KENNEBEC RIVER DIADROMOUS FISH RESTORATION PROJECT

PURPOSE

The goal of the Kennebec River Diadromous Fish Restoration Project is to restore Maine’s native diadromous fishes to their historic range and abundance in the watershed. These species include the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), American shad (Alosa sapidissima), blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhinchus oxyrhinchus), shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum), rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), Atlantic tomcod (Microgadus tomcod), sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), and American eel (Anguilla rostrata).

Construction of Edwards Dam in 1837-1838 at the head-of-tide in Augusta coupled with overfishing and declining water quality caused dramatic declines in the abundance of these fishes in the watershed beginning in the mid-1800s.

MAJOR RESTORATION EVENTS

• 1987 – First settlement agreement signed
• 1998 – Second settlement agreement signed
• 1987 – 1999 DMR stocks nearly 644,000 adult alewife and 8.4 million American shad fry into spawning and nursery habitat
• 1999 – Removal of Edwards Dam
• 2002 – Fish passage completed at Plymouth Pond Dam
• 2002 – Guilford Dam removed
• 2003 – Fish passage completed at Sebasticook Lake Dam
• 2006 – Fishlift operational at Lockwood Project Dam
• 2006 – Fishlift operational at Benton Falls Project Dam
• 2006 – Fishlift operational at Burnham Project Dam
• 2006 – Removal of Madison Electric Works Project Dam
• 2009 – Removal of Fort Halifax Dam

 

The State of Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and municipalities that historically harvest
river herring operate under cooperative river specific management plans that guide conservation and
harvest of river herring resources within these municipalities. These plans promote and manage healthy
commercial and non-commercial river herring resources where they occur within the state. Maine
formalized mutual river herring management plan formats in 1950, though mutual management plans
existed prior to this date.

Directed municipal commercial harvest of alewife or blueback herring does not occur in nine of ten of
Maine’s largest rivers (Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Saco, St. Croix, Presumpscot, Machias,
Salmon Falls, and East Machias). There is a commercial fishery on the Sebasticook River, six miles
above its confluence with the Kennebec. Maine limits directed harvest in these rivers through time/area
closures and gear restrictions. These traditional conservation strategies allow alewife and blueback
herring unrestricted access to spawning habitats upstream. To further conserve existing river herring
populations in coastal waters this plan will prohibit the use of all gear types to fish for, catch, harvest, or
sell blueback herring or alewife (Alosa aestivalis, Alosa pseudoharengus), collectively know as river
herring in Maine territorial waters (inside three miles) with the exception of the permitted municipal
fisheries.

 

“Watershed” “Alewife
Potential” @235 fish/acre
“Saco River” “720,630”
“Presumpscot River” “147,700”
“Androscoggin River” “2,300,000”
“Kennebec River” “11,143,086”
“Union River” “2,000,000”
“Penobscot River” “14,561,305”
“St Croix River” “22,660,000”
“Damariscotta” “1,034,000”
“Total” “54,566,721”

Maine River Herring Sustainable Fishing Plan

 

 

6. Sustainability Target(s)

Definition – The number of alewife broodstock needed per surface area of spawning habitat in Maine
to provide alewife populations capable of sustaining annual alewife runs at current levels while
providing surplus broodstock for harvest or increasing run size in the future.
The sustainability target will provide an escapement number equal to 35-fish per surface acre of
spawning habitat. This plan will achieve escapements numbers through passage counts above
commercial fisheries, closed fishing days, season length, or continuous escapement.
Escapement levels of six fish per surface acre provide initial spawning populations of anadromous
alewife in Maine lakes and ponds consistent with multi-species fisheries management plans developed
with other Maine state agencies. This escapement number allows for a small commercial harvest or will
allow managers to increase spawning stock by passing all returns upstream.