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DMR Home > About DMR > Sea-Run Fish > Programs & Projects > Kennebec R. Restoration

Kennebec River Diadromous Fish Restoration Project

Purpose

The goal of the Kennebec River Diadromous Fish Restoration Project is to restore Maine’s native diadromous fishes to their historic range and abundance in the watershed. These species include the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), American shad (Alosa sapidissima), blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhinchus oxyrhinchus), shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum), rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), Atlantic tomcod (Microgadus tomcod), sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), and American eel (Anguilla rostrata).

Construction of Edwards Dam in 1837-1838 at the head-of-tide in Augusta coupled with overfishing and declining water quality caused dramatic declines in the abundance of these fishes in the watershed beginning in the mid-1800s.

Major restoration events

  • 1987 - First settlement agreement signed
  • 1998 - Second settlement agreement signed
  • 1987 - 1999 DMR stocks nearly 644,000 adult alewife and 8.4 million American shad fry into spawning and nursery habitat
  • 1999 - Removal of Edwards Dam
  • 2002 - Fish passage completed at Plymouth Pond Dam
  • 2002 - Guilford Dam removed
  • 2003 - Fish passage completed at Sebasticook Lake Dam
  • 2006 - Fishlift operational at Lockwood Project Dam
  • 2006 - Fishlift operational at Benton Falls Project Dam
  • 2006 - Fishlift operational at Burnham Project Dam
  • 2006 - Removal of Madison Electric Works Project Dam
  • 2009 - Removal of Fort Halifax Dam

Fish Counts

DMR maintains fish counts at the first dam on the Kennebec River (Lockwood) and the Sebasticook River (Benton Falls).

Total Numbers of fish passed or trapped in 2011
 
Benton Falls
Lockwood
River Herring
2,751,473
37,846
Shad 54 12
Atlantic Salmon 0 57
Landlocked Salmon 11 95
Brown Trout 6 22
Brook Trout 9 3
Rainbow Trout 0 4
Lake Trout 0 0
Splake 0 1
Smallmouth Bass 518 110
Largemouth Bass 2 10
Striped Bass 0 8
Redbreast Sunfish 5 49
Pumpkinseed Sunfish 10 4
Yellow Perch 2 508
White Perch 47 27
Black Crappie 10 3
White Sucker 439 98
Carp 2 0
Fallfish 5 16
Creek Chub 0 0
Golden Shiner 0 0
Common Shiner 0 0
Northern Pike 2 0
Chain Pickerel 1 1
Brown Bulhead 0 0
White Catfish 0 8
American Eel 7 46
Sea Lamprey 1 15

 

This page was last updated October 11, 2011.