93 



If it were not for the large number of dams which obstruct 

 the passage of the alewives to the spawning grounds, Town 

 Brook would prove an ideal alewife stream. Dams are so 

 numerous that the establishment of fishways would prove an 

 expensive undertaking. The fishery may be maintained in its 

 present proportions if the town takes suitable precaution to 

 place annually the proper number of alewives in the spawning 

 grounds. 



Eel River. 



Eel River, which enters the southern end of Plymouth Har- 

 bor, formerly had its source in Great South Pond, which has 

 been used as a water supply by Plymouth since 1855, but since 

 1903 no water has flowed through the connecting ditch. The 

 stream is badly polluted with manufacturing wastes, lined with 

 cranberry bogs in its upper part, and obstructed by several im- 

 passable dams, the first of which is located below the rubber 

 factory of the Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company. 

 Alewives are reported to have ascended the stream to this dam. 



The storm of 1898 closed its Plymouth Harbor outlet, and 

 the stream broke through into Cape Cod Bay, where it contin- 

 ued to discharge until 1903, when it was restored to its natural 

 course. The closing of the mouth of the stream for four suc- 

 cessive years is thought to have ruined the fishery. 



Eel River will never again be suitable for an alewife fishery, 

 as its original spawning grounds are now a water supply, and 

 too many obstructing dams and too much trade-waste pollu- 

 tion are present. 



Fresh Brook. 



Fresh Brook takes its origin in Fresh Pond, Manomet, and 

 flows for 2 miles into Cape Cod Bay. It is used chiefly for 

 flooding cranberry bogs. Since 1880 Fresh Brook has ceased 

 to be a productive alewife stream, and at present is leased by 

 the cranberry growers to control the water, although a few 

 alewives are still placed in Fresh Pond. 



This stream will always yield a nominal revenue, since the 

 cranberry companies will purchase the fishery in order to con- 

 trol the water. Owing to its close proximity to the ocean, and 

 its natural advantages, it would be possible to establish a con- 

 siderable alewife fishery, if it were not for conflict with cran- 

 berry interests. 



