Lobstermen, fishermen, tribes, guides, scientists, urge legislators to listen to science, and let native fish return to St. Croix River NRCM news release Augusta, Maine — Today, lobstermen, tribal representatives, Maine guides, fishermen, and scientists converged on the State House to urge passage of a bill that would finally allow St. Croix alewives to return Read More
Restoring Alewives in Maine Rivers
Throughout our history, NRCM has worked to support healthy fish populations returning to Maine’s rivers, and we’ve had big victories. With removal of the Edwards Dam in 1999 and the Fort Halifax Dam in 2008, more than two million alewives (river herring) now return to the Kennebec River each spring. The Penobscot River Restoration Project, completed in 2016, is also providing tremendous benefits for alewives and the full range of fish and wildlife in the Penobscot River and throughout the Gulf of Maine.
NRCM Testimony In Support of LD 72, An Act to Open the St. Croix River to River Herring and Opposed to LD 584, An Act to Provide for Passage of River Herring on the St. Croix River in Accordance with an Adaptive Management Plan
by Nick Bennett, NRCM Staff Scientist and Watersheds Project Director Good morning Senator Johnson, Representative Kumiega and members of the Marine Resources Committee. My name is Nick Bennett. I am Staff Scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM is Maine’s largest environmental advocacy group with over 12,000 members and supporters. I am testifying in support Read More
Alewives’ Passage in St. Croix Hinges on Passage of Bills in Augusta
by Colin Woodard, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story Though reduced in numbers, the St. Croix River’s alewives have a lot of friends. At a legislative hearing Monday, speaker after speaker rose in support of a bill that would open most of the fishways at most of the river’s dams immediately to the small Read More
Let Those Alewives Go
Bangor Daily News editorial The state committee charged with recommending whether to let alewives back into the upper reaches of the St. Croix River should base its decision on science, not anecdotes or politics, and approve a bill to allow the river herring unfettered access to spawning ground. Standing before the Committee on Marine Resources Read More
Maine Bill Seeks to Restore Alewives to St. Croix River
by Susan Sharon MPBN news story Scientists, tribal leaders and fishermen turned out in Augusta today in support of a proposal to immediately restore alewives to their traditional spawning grounds in the St. Croix River, along the eastern border with Canada. Alewives, or river herring, have been blocked for nearly two decades by a state Read More
Don’t Let This Legislation Get Away: Open the St. Croix to Alewives
by Dennis Damon Bangor Daily News op-ed The Marine Resources Committee and the Maine Legislature should act this session to pass legislation — LD 72, presented by Rep. Madonna Soctomah of the Passamaquoddy Tribe — that would remove the blockage it mandated in 1995 to stop native alewife from returning to the St. Croix River. Read More
Rival Measures Would Restore Alewives into the St. Croix
Gov. Paul LePage’s administration would move cautiously. A competing proposal would open river dams immediately. by Colin Woodard, staff writer Maine Sunday Telegram news story The future of spawning alewife runs in the St. Croix River will likely be decided by state lawmakers next month as they evaluate rival bills aimed at allowing the fish Read More
State Alewife Policy Hurts Fishing Industry
Stringent limits on the species’ reintroduction to the St. Croix River deprive fish harvesters of a critical source of bait. by Nick Bennett Maine Sunday Telegram op-ed AUGUSTA – Gov. LePage could have given a big boost to Maine lobstermen and fishermen by supporting full restoration of the alewife population in the St. Croix River. Read More
The St. Croix River Should Be Opened to Alewives
Bangor Daily News editorial It’s time alewives were allowed into the upper reaches of the St. Croix River. Research, in addition to dozens of ponds and streams in Maine, show that alewives can coexist with smallmouth bass. Until there is solid scientific evidence that bass populations will diminish with an influx of alewives north of Read More
