alewife project

The Alewife fish is a type of herring which used to live in the Bronx River. The Alewife is anadromous, meaning it lives most of its life in the sea, and migrates from the salty sea water to spawn in fresh water rivers. After they lay their eggs in the rivers, the adults go back into the sea. The eggs hatch in the fresh water section of the river and when they reach about the size of five inches they swim back into the ocean. In about 3-5 years the adult fish return to the river in which it was spawned and start the cycle all over again. In the 1600’s the Delancey family built a dam on the Bronx River, to run a huge farm that harvested apples. When that dam was built, which still stands today at 182 street in River Park, the Alewife weren’t able to get over it because it was to high for them to jump over. This disconnected the alewife from their spawning habitat, ending the cycle of Alewife in our river. The alewife was vital to the Bronx River because they greatly increased the river’s energy and they also ate algae, keeping it from growing too abundant. So in March of 2006 and April 2007 the alewife was re-introduced into the Bronx River with the hopes that the new babies born in our river will return in 3-5 years and re-start the cycle. So in 2009 Rocking the Boat with others will be at the Delancey dam with nets to help the alewife get over the dam so that they can spawn in freshwater.