something punches through the water from underneath. Then it disappears, just as quickly as it appeared, and you’re left wondering if you’ve seen a fish or the fist of a really angry scuba diver. However, scuba divers are not little silver fish, at least none that I’ve seen. Therefore, it’s official. The popping survey team has witnessed our first river herring popping.

Two entries ago, I described how the Bronx River Conservation Crew had been the first to spot the fish in the river. We moved our survey spot further south, based upon the Crew’s information. Obviously, the move has paid off. We had been too far north at first, but now we are right where the action is.

We average about two pops every ten minutes—so not exactly like an underwater boxing match. (Perhaps we’re only talking about a moderately angry scuba diver here.) However, what we lack in frequency is made up for in drama. If you didn’t know about the alewives, and were standing quietly by the side of the river, and saw something erupt from the water and then disappear, your thoughts just might turn to Hollywood movies or to Salvador Dali paintings.

But all this talk of fish and art reminds me of a joke I once heard: “How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?” The answer is “fish.” “Fish” is a surreal answer, get it? Oh dear, life’s paths intersect in strange ways. Bad jokes aside, we will continue to monitor the alewives’ progress until they migrate out of the river by the end of September. We hope to see lots more popping (and absolutely no scuba divers!)

Fun Fish Fact of the Week:

• Alewives and Historical Reproductions
  We are not the only people enamored of alewives. The Saugus Iron Works, a national historic site in Saugus, Massachusetts, has two reproduction “lighter” boats, which is a type of workboat used in the seventeenth century. The Saugus River, like the Bronx River, has changed dramatically over the past three and a half centuries because of dam construction and altered sediment deposition. The end result has created navigation problems for two different groups: humans who use boats and alewives who migrate upstream. In fact, the alewife population plummeted so drastically that, at one point, it was unclear whether there were any alewives left in the river. Fortunately, a few stalwart fish managed to hold on, as well as a few stalwart boaters. When it came time to name the reproduction lighters, it was decided to honor the history shared by the river’s human and fish navigators by calling one boat “Alewife.” The other boat was named “Eel” after another fish impacted by the changes to the river. (And, yes, there are also eels in the Bronx River!)

If you would like to learn more about the Saugus Iron Works, please visit http://www.nps.gov/sair.

—Marla

Past Diary Entries

For Media Contact Information, Please Click Here.