As spring comes to coastal Maine, it brings with it the return of alewives to Nequasset Lake and the start of the annual Nequasset Alewife Count. Volunteers are needed from May through early June to count the fish that successfully make it into Nequasset Lake to spawn. Counting is a fun activity for both children and adults, and no prior experience in necessary.

Sign up for the count at www.kennebecestuary.org/fish-counting. Each fish counter signs up for a two-hour block and counts fish for two 10-minute periods in that block. Counting is broken into two-hour blocks between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., every day of the week for the month when the fish are climbing the ladder to go into the lake.

Alewives usually take four years to grow to adulthood in the Gulf of Maine before they come back to Nequasset to spawn. Four years ago was a high fish count at Nequasset. Volunteers counted more than 19,000 fish, and approximately 150,000 made it to the lake to spawn. This is the year when their offspring will be coming back, so it is likely to be a year with large numbers of fish.

Although seeing alewives fight the current to enter the lake is the main event, volunteers have also had the chance to see eagles, herons, ospreys, mink, bass, and loons drawn to the ladder by the lure of an alewife meal. A visit to the fish ladder also brings the chance to see an active alewife harvest or to purchase some smoked alewives for 75 cents apiece.

Fish counting is important because it helps to evaluate if there are enough fish entering the lake to sustain a healthy alewife run and harvest in the future. Woolwich has had a sustainable alewife run and harvest at Nequasset for hundreds of years. Counting also helps to assess if the new fish ladder, constructed in 2014, is working as well as it possibly can to enable fish to enter Nequasset Lake.

If you have any questions about the count, contact Ruth Indrick at Kennebec Estuary Land Trust at rindrick@kennebecestuary.org or 207-442-8400.