#alewives — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #alewives, aggregated by home.social.
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4 Dams Set for Removal in #Maine Will Open Hundreds of Miles of #River for #Salmon, #Herring and #Sturgeon
By Andy Corbley, Oct 15, 2025
"In Maine, ownership of 4 large dams has been transferred to #TheNatureConservancy in a sale it hopes will return the river they operate on into prime habitat for salmon for the first time in a century.
"Operated by #BrookfieldRenewables, the dams along the lower #KennebecRiver prevent ocean going, freshwater fish like salmon from accessing #AncestralSpawningGrounds upriver.
"On September 15th, 2025, The Nature Conservancy (#TNC) and #Brookfield signed a purchase and sale agreement for the four dams totaling $138 million.
"The Kennebec River is fed by #SandyRiver in the heart of Maine before running down to the #GulfOfMaine past the towns of #SkowheganME and #WatervilleME. The Weston, Shawmut, #HydroKennebec, and Lockwood dams are located in intervals along this stretch, called the #LowerKennebec.
"The federal regulatory process for decommissioning a dam, as seen in the recent parallel in #California, where four dams were removed to make way for salmon, needed more than 5 years from start to finish. As a result, TNC will look to gather another $30 million in funding to create a nonprofit that will manage and oversee the decommissioning process, during which the dams could continue to generate power for 5 to 10 years.
"That would include working with Sappi North America, whose Somerset Mill, located between the town of Skowhegan and the #ShawmutDam, to find a solution to the company’s long-term water needs, which are currently met by this dam.
"Their twin goals in the decommissioning project are to return free-flowing conditions to the lower Kennebec River to support regionally-#endangered #NorthAtlanticSalmon, while doing so in collaboration with existing stakeholders in the dams’ activities, Sappi included.
" 'TNC and its partners are 100% committed to developing a solution with Sappi that fully addresses the Somerset Mill’s long-term water system needs,' the organization wrote in a statement. 'We understand the vital role of the Somerset Mill for the forest products industry and the state’s economy.'
"#AtlanticSalmon are considered near-threatened worldwide, but certain stocks in the North Atlantic have almost completely disappeared. Access to Sandy River via the lower Kennebec would open up hundreds of miles of prime habitat for spawning and coming of age.
"Brookfield maintains dams higher up the river, but these areas are considered to be of poor habitat quality. Those dams also happen to produce substantially more electricity than the dams along the lower stretch of the river—those set to be removed.
"The Maine Monitor reports that fishing advocacy groups have argued for the dam’s removal for 'decades.' #RiverHerring [#Alewives], the federally-protected #AtlanticSturgeon, and #AmericanEel all rely on Maine’s freshwater rivers to either spawn or feed before swimming out to sea.
"The current predicament finds around one-twelfth of the historic spawning population of Atlantic salmon returning to the Kennebec via the gulf, where they’re captured at #LockwoodDam and actually trucked up the roads past the next three dams to spawn. During the reverse journey many do not survive the journey to the gulf past the industrial infrastructure.
"The removal of the #KlamathRiver dams this time last year produced incredible results immediately, with fish finding their way back upstream far past the farthest dam to spawn within a single season, proving that ancestral instincts can remain intact despite generations of fish not being able to act on them.
"But examples also lie closer to home, with dams removed years past along another Maine river, the #PenobscotRiver, resulting in long-term economic and environmental improvements."
#SolarPunkSunday #DamRemoval #Maine #EndangeredSpecies #WaterIsLife
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4 Dams Set for Removal in #Maine Will Open Hundreds of Miles of #River for #Salmon, #Herring and #Sturgeon
By Andy Corbley, Oct 15, 2025
"In Maine, ownership of 4 large dams has been transferred to #TheNatureConservancy in a sale it hopes will return the river they operate on into prime habitat for salmon for the first time in a century.
"Operated by #BrookfieldRenewables, the dams along the lower #KennebecRiver prevent ocean going, freshwater fish like salmon from accessing #AncestralSpawningGrounds upriver.
