Research Symposium
Gulf of Maine River Herring Network Research Symposium
Gulf of Maine River Herring Network kicked off its first Research Symposium in 2025
On January 9th, 2025, the River Herring Network held its first in-person meeting in the form of a research symposium. It was all that we could have asked for and more. With roughly 50 participants in attendance (traveling in from Connecticut, all the way to the Canadian border) there was plenty of knowledge, capacity, enthusiasm and passion in the room. It was a full day that seemed way to short with the goal of everyone sharing updates on the work they are doing on river herring. From educators to fishermen and local stewards, to state, Tribal and Federal fisheries managers, and lots of NGOs we were able to cover so much ground on the current state of river herring. And just as important, we were able to talk about what we aren’t doing, and how we can work together to fill those gaps and further our collective work in the restoration and co-management of such an important species.
The first half of the day was focused on presentations (see below videos) with the second half focused on group discussions, networking, and connecting people working in shared waters, the day was a huge success.
Special Thanks to Maine Sea Grant and The Nature Conservancy for sponsoring this amazing event.
Presentations
2025
Julia Clem - Pairing Environmental DNA with Acoustic Monitoring of River Herring in the Penobscot River
Nathaniel Austin - Size of immigrating river herring decreases throughout season in Long Pond run
Bailey Bowden & Mike Thalhauser - Future Stewards of The Bagaduce Watershed
Theo Willis - Maine DMR Restoration Projects: What Progress Have We Made?
Samantha Bengs - Validation of eDNA use for describing the phenology and movement of river herring migration
Myah Jones & Steven Baer - Seasonal Zooplankton Food Sources for Juvenile Alewives
Sharon Mann - Lower-trophic community response to alewife restoration
Adrian Jordaan - UMass Amherst River Herring Research
John Sheppard - Video monitoring & computational system for estimating juvenile river herring abundance
Karen Wilson & Brian Determan - Alosine Ecology in the Kennebec River
John Magera - Providing aquatic connectivity through managed impoundments Moosehorn NWR