“Adult alewives are preferred bait for the spring lobster fishery. There are 35 Maine municipalities that have commercial harvesting rights to alewives on 39 streams and rivers. These runs provide revenue to the towns, many of which lease their fishing privileges to independent fishermen. Many of the fishways built for alewife restoration on some of our small coastal streams were partially funded by these municipalities because they recognized the value of this native fish species.After the Edwards Dam at the head of tide on the Kennebec came down in 1999 the way was clear for alewives to travel up the kennebec to the sebasticook and there they were stopped by the Halifax dam.” The Department of Marine Resources, as well as coastal municipalities granted the rights to river herring resources, cooperatively manage the municipal fisheries. Each town must submit an annual harvesting plan to DMR for approval that includes a three-day per week escapement period to assure conservation of the resource. Maine increased the weekly fishing closure from a 24-hour closure in the 1960s to 48-hour closure beginning in 1988. The closed period increased to 72-hours beginning in 1995 to further protect spawning fish.

Most towns operate a weir at one location on each stream and law prohibits fishing at any other location on the stream.  River herring runs not controlled by a municipality are governed by state law, which prohibits the taking or obstructing river herring passage from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM the following Sunday.  Landings data are compiled annually from voluntary reports provided by individual fishers who harvest on streams not regulated under a municipal plan. Law mandates that coastal municipalities granted harvesting rights to report annual landings or lose exclusive fishing rights. Harvest/landings data for 2006 were 1.2 million pounds from 12 watersheds, 11 of which were municipally controlled fisheries. Many municipal fisheries are closed for conservation purposes. The management approach for alewives initially focused on providing or improving fish passage on smaller coastal drainages.  The DMR has installed 17 fishways since 1969 and maintains 19 fishways from Cumberland County to Washington County.  It also assists in the operation and maintenance of 12 non-hydropower dams owned by other public entities. With the advent of better water quality in the larger river systems, DMR has actively sought installation of fish passage in hydroelectric dams licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A restoration plan for alewives in the Kennebec River watershed above Augusta is the result of a 1986 agreement with hydroelectric dam owners and environmental groups.  The plan called for stocking alewives in the program’s initial years to build up the population size, with eventual fish passage later. This agreement was modified in 1998 and incorporated into the Kennebec River Settlement Accord, resulting in the removal of the Edwards Dam in 1999, funding for the anadromous fish restoration program, and set new dates for fish passage. The alewife restoration program in the Kennebec River focuses on stocking lakes and ponds in the Sebasticook River watershed and the Seven Mile Stream drainage. http://www.maine.gov/dmr/searunfish/alewife/ http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules/13/188/ken-strat.pdf