Senator Carson, Representative Tucker, and members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. My name is Nick Bennett, and I am the Staff Scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM is Maine’s largest environmental advocacy group with more than 20,000 members and supporters. I am testifying in support of LD 817. As 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.
Restoration of Alewives in Maine Rivers is No Fish Tale
Some animal migrations are large and obvious. I’ve seen many films of giant wildebeest herds moving across the plains in Africa numbering in the hundreds of thousands. I’ve been to South Dakota to hunt the spring migration of snow geese on their way to arctic breeding areas. I stayed in the small city of Aberdeen, Read More
Conservation Projects Have Let ‘Astounding’ Number of Alewives Return to Maine Rivers
By A.J. Higgins Maine Public news story Watch videos. Alewives, or river herring, are making their usual spawning migration to Maine in unusually high numbers this year, thanks in part to restoration efforts and the removal of dams on the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers. Because they serve as a food source for several fish species Read More
The Return of Alewives to This Bangor-area Stream is an Epic Success Story
By John Holyoke, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story BRADLEY, Maine — The old saying about migrating fish holds that during the peak of a run, it’d be possible to walk from stream bank to stream bank on the backs of the fish, and never get your feet wet. While most of us don’t Read More
Plan to Allow Alewives, Eels in Sheepscot Pond Might be Delayed Again
State lawmakers said at a work session Wednesday they want to see management information before the fishway at the Palermo lake is opened. by Jessica Lowell, staff writer Central Maine newspapers news story AUGUSTA — People who live around Sheepscot Pond lined up last week to tell state lawmakers that the lake should not be Read More
NRCM Testimony in Support of LD 922, “An Act Directing the Commissioner of Marine Resources To Investigate the Conditions of Sheepscot Pond Related to a Management Plan for Anadromous Fish Species”
Senator Maker, Representative Kumiega, and members of the Marine Resources Committee: My name is Nick Bennett, and I am the Staff Scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM is Maine’s largest environmental advocacy group with more than 20,000 members and supporters. I am testifying in support of LD 922. This bill would Read More
NRCM Testimony in Opposition to LD 1667, “An Act To Prohibit the Entry of Anadramous Fish Species into Sheepscot Pond for 3 Years and To Study the Consequences of the Presence of Anadromous Fish in Sheepscot Pond”
Senator Cyrway, Representative Duchesne, and members of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) Committee: My name is Nick Bennett, and I am the Staff Scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM is Maine’s largest environmental advocacy group with more than 20,000 members and supporters. I am testifying in opposition to LD 1667, Read More
State Considers Taking Over Dam on Popular Fishing Lake
by Fred Bever Maine Public news story Listen to full news story. Gov. Paul LePage wants the state to take over a small dam in northern Maine that straddles the border with Canada on the St. Croix River. It’s one option to prevent its total abandonment by the paper company that now owns it. But Read More
Taking Down Dams and Letting the Fish Flow
By Murray Carpenter, staff writer New York Times news story BANGOR, Me. — Joseph Zydlewski, a research biologist with the Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit of the United States Geological Survey, drifted in a boat on the Penobscot River, listening to a crackling radio receiver. The staccato clicks told him that one of Read More
