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U.S., Canadian Tribe Seek to Restore St. Croix Herring Run

U.S., Canadian Tribe Seek to Restore St. Croix Herring Run

June 13, 2012

GrandFallsDam — Grand Falls Dam, presently closed to alewives in their migration to appropriate habitat on the St. Croix River. Photo: Tom Moffatt/Atlantic Salmon Federation

Bangor Daily News: To 21st century sport fishermen alewives are a freshwater pest, saltwater trespassers who compete for habitat with prized freshwater bass.

To Passamaquoddy tribal members, whose settlements on both sides of the St. Croix River separating Maine and New Brunswick date back 4,000 years, the prolific fish are seen as an important food source and as a critical element in the diverse marine ecology of Passamaquoddy Bay.

A 2-day, 100-mile “sacred run” was held over the weekend between the Pleasant Point settlement and an ancient tribal fishing site at Mud Lake Stream near the New Brunswick community of Forest City. The run was organized by a group called Schoodic Riverkeepers, which is made up of tribal members from both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border who are focusing on restoring their ancestral river and the indigenous populations of marine species in the St. Croix River.

Bangor Daily News

Atlantic Salmon Federation