"On September 15th, 2025, The Nature Conservancy (#TNC) and #Brookfield signed a purchase and sale agreement for the four dams totaling $138 million.
"The Kennebec River is fed by #SandyRiver in the heart of Maine before running down to the #GulfOfMaine past the towns of #SkowheganME and #WatervilleME. The Weston, Shawmut, #HydroKennebec, and Lockwood dams are located in intervals along this stretch, called the #LowerKennebec.
"The federal regulatory process for decommissioning a dam, as seen in the recent parallel in #California, where four dams were removed to make way for salmon, needed more than 5 years from start to finish. As a result, TNC will look to gather another $30 million in funding to create a nonprofit that will manage and oversee the decommissioning process, during which the dams could continue to generate power for 5 to 10 years.
"That would include working with Sappi North America, whose Somerset Mill, located between the town of Skowhegan and the #ShawmutDam, to find a solution to the company’s long-term water needs, which are currently met by this dam.
"Their twin goals in the decommissioning project are to return free-flowing conditions to the lower Kennebec River to support regionally-#endangered #NorthAtlanticSalmon, while doing so in collaboration with existing stakeholders in the dams’ activities, Sappi included.
" 'TNC and its partners are 100% committed to developing a solution with Sappi that fully addresses the Somerset Mill’s long-term water system needs,' the organization wrote in a statement. 'We understand the vital role of the Somerset Mill for the forest products industry and the state’s economy.'
"#AtlanticSalmon are considered near-threatened worldwide, but certain stocks in the North Atlantic have almost completely disappeared. Access to Sandy River via the lower Kennebec would open up hundreds of miles of prime habitat for spawning and coming of age.
"Brookfield maintains dams higher up the river, but these areas are considered to be of poor habitat quality. Those dams also happen to produce substantially more electricity than the dams along the lower stretch of the river—those set to be removed.
"The Maine Monitor reports that fishing advocacy groups have argued for the dam’s removal for 'decades.' #RiverHerring [#Alewives], the federally-protected #AtlanticSturgeon, and #AmericanEel all rely on Maine’s freshwater rivers to either spawn or feed before swimming out to sea.
"The current predicament finds around one-twelfth of the historic spawning population of Atlantic salmon returning to the Kennebec via the gulf, where they’re captured at #LockwoodDam and actually trucked up the roads past the next three dams to spawn. During the reverse journey many do not survive the journey to the gulf past the industrial infrastructure.
"The removal of the #KlamathRiver dams this time last year produced incredible results immediately, with fish finding their way back upstream far past the farthest dam to spawn within a single season, proving that ancestral instincts can remain intact despite generations of fish not being able to act on them.
"But examples also lie closer to home, with dams removed years past along another Maine river, the #PenobscotRiver, resulting in long-term economic and environmental improvements."
#SolarPunkSunday #DamRemoval #Maine #EndangeredSpecies #WaterIsLife
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#DamRemoval Efforts Lead to a Stunning Comeback for #Maine’s #Alewives
Along most of the Atlantic coast, alewives are struggling after decades of damming and #overfishing. But in Maine, the fish is rebounding—and towns’ historic harvests are growing.
By Sydney Cromwell
July 6, 2026Excerpt:
"[The Alewife or River Herring] lives mostly in the Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to South Carolina, but in early summer the adults migrate as far as 100 miles inland to spawn in ponds and lakes."Alewives aren’t considered a game fish, though some people do catch and smoke them. But they are a linchpin for Maine’s river ecosystems—one that basically disappeared from many of those rivers for decades.
"They act as a 'biological conveyor belt' of nutrients between the ocean and inland waters, said Rustin Taylor, the executive director of the Alewife Harvesters of Maine.
