Mainers ask federal officials to consider sea-run fish in relicensing of Kennebec River dams
An employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service holds an Atlantic salmon. (Greg Thompson/USFWS)
More than 2,000 Mainers signed a petition asking federal officials to think about endangered Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish in the Kennebec River as regulators evaluate the licenses for four dams.
Local residents, fishing groups and the Wabanaki Tribes have long called for the removal of the four river dams between Waterville and Skowhegan because they block access to prime spawning habitats. The petition comes as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is accepting public input on a draft analysis that shows how the dams affect migratory fish passage as part of the relicensing process, which occurs roughly every 30 years.
The groups who would like to see the dams removed are opposed to the draft analysis because it proposes engineered fish passages that the Natural Resources Council of Maine said has failed in other parts of the U.S. including the Androscoggin River.
“These four dams provide very little power and do a lot of damage to an ecosystem that could be vibrant,” said Steve Brooke, a Farmingdale resident and retired senior planner from the State Planning Office. “We’ve already lost fisheries on all the big rivers south of us including the Connecticut and Merrimack because of failed fish passage proposals. Our Kennebec deserves better.”
Currently, sustaining Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec requires human intervention, as the Natural Resources Council of Maine explained. The Department of Marine Resources captures salmon at the Lockwood Dam in Waterville and transports them to the spawning habitat in the Sandy River. In 2023, more than 160 salmon were captured and moved. Additionally, the department plants millions of salmon eggs in the Sandy River watershed.
The public has until June 4 to submit written comments. Additionally, FERC is holding public hearings to get direct input from people who wish to comment. The first one is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Thomas College in Waterville and the following day another meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at the Augusta Civic Center.
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