ALEWIVES ATTRACT GULLS AND GAWKERS from Homepage



People also flock to the historic “fish ladder” to gawk at the phenomenon of alewives — an anadromous herring—as these determined fish fight their way up a steep hill against a gushing current. The fish rest in man-made rock pools along the “ladder.” On Mother’s Day, a couple said they traveled from Texas to see the fabled alewife run, perhaps the biggest on any Maine river.

The fourth annual fish ladder restoration festival took place May 28-30, with food, art, music and the centerpiece, the spectacle of the alewives going up the ladder. The alewife “run” here occurs from May to June.

These fish, once salted in barrels and shipped around the country for human consumption, are now mostly used for bait. Native Americans harvested alewives, which had clear passage through what is now Newcastle and Nobleboro until the 18th century-European invaders built a sawmill there, blocking passage for the fish. Decades passed and finally, in the early 1800s, the fish ladder was constructed—60 years after the government said the project was needed.

The taking of alewives, as it is called, is a tradition that goes back generations. Widows around Damariscotta Mills were entitled to free fish. Early settlers survived by eating alewives. Today, some 35 Maine towns allow commercial harvesting of alewives in various rivers and streams. Virtually that entire fishery is designated for lobster bait, prized by fishermen as some of the best available.

The dramatic decline in this once-plentiful fishery has been repeated over and over, as developers dammed rivers, and mills and municipalities polluted the water. The good news is that alewives can return to a river once it is clean enough and free of blockages.

The alewife life cycle is impressive. Alewives are several years old before male and female return to freshwater to spawn. A female can produce up to 100,000 eggs, but sometimes as few as three juvenile fish survive. The fish return to the sea over the summer and into fall.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources emphasizes the role of alewives in the ecosystem: “It is important to understand that alewives tie our ocean, rivers and lakes together, providing vital nutrients and forage needed to make healthy watersheds. Between and within those various habitats, everything eats alewives: striped bass, bluefish, tuna, cod, haddock, halibut, American eel, brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, landlocked salmon, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, pickerel, pike, white and yellow perch, seabirds, bald eagle, osprey, great blue heron, gulls, terns, cormorants, seals, whales, otter, mink, fox, raccoon, skunk, weasel, fisher, and turtles.”