"Seals, otters, bald eagles, ospreys, pollock, trout and other carnivores eat alewives. The fish fed generations of Native communities and colonial and industrial American towns. The #Passamaquoddy tribe’s name for the species, #siqonomeq, translates to 'the fish that feeds all.' "
Read more:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06072026/maine-dam-removal-efforts-lead-to-fish-comeback/#SolarPunkSunday #KeystoneSpecies #TraditionalFoods #Wildlife #WaterIsLife #Fish #RiverEcosystems #Fishing
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#DamRemoval Efforts Lead to a Stunning Comeback for #Maine’s #Alewives
Along most of the Atlantic coast, alewives are struggling after decades of damming and #overfishing. But in Maine, the fish is rebounding—and towns’ historic harvests are growing.
By Sydney Cromwell
July 6, 2026Excerpt:
"[The Alewife or River Herring] lives mostly in the Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to South Carolina, but in early summer the adults migrate as far as 100 miles inland to spawn in ponds and lakes."Alewives aren’t considered a game fish, though some people do catch and smoke them. But they are a linchpin for Maine’s river ecosystems—one that basically disappeared from many of those rivers for decades.
"They act as a 'biological conveyor belt' of nutrients between the ocean and inland waters, said Rustin Taylor, the executive director of the Alewife Harvesters of Maine.
"Seals, otters, bald eagles, ospreys, pollock, trout and other carnivores eat alewives. The fish fed generations of Native communities and colonial and industrial American towns. The #Passamaquoddy tribe’s name for the species, #siqonomeq, translates to 'the fish that feeds all.' "
Read more:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06072026/maine-dam-removal-efforts-lead-to-fish-comeback/#SolarPunkSunday #KeystoneSpecies #TraditionalFoods #Wildlife #WaterIsLife #Fish #RiverEcosystems #Fishing
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Alewives (fish) migration is in full swing at the NewPort Maine fish ladder.
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Alewives (fish) migration is in full swing at the NewPort Maine fish ladder.
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The dam is turning into a quite the local fight with the restaurants and some residents not wanting any changes but it's obsolete, blocks fish and needs maintenance.
I think a restoration of the original falls could be just as pretty.
Where I grew up (Mass) we had herring runs every spring. That could give downtown Camden a little tourism boost before the big summer crowds come. -
The dam is turning into a quite the local fight with the restaurants and some residents not wanting any changes but it's obsolete, blocks fish and needs maintenance.
I think a restoration of the original falls could be just as pretty.
Where I grew up (Mass) we had herring runs every spring. That could give downtown Camden a little tourism boost before the big summer crowds come. -
Sinking in Saltwater: #Maine’s #coastal #marshes at risk as sea levels rise
Between 28 and 57 percent of the state’s coastal marshes could disappear by the end of the century, victims of a rising sea, coastal #development and #PollutedRunoff.
By
Kate Cough
July 28, 2024PORTLAND — "It takes hundreds of years for a #SaltMarsh to form, for fine sediment brought in on the tides to settle in sections of shoreline sheltered from the worst of the wind and waves. As salt-tolerant plants — smooth #cordgrass, #SaltmarshHay, #saltgrass, #BlackRush — begin to grow, their dense stems and roots trap more sediment, and the marsh builds more rapidly, up and out.
"#Crabs, #shrimp and #worms arrive, drawn to the rich food of dying marsh grasses, followed by a variety of #fish — #alewives, #StripedBass, #smelt and Sea-run #BrookTrout among them — many of which eventually migrate between the marsh and the sea.
logo for the sinking in saltwater series"Acre by acre, a healthy salt marsh anchors a #FoodWeb 'more productive than most midwestern #farmland,' according to a 2003 paper published by the University of Maine.
"The same dense grasses that are so good at trapping silt also excel at ensnaring pollutants, pulling out nitrogen and nutrients that cause #AlgalBlooms, and burying #toxic #contaminants in the peat.
"Once established, plants in salt marshes grow quickly, fed by the rich soil, and pull #carbon from the atmosphere. Salt marshes are ten times more effective at storing carbon than tropical forests, and, left undisturbed, can trap the gas in the ground for centuries, a phenomenon scientists refer to as 'blue carbon.'
"Maine has some of the most extensive blue carbon reservoirs in the northeast — second only to Massachusetts, according to a study published by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2023.
