This World Fish Migration Day, it’s all about making connections

Atlantic salmon have traveled New Hampshire rivers for millennia. (Gregg Parsons | Getty Images)

May 24 is World Fish Migration Day, a worldwide celebration of migratory fish and the free-flowing rivers they depend on for spawning and nursery habitat.

Here in New Hampshire, river herring, Atlantic salmon, rainbow smelt, American eels, and sea lamprey are among the iconic species that have traveled our rivers for millennia, leading awe-inspiring life journeys and providing sustenance for generations of people. On the Ashuelot River near Keene, archaeologists have identified the remnants of weirs used by Indigenous peoples as far back as 10,000 years ago to trap herring and salmon.

But migratory fish need our help. More than 76 percent of the planet’s migratory fish species have populations in decline and are at risk of being endangered. In New Hampshire, systems such as the Connecticut-Ashuelot River system, the Merrimack-Pemigewasset River system, and the Great Bay-Oyster River system are freshwater highways once open to migratory species.

Obstacles in these systems, such as undersized or badly damaged culverts and derelict dams that no longer produce power, create impassable barriers for fish and other species to move. New Hampshire alone has more than 27,000 dams and other barriers within our rivers and streams. If migratory fish cannot move freely, they cannot complete their life cycles.

Many organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, work with communities and landowners to remove these obstacles, to return rivers to their natural flow, lowering the threat of flooding, improving water quality, and providing passage for migratory fish into critical spawning grounds.

While the situation facing our migratory fish is dire, there is hope.

We are seeing a record number of obsolete dams and other barriers being removed each year. Communities across the state are investing in fish- and wildlife-friendly infrastructure. It is imperative that New Hampshire continues to make progress and increase efforts to reconnect our rivers and streams and conserve our migratory fish species.

We all have a role to play – conservationists, landowners, neighbors, state representatives, and local government officials. In New Hampshire, we still have time to restore the connections between saltwater and freshwater, benefiting both nature and people. Now that is something to celebrate.

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