NYT - Penobscot Dam Removal Finally Begins

[hatrack]

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The Penobscot still has the nation’s largest run of Atlantic salmon, which are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The fish are trapped at a fish ladder on the Veazie Dam, between the Great Works Dam and the ocean, and trucked upriver or to hatcheries. More than 3,000 salmon returned to the river in 2011, the largest run in 25 years, but historic runs were most likely 20 times that size.

Project supporters say the endangered salmon will get a boost when the dams come down, but other fish may benefit even more. Pat Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said migratory fish rebounded quickly on Maine’s Kennebec River when the Edwards Dam was removed in 1999. That river now has a run of more than three million alewives.

Mr. Keliher said the Penobscot also has great potential for shad. “Shad can provide a great angling opportunity, and our biologists predict that over time this river could support a run of over one million fish,” he said.

It may be a few months before the river flows freely here. The next steps will come when the Veazie Dam, at the head of tide near Bangor, comes down, perhaps as soon as July 2013. Meanwhile, Black Bear Hydro, the power company that bought PPL’s Penobscot interests in 2009, will build a fish lift at the Milford Dam, which will then be the first barrier to migrating fish. And farther upriver, the trust will decommission and build a bypass around the Howland Dam.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/us/maine-dam-removal-a-start-to-restoring-spawning-grounds.html

[MADem]

1. This may help ME tourism down the line, too. nt