"But as sea levels rise and development presses in, these reservoirs, and the habitats they create, are at risk of disappearing.
"An analysis by the University of Maine suggests that a significant portion of the Maine’s salt marshes — between 28 and 57 percent, depending on the sea level rise scenario — could be gone by the end of the century. They are also threatened by polluted runoff from #pesticides, #septic systems and #AgriculturalWaste.
"'The decisions Mainers make over the next 10 years are going to determine whether these important ecosystems persist,' said Bates professor Beverly Johnson, who has been studying blue carbon for years, speaking to The #MaineClimateCouncil in December.
"Over the past 25 years, nearly 300 acres of Maine’s wetlands — both fresh and saltwater — have been impacted by or lost to development, according to a Press Herald/Maine Monitor analysis of data from the state’s In Lieu Fee Compensation Program. The program allows developers to fill or convert certain #wetlands if they pay a fee, money that is used for conservation projects elsewhere."
Read more:
https://themainemonitor.org/sinking-in-saltwater/#BlueCarbon #SeaLevelRise #SaveTheMarshes #SaveTheWetlands #SaveSearsIsland #ScarboroughMarsh #SaveSmilingHillFarm #GorhamConnector #RedBrook #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #PesticideRunoff #SewageRunOff #Pollution #WebOfLife
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Sinking in Saltwater: #Maine’s #coastal #marshes at risk as sea levels rise
Between 28 and 57 percent of the state’s coastal marshes could disappear by the end of the century, victims of a rising sea, coastal #development and #PollutedRunoff.
By
Kate Cough
July 28, 2024PORTLAND — "It takes hundreds of years for a #SaltMarsh to form, for fine sediment brought in on the tides to settle in sections of shoreline sheltered from the worst of the wind and waves. As salt-tolerant plants — smooth #cordgrass, #SaltmarshHay, #saltgrass, #BlackRush — begin to grow, their dense stems and roots trap more sediment, and the marsh builds more rapidly, up and out.
"#Crabs, #shrimp and #worms arrive, drawn to the rich food of dying marsh grasses, followed by a variety of #fish — #alewives, #StripedBass, #smelt and Sea-run #BrookTrout among them — many of which eventually migrate between the marsh and the sea.
logo for the sinking in saltwater series"Acre by acre, a healthy salt marsh anchors a #FoodWeb 'more productive than most midwestern #farmland,' according to a 2003 paper published by the University of Maine.
"The same dense grasses that are so good at trapping silt also excel at ensnaring pollutants, pulling out nitrogen and nutrients that cause #AlgalBlooms, and burying #toxic #contaminants in the peat.
"Once established, plants in salt marshes grow quickly, fed by the rich soil, and pull #carbon from the atmosphere. Salt marshes are ten times more effective at storing carbon than tropical forests, and, left undisturbed, can trap the gas in the ground for centuries, a phenomenon scientists refer to as 'blue carbon.'
"Maine has some of the most extensive blue carbon reservoirs in the northeast — second only to Massachusetts, according to a study published by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2023.
"But as sea levels rise and development presses in, these reservoirs, and the habitats they create, are at risk of disappearing.
"An analysis by the University of Maine suggests that a significant portion of the Maine’s salt marshes — between 28 and 57 percent, depending on the sea level rise scenario — could be gone by the end of the century. They are also threatened by polluted runoff from #pesticides, #septic systems and #AgriculturalWaste.
"'The decisions Mainers make over the next 10 years are going to determine whether these important ecosystems persist,' said Bates professor Beverly Johnson, who has been studying blue carbon for years, speaking to The #MaineClimateCouncil in December.
"Over the past 25 years, nearly 300 acres of Maine’s wetlands — both fresh and saltwater — have been impacted by or lost to development, according to a Press Herald/Maine Monitor analysis of data from the state’s In Lieu Fee Compensation Program. The program allows developers to fill or convert certain #wetlands if they pay a fee, money that is used for conservation projects elsewhere."
