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FROM THE CROWE’S NEST
Some kind of plan needs to be in place so someone can go fishing. But without some attention on one of the underlying reasons there are so few fish, none of these plans are likely to go anywhere in the long run. Fishermen for years have said ground fish stocks are starving. Scientists have documented the fact that cod and haddock are smaller today. With the alewife at record low levels and Atlantic herring driven out of the inshore areas, what would ground fish eat? A large crowd of fishermen, scientists, managers, and the general public came to Augusta March 3 to voice support of re-opening the St. Croix River to alewives. LD1957, the bill that will make this happen, can be the first step in restoring the massive resource for Maine fisheries that the alewife represents. The alewife is a keystone species in the food supply for ground fish in the Gulf of Maine. Most importantly, as a resource that sustains coastal fish populations, it in turn sustains local human populations as bait and food, and therefore communities. Hundreds of dams built on Maine rivers, beginning in the 1800’s, blocked much of the access to ponds where alewives spawned. In 1995 the lower St. Croix River fish ladders were blocked to alewives specifically. The rivers are public resources, using them for private gain has to be done with consideration for the whole public and the whole resource. Opening all rivers to alewife spawn is a cheap, easy fix for a major component of GOM fisheries. No NMFS, no endless meetings, no question it’s the right thing to do. To forego the rights and wishes of the many for the enrichment of a few is not a guiding principle of public resource management. The Gulf of Maine is the engine of the New England coastal economy. It cannot, and will not survive as a resource if it remains cut up into parts for various economic and political interests. |
