 Since this time, cranberry cultivation has continued unchanged while environmental awareness has increased, bringing the conservation goal to the fore.While the Coonamessett maintained a healthy herring run for many years alongside Cranberry cultivation, in recent years the herring run has undergone a massive decline, following a similar decrease across New England which has been widely attributed to at-sea factors external to the rivers.In 2004, fish counters saw only 640 fish and the only about 2000 herring returned to spawn.