Read more:
https://themainemonitor.org/sinking-in-saltwater/#BlueCarbon #SeaLevelRise #SaveTheMarshes #SaveTheWetlands #SaveSearsIsland #ScarboroughMarsh #SaveSmilingHillFarm #GorhamConnector #RedBrook #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #PesticideRunoff #SewageRunOff #Pollution #WebOfLife
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When I was stopping by the Fish Ladder in town to check out the Alewife run (as one does....) 2 loons popped up not 15 feet away. They were hunting the area at the top of the ladder...
Absolutely stunning birds!
No pictures because in this case - experience over photos!There was a school of alewives waiting to go up the ladder - first I've seen that!
#Nature #birds #birding #aleWives #Maine #Newport #sebasticook #fishing
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When I was stopping by the Fish Ladder in town to check out the Alewife run (as one does....) 2 loons popped up not 15 feet away. They were hunting the area at the top of the ladder...
Absolutely stunning birds!
No pictures because in this case - experience over photos!There was a school of alewives waiting to go up the ladder - first I've seen that!
#Nature #birds #birding #aleWives #Maine #Newport #sebasticook #fishing
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It's almost time for the Maine Alewife herring run! This is when massive quantities of Alewives (an 8 to 10 inch fish) migrates upstream to spawn.
The river can be wall to wall fish.
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It's almost time for the Maine Alewife herring run! This is when massive quantities of Alewives (an 8 to 10 inch fish) migrates upstream to spawn.
The river can be wall to wall fish.
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Check out my latest blog entry about Clinch River Brewing and head brewer Alex Shirey! https://alewivesandbrewsters.com/ #WomenInBeer #WomenBrewers #AYearForArt #Alewives #OriginalBrewersWereWomen
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Check out my latest blog entry about Clinch River Brewing and head brewer Alex Shirey! https://alewivesandbrewsters.com/ #WomenInBeer #WomenBrewers #AYearForArt #Alewives #OriginalBrewersWereWomen
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An Osprey with snack, from last weekend. Liked the light in this one.
#osprey #birds #wildlife #birdphotography #nature #herringrun #alewives #wareham #massachusetts #wildmassachusetts #naturalmassachusetts #massachusettswildlife
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An Osprey with snack, from last weekend. Liked the light in this one.
#osprey #birds #wildlife #birdphotography #nature #herringrun #alewives #wareham #massachusetts #wildmassachusetts #naturalmassachusetts #massachusettswildlife
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Another shot of the Osprey feeding at the Agawam River herring ladder over the weekend.
#osprey #birds #wildlife #birdphotography #nature #herringrun #alewives #wareham #massachusetts #wildmassachusetts #naturalmassachusetts #massachusettswildlife
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Another shot of the Osprey feeding at the Agawam River herring ladder over the weekend.
#osprey #birds #wildlife #birdphotography #nature #herringrun #alewives #wareham #massachusetts #wildmassachusetts #naturalmassachusetts #massachusettswildlife
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Been keeping an eye on the herring ladder over on the Agawam for the last few weekends. Last few weeks had lots of birds squabbling over perches, but no herring.
Got there today to find thousands of fish, but no Osprey.
Gave it about an hour, and then the show started. I'll probably share a few more over the next few days.
#osprey #birds #wildlife #birdphotography #nature #herringrun #alewives #wareham #massachusetts #wildmassachusetts #naturalmassachusetts #massachusettswildlife
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Been keeping an eye on the herring ladder over on the Agawam for the last few weekends. Last few weeks had lots of birds squabbling over perches, but no herring.
Got there today to find thousands of fish, but no Osprey.
Gave it about an hour, and then the show started. I'll probably share a few more over the next few days.
#osprey #birds #wildlife #birdphotography #nature #herringrun #alewives #wareham #massachusetts #wildmassachusetts #naturalmassachusetts #massachusettswildlife
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History buffs! Can anyone recommend a good book about ale wives? Many thanks! 🙏 #historians #twitterstorians #history #AleWives