Swimming Upstream<\/b><\/p>\n
River herring are an ecologically significant component of both fresh and saltwater food webs in Connecticut. They serve as a significant source of food for many species, and they cycle an enormous amount of nutrients around the ecosystem, says Eric Schultz<\/a>, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology whose research group studies river herring.<\/p>\n Humans have made an already labor-intensive migration much worse. Measures to help restore migratory routes include removing impediments, like dams, or building structures to facilitate migration, like fish ladders<\/a> or improved culverts<\/a>, in efforts to try to make the systems function closer to the way they should, says Schultz.<\/p>\n These efforts help get the adults into freshwater areas where they can reproduce and efforts are made to stock ponds<\/a>, but surprisingly little is known about how the young fish get back to the sea, says Schultz.<\/p>\n \u201cNow we are putting a lot of effort into monitoring these populations,” he says. “The title of the project is, \u2018Can they get out?\u2019 We know some sites that are important avenues for the baby fish to leave the lakes and go into the ocean, we also know that those streams dry up and the link is broken.\u201d<\/p>\n If the effort is put into getting adults to freshwater, Schultz says, it could be to no avail if streams dry up, as some have in 2022.<\/p>\n What else can be done? This is what led Schultz to reach out to hydrologists James Knighton, assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, and Katherine King \u201923 MS<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOur side of the project is measuring stream flow where water is coming out of the ponds where these fish spawn and building models of the systems to simulate how rain falling onto the Earth’s surface turns into streamflow,\u201d says Knighton.<\/p>\n The measurements and observations taken over the past two years will be used to calibrate models which will be used to run synthetic, hypothetical climate scenarios to estimate the risk of loss of flow and potential stranding events for the fish.<\/p>\n \u201cThe project is very fortunate actually that we currently have this huge drought in 2022 because we ended up seeing exactly what we were worried about,\u201d says Knighton. \u201cTo answer the big question, for this year, no, the fish could not get out at one of these sites. I think the bigger question is, will this become more common and what is the risk in any given year?\u201d<\/p>\n Schultz points out that climate models suggest that droughts<\/a> such as the one we’re having<\/a> will become more frequent. The computer modeling will lend insights into the extent to which these interruptions in flow will impact the success of fry born in a particular year, called a \u201cyear class.”<\/p>\n Data on Fish Out of Water<\/b><\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/nosybass-300x225.jpg\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/drystreambed-768x1024.jpg\")