1. Kennebec River Watershed Anadromous Fish Restoration Maine Department of Marine Resources 21 State House Station Augusta, Maine 04333-0021

3. State of Maine Anadromous Fisheries Goals State of Maine Statewide Fisheries Management Plan, June 1982 To restore, maintain, and enhance anadromous fish resources for the benefit of the people of Maine To provide increased employment through the expansion of commercial and recreational fisheries for anadromous fish resources.

4. Kennebec River Watershed Fisheries Restoration Goal Restore river herring, American shad, striped bass, rainbow smelt,Atlantic sturgeon, and shortnose sturgeon, to their historic range

5. Strategic and Operational Plan for the Restoration of Shad and Alewives Goal: To restore the alewife and shad resources to their historical range in the Kennebec River system –Objective: To achieve and annual production of 6.0 million alewives above Augusta –Objective: To achieve an annual production of 725,000 shad above Augusta

7. Anadromous Life History 1 - 5 years FW SW adult egg 1 summer in FW juvenile 3-5 years in SW

8. Alewife life history Adults migrate upriver from the ocean to spawn in lakes and ponds at ages 4- 9 from mid-May to early June (repeat spawn) Juveniles migrate downstream from lakes to ocean in August-Sept Planktonic feeders primarily Range from Newfoundland to North Carolina

10. Importance of Alewives Important prey fish for coastal and inland fish species Important prey source for bald eagles, osprey, king fishers, fur bearing mammals Important source of bait for the spring lobster fishery

11. Bald eagle Osprey Great blue heronCormorant

12. Belted king fisher Herring gull Black backed gullMallard

13. Common MerganserHooded merganser Common loon Black duck

14. Raccoon River otter Mink Weasel

15. Humpback whale Harbor porpoise Harbor sealFinback whale

16. Atlantic cod Atlantic halibut Atlantic salmon Striped bass

17. Bluefish Haddock American eel Swordfish

18. Landlocked salmon Brook trout Chain pickerelWhite perch

19. Yellow perch Largemouth bass Smallmouth bass Redbreast sunfish

23. Causes of decline Lack of access to upstream spawning and nursery habitat and access downstream to the ocean due to dams Degraded habitat Poor water quality Soil erosion Reduced riparian cover Overfishing

24. Dams in Maine

26. Restoration Actions Trap, transfer and release returning adult alewives in lake spawning habitat Improve upstream and downstream fish passage

27. Edwards dam spring 1999 Edwards dam fall 1999 Before After

28. Fort Halifax dam Lower most dam on Sebasticook River 2008

29. Ft. Halifax late summer 2008

30. Northern pike White catfish

31. Ft. Halifax goldfish

32. Common carp