the river has come a long way from zero alewives per sq mile but there is a ways to go

“We are into roughly 45% of the historical habitat for alewives on the Sebasticook proper. @ 800 square miles for the Sebasticook drainage that puts us at 320 fish per sq/mi. We’ve come a long way since “Zero” /sq.mi.”

Nate Gray

A very successful beginning has been made. If you follow the river north in the town of Burnham the river splits to east and west. On both there are a series of dams that once ran great mills, all silent now.

And then there is Outlet Stream that connects China Lake to the lower Sebasticook. The special thing about China Lake ecologically is that it provides perfect alewife spawning habitat with rich shallows and warm waters. It could play a large role in restoring the fishery and by extension, the larger watershed.

Outlet Stream has been a working stream for over three hundred years. Dams have served many purposes since the beginning of the European settlements: Two dams ran mills in North Vassalboro. One later powered a trolley line to Waterville. One ran a sawmill in East Vassalboro. All are quiet now. What remains are swimming holes, fishing holes, sitting places and memories.

In 2014 21,000 alewives, male and female, were trapped and trucked from the Lockwood Dam at Waterville and released in China Lake. This past fall many thousand young of the year managed to get back downstream by throwing themselves over the dams . But Their journey is incomplete. In four years they will try to return to China Lake to spawn and right now they can’t. Six dams stand in their way.

October 12, 13, and 14, 2014 we observed small the Young of Year from China Lake tackling, the last dam, the Box Mill Dam in North Vassalboro during their outmigration. The fry puddled up at the top of the dam and circled . The dam has a drop of 8 feet. They have already gone over five dams in less than 8 miles. They are three to five inches long. They are battle weary. Some are lost at every dam and yet as you can see there are thousands coming down.

In a few days they will be at Merrymeeting Bay where they will rest and begin to feed before entering the the Gulf of Maine.

It is awe inspiring how the four inch long young fish circle up and throw themselves over the 8′ drop at the Box Mill dam heading out to sea. It is even more amazing to see the adults muscle their way over rocks and other obstacles to get to spawning ground. We humans respond to their strength and resolve. Their determination strengthens us and softens us all at once. We cannot look away. We want them to make it home.