World Fish Migration Day is on Saturday, October 24. Communities around the globe will be celebrating the fishes that migrate through rivers and streams. Numerous natural challenges must be overcome for fishes to make it to their spawning grounds and, as is nature’s way, many of them will become food for other animals before they reach their home waters to start the next generation and renew the cycle of life. Other impacts are due to us. Historically, as towns and cities were built along rivers many natural fish passageways were blocked by dams and waterways were polluted by sewage and industrial waste. But there is good news!

Communities worldwide have been working to reduce water pollution and to improve migration conditions for fishes by removing man-made barriers such as dams, installing fish ladders for species that can jump, and by providing educational materials to the public about the importance of free flowing rivers and streams to fish and the overall health of river habitats and resulting groundwater aquifers. One such project, Wishes for Fishes, highlights the artwork by children from the communities in Cobbossee Watershed, Maine and the alewife research conducted by students at Gardiner’s High School in partnership with the Maine Department of Marine Resources in a series of banners in Gardiner’s Waterfront Park along the Kennebec River.