By Robert Kearns, Executive Committee Member and Outings Chair
Eel Ladder on Smelt Brook in Pond Meadow Park (Robert Kearns)
American Eel are getting a lift on the South Shore over the dam at Pond Meadow Park. The ladder and trap were recently designed and fabricated by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Fishway Crew. DMF and the Weymouth-Braintree Regional Recreation Conservation District, more commonly known as Pond Meadow Park, are managing the ladder. The partnership seeks to count the number of juvenile American Eel that are migrating to the pond from their spawning habitat in the Sargasso Sea. It is a fish passage improvement and educational tool for the public and the Pond Meadow Park’s Summer Nature Program. The juvenile eel, known as elver, migrate with the Gulf Stream from the Sargasso Sea a part of the Bermuda Triangle where they are born to rivers and streams across North America. Adult European Eel also migrate to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.
American Eel inside the ladder trap at Smelt Brook Dam (Robert Kearns)
Smelt Brook is one of many streams and rivers across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that have migratory eel. The juvenile eel, unlike some migratory fish like Smelt are able to climb walls like that of the perched culvert on Smelt Brook. The perched culvert will be under study to be restored. Some can get over the dam at Pond Meadow, however, the eel ladder and trap is more effective and also has the ability to count the number of elvers.
Eel Ladder at the Smelt Brook Dam in Pond Meadow Park (Robert Kearns)
I had the opportunity to visit the eel ladder and trap in Pond Meadow with Pond Meadow volunteer Mike Richardi. Mike showed me how the eel ladder used water from above the dam to attract the eel up the ladder and into the trap.
Volunteer Mike Richardi of Weymouth holding the water intake above the dam (Robert Kearns)
There were 10 juvenile eels in the trap the day that we came to check on it. Mike recorded the date, time and number of eels in the trap as well as the water temperature in Smelt Brook. He then caught the 10 eels in his net and transferred them into a bucket to move them around the dam into the pond.
Juvenile Eel in a bucket waiting to be brought around the dam (Robert Kearns)
The Rangers at Pond Meadow as well as volunteers like Mike are in charge of counting and moving eels over the dam into the pond. More recently the park installed a whiteboard sign attached to the trap to let the public know the number of eel caught in the day.
Mike Richardi catching eel in the trap and transferring them to a bucket (Robert Kearns)
The water from the hose deployed to attract the eel to climb the ladder
Mike Richardi releasing the eel in Pond Meadow Pond
The deployment of eel ladder is a great opportunity to help restore fish passage in Smelt Brook by assisting the eel as well as educate the public about the importance of migratory fish and healthy waterways.
Robert Kearns is a Member of the Executive Committee and Outings Chair of the Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter.