Populations of alewife – also known as sawbelly, mooneye, gaspereau and big-eyed or spring herring – have plummeted, prompting research by a group whose members include Coastal Studies Scholar Ted Ames, professors Phil Camill, Guillermo Herrera, John Lichter and David Vail, and Environmental Studies Program Manager and geographic information systems analyst Eileen Johnson. Many are featured in the documentary Desperate Alewives, premiering Tuesday, September 27, 2011, on the stations of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

Watch the full episode. See more Sustainable Maine.

The group is collaborating with faculty from Bates and the University of Southern Maine on the project “Maine Rivers, Estuaries and Coastal Fisheries,” funded by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ESPCoR) through a grant to the University of Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative. Read more about the project on a website created by Hunter Clark ’13.