Bremen Alewives

Update 6-11-10


Another alewife run is on in Muscongus Brook.  It is hard to guess the numbers this time as the brook is running quite high. Perhaps 500.  These fish surely came in during last nights extra high tide as I  found none yesterday.  By 2:30pm today they were already several found above the southern  culvert and dozens moving up the fish ladder and into the culvert.  With the water running so well in the brook, I can't imagine better conditions for this effort.  I bet more fish come in the next 2 nights as the tides will be yet  higher.

The fishing gear restrictions have been temporarily lifted for Bremen.  This was decided at the special town meeting on Wednesday by MEDMR Commissioner Lapointe.  Quite a bit of anger was being directed at our alewife restoration efforts, as it was felt that this work brought on the local fishing closures.  These new  
restrictions were a complete surprise to the fishermen. Credit is due to the local lobster community for rallying in such force.

A few poachers were spotted in the brook about a week and a half ago.  I suspect this was a result of the area closures.  Bait must be had one way or another.


Update 5-28-10


Last nights full moon high tide should have been great incentive for alewives to run into Muscongus Brook. Unfortunately is was only good.

My inspection this morning did reveal ~ 3-400 new dark alewives crowding
up in only the lowest few pools of the brook. Many fish were still in the pools
below the average high tide line, attracting lots of birds. These fish
apparently came in as the tide was falling in the early morning hours. In fact I
found a hundred or so that became trapped (strained out) and died in the falling tide
between a jumble of rocks. My fear is these alewife were held back from running
during the rising tide by elver fishermen. I wasn't there however.

I collected the dead alewives (2, 5 gallon buckets +) and gave them to
a lobster fisherman, of which I have been trying to keep him from taking the lives ones.

These somewhat cooler days may inspire more run attempts this weekend. I still haven't seen any mass of alewife as far as the old mill. A few have been seen above the southern RT 32 culvert. Perhaps this afternoon the ladder will be in action as these new recruits push the others further upstream.


Update 5-25-10

Last nights high tide did not bring any alewives into Muscongus Brook.  I was
at the high tide line with 4 elver fishermen. I watched the school approach the
mouth of the brook a few times, but there was always one guy with his light
and dip net spooking them back out.  Frustrating. Perhaps other conditions
held them out.???

The alewife that came in on Sunday evenings tide continue to advance their way
towards Webber Pond. Many have ascended the fish ladder and are holding up
inside the southern culvert.  I can see their fins breaking the surface in there.
I have sandbags retaining water here. Otherwise they'd wash back out.  I have seen
a few in the brook above the southern culvert.

This morning I found 2 dead alewives stuck in rocks quite close to the pond at the old mill. At 4:15 pm I found a single fish holding its place behind a rock inside the north culvert. Most fish are still below the old mill.  I continually pry rocks apart here for better fish passage.

Some are quite close to the pond and it is possible that a few may have already reached it. They become hard to find in such small numbers above the north RT 32 culvert.

Water temp at 4pm at the ladder was 28.1 deg C!!.(~ 82 deg F) Dissolved O2 was at 97.3% for the fish-heads in the group. No fish moving during the hottest parts of the days lately....just holding in the pools.



Update 5-23-10


They just started coming in at the top of the tide tonight. Not sure if they will advance or head back out tonight. I've seen both things happen. They were held back in the harbor to some extent by 3 elver fishermen with lights and sweeping nets.


Update 5-17-10


A  strange year for alewife runs in Maine, and to the south. What started as unusually early runs
(April 4th in Jefferson) in parts of Maine, has found them somewhat standoff-ish in many other
runs in the mid-coast lately.  Muscongus Brook in Bremen has always started late; around Memorial Day. During high tides lately the harbor will show a couple of cormorants and sometimes loons, diving with purpose. An osprey and eagle have been reported near the mouth of the brook. A great blue heron well up into the brook may signify a few scout
alewife have already explored a bit inland. I see nothing, but I trust the birds.

I plan to install the fish ladder tomorrow morning, Tue the 18th.  The water in the brook is running at a trickle today with the recent dry spell.  Good conditions for working below the RT 32 culvert.

I hung a few "no taking alewives" signs along the brook recently. I hated doing this, but I have heard some folks are already looking for these alewives as a bait supplement.  If any alewives run the brook, they will be at least 5 years old. This makes these fish survivors of previous runs, and therefor their genetics crucially important to the future of Webber Ponds alewife population.



Contributor - David Wilkins

I imagine spring times past when hardly a single, brook, stream or river along the Atlantic seaboard was not full of river herring for a month or more time. These mass migrations of slippery, silver alewives and kin, were for as long as can be remembered, assumed and predictable.  Native Americans called them “aloof” and showed the first Europeans how to fertilize crops with them.  Many species of wildlife, from both maritime and inland waters, would consume a percentage of these annual transient visitors as a part of sustaining their own life cycles. Unfortunately since the 1980’s river herring populations have been in a steep decline. Their absence is often due to the alewife’s inability to access historic spawning grounds.

The Muscongus Pond Association began steps toward alewife restoration in 2002.  This was an attempt to reconnect Bremen’s Webber Pond to Muscongus Bay. Two sets of road culverts and crumbling stone works at an old dam are to blame for the alewive’s absence in this part of town. Our ongoing project began with stone removal and stream widening at the old Webber Mill. (This area will need more work still. ) Since that time, The Maine Department of Marine Resources has stocked Webber Pond with spawning alewives to accelerate this restoration process. 

Beginning in 2007, alewives have annually returned to their historic waters of Muscongus Brook in Bremen, bound for Webber Pond.  However it was not until spring 2009 that some actually swam the entire stream and into Webber Pond. This was no small feat, and was only accomplished with the installation of an elaborate fish ladder at the southern RT 32 culvert.

At first it seemed unfortunate that MEDMR could not stock Webber with adult alewives in 2009.  This however proved that the young alewives found leaving Webber Pond last October could only have been spawned from those adults having reached the pond via the brook in the spring of 2009. This also proved that the southern RT 32 culvert was what was responsible for the alewives absence in Webber’s watershed.

Update 5-12-10

Today it is May 12, 2010.  I wait with crossed fingers for news about possible grant funding for removal of the 3 major barriers in the brook.  The northern culvert is quite rusted and collapsing under the road.  This is a public safety issue
as RT 32 could wash out here.  Alewives could barely pass this decaying culvert in 2009. Regardless of funding, this area is expected to be the first major project in the brook as it has long since exceeded its life expectancy.

A completely new fish ladder will be placed below the southern culvert quite soon.  The run into Webber Pond begins generally at the end of May. I have found them running the brook as late as the first week in July.  I check the lower stretches of the brook every day now for alewives.

Check this section for updates.

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