S
pringtime brings millions of alewives to the state of Maine on
their annual spawning run from the Atlantic Ocean. Using both
large rivers and small streams, they make their way inland to lakes
and backwaters of streams, where they deposit and fertilize their eggs.The Alewife is a species of herring that
is 10 to 14 inches in length and weighs up
to 1 pound. While not as well-known as
the salmon runs of the Northwest Pacific
coasts of the United States and Canada, the
alewife migration is one of nature’s great
happenings. Like salmon, alewives are
an anadromous species that migrate into
freshwater from the sea to spawn. However,
unlike salmon, they don’t usually die but
instead return to the sea—providing they
can successfully run the gauntlet and avoid
being caught by human or wildlife predators.
Several species utilize the annual alewife
run as a source of food to aid in raising
their young, including the osprey, bald
eagle, cormorant, gulls, mink and rac-
coon. Smoked alewife is considered a New
England delicacy.
Conservation efforts have been critical to
maintaining and expanding the alewife fish-
ery. Native Americans fished for alewivesfor millennia, and European settlers also
exploited this resource. In more recent
times, overfishing, dam construction and
pollution have decimated the alewife pop-
ulation. Nineteenth-century logging and
dam building for industrialization along the
rivers destroyed the environment for many
wildlife species. As a result, many New
England rivers have no alewives today.
Fortunately, ongoing conservation
efforts to restore the environment have
led to a resurgence of the alewife popula-
tion in some streams. Pollution cleanup,
restoration and building of fish ladders
and removal of dams have provided an
environment conducive to the health of the
alewife fishery.
As a photographer, my primary interest
is the osprey, which I deem to be the stars
of the alewife migration with their dramatic
dives to catch the alewives. Watching an
osprey hit the water at over 60 miles perhour and then emerge with a fish is one
of nature’s spectacular events. The 6-foot
wingspan of the osprey enables it to begin
flight with powerful strokes as it emerges
from the water after being totally sub-
merged. Sometimes they’ll emerge with
two or even three fish clamped in their
sharp talons, though the struggles of the
fish, coupled with their weight, will usuallyOpposite top: With water droplets
exploding, the osprey emerges from
the stream with a nice catch. Canon
EOS-1D X Mark II, Canon EF 800mm
f/5.6L IS USM and Canon Extender
EF 1.4x III. Exposure: 1/3200 sec., ƒ/8,
ISO 10000.Opposite bottom: A close-up view
as the osprey flies by with the alewife,
which is always oriented head-first.
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, Canon EF
800mm f/5.6L IS USM. Exposure:
1/3200 sec., ƒ/5.6, ISO 2000.Above: The osprey leaves without its
fish after being attacked by a herring
gull. Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, Canon
EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM. Exposure:
1/2500 sec., ƒ5.6, ISO 640.outdoorphotographer.com April 2020 51