Native Maine fish returns to lake on their own for first time in hundreds of years
There is excitement surrounding the return of a certain type of fish to Central Maine's China Lake.
As of this month, native alewives are reaching the lake on their own. It's the first time since the days of the revolutionary war.
"This is really kind of a fascinating thing considering how long China Lake hasn't had these native fish in it,” Nate Gray told WMTW.
Gray is a scientist at the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
It’s been more than two centuries since native alewives arrived from the Gulf of Maine, swimming past the outlet dam into the China Lake.
Landis Hudson, the executive director of the organization Maine Rivers, said the spot was the last site they worked on over the summer.
Her group spearheaded the nearly decade-long alewife restoration initiative, clearing the final seven-mile pathway between the lake and Kennebec River, including six dams.
"Old dams that didn’t' produce power and each had to be essentially fixed so that these native, migratory fish could make it from the ocean safely into the lake then turn around and get back out,” Hudson said.
Each dam was a project. Three dams were outright removed and the other three had fish ladders installed.
Those ladders are all precise and costly works of engineering to ensure the returning fish stay their upstream course.
With fish already arriving in droves, Gray, predicts within a few short years upwards to 1-million alewives. The key cog in the lower food chain will return to China Lake each year.
"It's just a huge, huge, huge keystone species in the Gulf of Maine and beyond and to be able to bring back a run of this size is truly remarkable,” Gray said.
It's the kind of run the waters haven't seen in centuries. The native fish are now able to migrate full circle and unobstructed from start to finish.