Residents Work To Restore Fishways For Anadromous Species On Maine Rivers and Streams

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Residents Work To Restore Fishways For Anadromous Species On Maine Rivers and Streams

Residents Work To Restore Fishways For Anadromous Species On Maine Rivers and Streams

Skyblue Pink Reflection on Cobbossee Lake

by Leigh Macmillen Hayes
As Maine lakefront property owners, it’s important that we recognize the key role native fisheries have played in our local economies—providing both food and bait.
Since colonial times, the damming of streams and rivers throughout the state to provide power subsequently didn’t accommodate species that had lived in these waters since post-glaciation times. Not only did the mills pollute the water, but the dams prevented anadromous fish from ascending to their breeding grounds.
One species that must return to freshwater to spawn is the alewife. Nate Gray of ME IF&W, describes alewives as “king of the food chain” because so many animals devour them.
On the maine.gov Web site is the following information: “Alewives provide cover for upstream migrating adult salmon that may be preyed on by eagles or osprey, and for young salmon in the estuaries and open ocean that might be captured by seals. It is important to understand that alewives tie our ocean, rivers and lakes together, providing vital nutrients and forage needed to make healthy watersheds. Between and within those various habitats, everything eats alewives: striped bass, bluefish, tuna, cod, haddock, halibut, American eel, brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, landlocked salmon, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, pickerel, pike, white and yellow perch, seabirds, bald eagle, osprey, great blue heron, gulls, terns, cormorants, seals, whales, otter, mink, fox, raccoon, skunk, weasel, fisher and turtles.”

 

 

 

 

 


Thankfully, due to efforts in some towns and through the work of the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department and Marine Resources Department, fishways have been built to encourage the use of historical habitat. Examples of successful fishways can be seen in Damariscotta Mills, Webber Pond in Vassalboro and the Sebasticook River in Benton.
Such is not the case on Cobbosseecontee Stream, which flows twenty miles from the outlet of Cobbossee Lake in Manchester to the Kennebec River in Gardiner. Since the mid-1700s, dams were built along the stream to harness the kinetic energy of the water for mills and tanneries. Three of those dams are still exist and cut fish off from their spawning habitat.
Tina Wood, a student in the Maine Master Naturalist Program, recently heard Nate Gray speak during a class. “Since Nate Gray’s presentation,” says Tina, “I have been working on ways to gather folks together to help restore the alewives run on Cobbosseecontee Stream in downtown Gardiner. The Gardiner City Council has agreed to take up fish passage and has invited Nate to speak and has invited the Cobbossee Watershed Association to attend. As residents hear about it, many folks want to help. Nate’s presentation will probably be in mid-July, too late for our May run of alewives. Upstream, the name of our newly formed group, is holding an informational demonstration on Bridge Street on the bridge May 29th from 3:00-6:00PM in downtown Gardiner to hand out information, wave signs and direct folks to the first dam to see the alewives. Please come see what it looks like when our native species are unable to complete their life cycle. Cobbosseecontee Stream was first dammed in 1762. Even though lake towns petitioned for fish passage and a good many dedicated people have worked on this issue since 1771, the run has been blocked.”
Tina continues, “In 1792, my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Henry Wood, arrived in Winthrop and settled on a 200-acre parcel, Lot #10, that stretched from Cobbosseecontee Lake almost to Narrows Pond. His son, Enoch, took over the family farm and became a deacon for the Baptist Church in East Winthrop from the time of its organization in 1824. Enoch Wood became a selectman in 1795. (History of Winthrop 1771-1925) Did he too work for fish passage 220 years ago as a selectman for the town of Winthrop so the great sturgeon and alewives would return to their spawning grounds and feed a young town nestled between the lakes?”
We applaud the efforts of Tina and other members of Upstream as they work to find a creative way to restore native alewife runs, improve the water quality and natural habitat in the 200 square mile Cobbosseecontee watershed.
To learn about lakefront properties for sale on Cobbossee Lake, click on the green box above.
To learn more about the Cobbosseecontee Watershed in the Belgrade Lakes Region, check out the blog links below.
World Class Bass Fishing on Cobbosseeconte, one of Maine’s Top Lakes
Hamlets, Villages and Small Towns of the Winthrop Lakes Region of Maine
Pleasant Pond in Central Maine: Lakefront Views to Remember
 

 

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