Advocacy to Restore Alewife Passage to the St. Croix River:
St Croix River
In 1995, the Maine Legislature passed a law that prevented upstream fish passage for alewives at two dams on the St. Croix River, an international boundary water. The closing of the river came at the request of a handful of fishing guides in Washington County who believed that growing numbers of sea-run alewives had caused the collapse of Spednic Lake’s smallmouth bass populations in the 1980’s. There was no scientific evidence to support these claims. Nonetheless, the Legislature moved forward with the closure, over the objections of conservation organizations and fisheries experts on both sides of the border. Since the closing of the fish ways on the St. Croix, the alewife population has crashed, falling from a high of 2.6 million fish in 1987 to only 1,300 returning adults in 2007. Maine Rivers and allies have been advocating to reopen the river for this critical native species.
From the St. Croix Courier, 5/18/10
Maine Must Let Alewives Swim Free in St. Croix River, Editorial by Clinton B. Townsend in the Bangor Daily News, 6/19/09
Maine Must Let Alewives Swim Free in St. Croix River
Read the Petition to the International Joint Commission
Request to Governor Baldacci from the International Joint Commission, 7/10/09
Request to Governor Baldacci from the International Joint Commission, 7/10/09
International Joint Commission urges action to restore natural fish migration on St. Croix River, News release 7/16/09
Commission Urges Maine to Open St. Croix River to Sea-run Alewife, Working Waterfront, 7/22/09
Commission Urges Maine to Open St. Croix River, Working Waterfront
Have the Canadians and the Biologists Gone Berserk? Ocean and Coastal Law Journal: Vol 13, No.2, 2008
2008 Ocean and Coastal Law Journal Alewife Article[3]
St.Croix River: State of the Watershed Report, 2008
St. Croix State of the Watershed, 2008
St. Croix River Stand-Off by John Burrows
Maine Rivers: Two Reports on Alewives in the St Croix River, 2006
