The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, along with several local, state and federal conservation partners, will be celebrating World Fish Migration Day on Saturday, October 24 and Wednesday, October 28 with in-person and online activities.
World Fish Migration Day is a global day of recognition to raise awareness about fish migration and commemorate free flowing rivers. Vermont Fish and Wildlife, the Vermont Natural Resources Council, Friends of the Winooski River, Vermont Rivers Program, Connecticut River Conservancy, The Vermont Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are offering opportunities to learn more about Vermont’s fish migration efforts.
“During this international event, we’re featuring the restoration work that we and our local partners do every day to remove abandoned dams, improve passage at hydropower dams and fix perched culverts to improve aquatic organism passage for migratory fish,” said Aquatic Habitat Biologist Will Eldridge with Vermont Fish and Wildlife.
Saturday, October 24, guests can tour the Camp Wihakowi Dam removal site on Bull Run, a tributary to the Dog River in Northfield, and see a stream restoration project happening. Tours start at 12 p.m. and end at 3 p.m. Please email the Friends of the Winooski River to register: info@winooskiriver.org.
Wednesday, October 28, the Connecticut River Conservancy will host a virtual town hall meeting to learn about native sea lamprey and American shad, two species that migrate from the Atlantic Ocean to the Connecticut River and its tributaries to spawn. Register for the event at https://tinyurl.com/ctriverevent.
An Agents of Discovery digital scavenger hunt and three educational videos will showcase the migrating fish at the Winooski One Dam, native sea lamprey and American shad in the Connecticut River, and brook, brown and rainbow trout in Bull Run in Northfield.
All Local World Fish Migration activities including the scavenger hunt, video premieres, and event information can be found at https://vnrc.org/world-fish-migration-day/.
For Immediate Release: October 15, 2020
Media Contacts: Bret Ladago 802-431-7550, Will Eldridge 802-585-4499