After 200 years, alewives running at Webber Pond (Maine)

[jpak]

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5083457.html

VASSALBORO -- A harvest of alewives in Vassalboro's Webber Pond will mark the first time legal harvesting has been allowed there in almost 200 years, an official from the Maine Department of Marine Resources said Wednesday.

Nate Gray, a scientist for the marine department, said people will be allowed to harvest the fish starting tomorrow. "We've met our quota," Gray said of the minimum 85,000 alewives transferred to Webber Pond from Seven Mile Stream.

Gray said the harvest marks something significant not only for Vassalboro, but for the people of Maine.

"This is the first time this has been allowed in 200 years, no kidding," he said. "This area has rejoined its place in ecology."

<more>

[Poll_Blind]

1. For those curious, Alewives are a species of herring. You can learn more...

...at this link.

PB

[eShirl]

2. nice! they are beneficial to the phosphorous levels,

which I know have been a big problem to nearby China Lake and Three Mile Pond in recent years and decades. (causing slimy, smelly algae blooms that choke the pond or lake)


"For Webber Pond, which will have a fish ladder installed this fall so alewives can migrate in the spring without assistance, the primary benefit is a reduction of phosphorous in the water, Vassalboro Town Manager Mike Vashon said.

" "The alewives eat up plenty of the phosphorous we have in the lake, and in the fall when we open the dam for them to migrate back down, they take that with them," Vashon said.

"There can be trouble if the fish can't migrate back to saltwater bodies, however, he added.

" "If they can't get back out in the fall, they die," Vashon said. "Then you're dealing with a fishy mess." "



thanks for posting this