The Disappearance of Wellfleet’s Robust Commercial Herring Industry

     Learn about Wellfleet’s herring industry fish station of the late 1800s located on the banks of the Herring River near Bound Brook Island.         This illustrated presentation uses old photos and historical maps to show you where the commercial fish station was located at what was a transportation hub near the railroad tracks, at the Herring River, and next to Bound Brook Island Road.

     Between 1880 and 1900, proceeds from the sale of the fishing rights were enough to pay the salaries of all elected town officials. It is reported that the successful bidders for the herring fishery rights took about 250,000 herring from the river annually.  

     Lisbeth Wiley Chapman, a longtime Board Member of Friends of Herring River, has researched the herring fish station in an area where the landscape gives no hints of its once productive past. You will learn why this robust industry died, why the Herring River was diked at Chequessett Neck Road and Duck Harbor, and the impact the diking had on the health of the herring population of Wellfleet's Herring River.