Thousands of small, often obsolete dams are blocking fish migrations across the United States. In this piece, Ben Goldfarb explores the growing movement to remove these barriers—despite political, economic, and emotional obstacles. He asks, “Can government agencies and conservation groups pick up the pace of dam removal while fish are still around to benefit?”
The Eastern Seaboard’s most enthusiastic purger of dams has long been Plymouth, Massachusetts, and one weekend I visited during its Herring Festival, a celebration of the resurgent alewife population that annually runs up Town Brook, the stream at Plymouth’s heart. The day was cool and damp, and I followed a posse of dads in Red Sox sweatshirts and kids in rainboots up the path that paralleled the creek. Someone had chalked “LOOK FISH” on the asphalt, and I glanced streamward to find alewives holding in small pods, weaving around each other in their effortless way.
More fishy picks
‘The Eels Were Climbing Out of the Water to Die ’: Why Did Every Fish in This Idyllic Lake Perish Overnight?
“Furnace Brook in East Sussex was home to carp, tench, bream, roach and trout—and 15 trailer-loads had to be buried.”
Why Are Fish So Gay?
“A conversation about finding community in the aquatic.”
Here Come the Lionfish
“Coming face to face with lionfish in the warming waters of the Aegean Sea, James Bridle traces the unfolding of geology, evolution, and empire that not only occasions this meeting, but binds us in relationship with this ‘invasive’ species.”
What Rainbow Trout Know About Relationships
Lauren Silverman weaves together issues surrounding relationships, immigration … and rainbow trout. It is a beautifully written, and highly personal, essay. Here’s a fish that is born with multiple destinies. It can choose to stay in its native river forever, or swim hundreds of miles into the deep blue — and it makes this life-altering choice…
Did a Legendary Trout Really Ride the Rails from California to Missouri?
“Scientists use DNA to solve genetic puzzles in waters around the world. But in Crane Creek, the mystery got deeper.”
The Fish That Gave Too Much
The history of colatura — a fermented anchovy-based sauce produced in Italy — goes back millennia. Now, overfishing and rapidly warming waters threaten its future.
