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Dead fish that have accumulated in a creek along the bike path between Lake Street and Horn Pond Brook Road are likely river herring blocked during their spring migration to Horn Pond, a town conservation official said.
Resident Joan Valeriano alerted the Winchester News on May 24 after spotting the fish along the popular path.
“I’d love to know why and if the town is aware of this,” Valeriano wrote in her email to the publication.
Conservation Committee Chair Tracy Olson said herring travel up Horn Pond Brook each spring to reach the pond, but ongoing drought and a temporary fish ladder at Horn Pond have created barriers for many of the fish.
“Those that can’t make it into Horn Pond because of the difficulty of the temporary fish ‘ladder’ and potentially low water due to the drought can go back downstream or perish in the attempt,” Olson said.
River herring, a term that includes alewife and blueback herring, spend most of their adult lives in the ocean but return to freshwater each spring to spawn. The Mystic River watershed hosts one of the state’s largest herring migrations, with more than 815,000 fish counted at the Mystic Lakes Dam in 2025.
But Horn Pond remains a bottleneck: only about 6,900 herring made it into the pond last year, while hundreds more were observed below Scalley Dam, unable to reach the spawning habitat upstream.
A permanent fish ladder is expected to be in place at Horn Pond before next spring’s run, Olson said. She added she planned to notify the Mystic River Watershed Association about the situation and noted residents could also contact the state Division of Marine Fisheries.
Will Dowd is a Massachusetts journalist who covers municipal government and community life for Winchester News. He runs The Marblehead Independent, a reader-funded digital newsroom.
