Alewife spawning season on Long Island may benefit from a new fish ladder, though initial results show fewer fish than expected.

Alewives crowd into a narrow chute near the fish ladder on the Nequasset Stream in Woolwich. People have been harvesting fish there since before white settlers came in the 1600s.

Close to Brunswick, the Nequasset fish ladder in Woolwich, is an easy place to see alewives as they travel up via the ladder to Nequasset Lake.

Rhode Island's river herring run is coming soon, and this year, the fish will carry crucial information on how the state's fish ladders are working.

Collaborative efforts to restore alewives have wide-ranging benefits for river ecosystems and the many other sea-run fish species that rely on them.

Each spring, alewife herrings return to spawn in New England rivers. In recent years, the removal of dams has led to a resurgence of the little fish that are a key part of the food chain.

Alewives join several species including blueback herring, American shad, and Atlantic salmon that migrate from ocean to freshwater. "These are anadromous fish, which means they live in the ocean ...