The Alewife Harvesters of Maine is a group of alewife harvesters, conservation commissioners, biologists, and concerned citizens who have joined together to conserve alewives, and to preserve the river-fishing heritage of Maine.
http://www.alewifeharvesters.org (at present this website is down, 4-16-15)
Every year now lobstermen arrive at the Benton Dam to spend six weeks harvesting alewives. The alewife harvest has been going on in towns in Maine for 300 years or more. The modern day twist is that fishermen travel 100 miles from the coast inland to Benton Falls Dam to harvest alewives for bait for catching lobster. The lobsters like their alewives fresh so the timing is crucial. At the end of the day they load up crates of fish and drive 100 miles back home to stuff bait bags with fresh alewives and some will head out to load their traps. Most of the fish are used by our harvesters or sold to other lobstermen. During the season they will take about 1/4 of the total number of alewives who pass through the dam. They get $60.00 a crate for them. The Town of Benton takes one third. 
For three of the last four years I have spent at least one day at the lift photographing the harvesters, documenting the harvest. Each year it is a little different. In 2011 the water was very high. The harvesters set up on a ledge below the dam. To get to the ledge they had to climb down the ladder on the dam. They caught the fish with large scoop nets, packed them,and then had to transport the boxes across the river by pulley lines where they were loaded onto pickup trucks for the trip to the coast.
2011
In 2013 conditions were different. The river was lower and the ledge midstream was fully exposed. The fish were there in droves and the harvesters were up under the dam scooping them into a long dinghy and haul them over to the ledge where they were scooped into the tubs.
2013
As the fishery gets stronger the management changes. Fishermen/harvesters want the bait fish fresh so they want to draw out the harvest to match the demand.
2014
Everything Eats Alewives 