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In the heart of downtown Dover-Foxcroft, Main Street crosses over a river. This is the location of the Mayo Mill Dam. The town has just voted to remove this dam, achieving a goal that ASF identified over 30 years ago, and beginning a project that will now take three years to complete.
The dam is on the Piscataquis River, which is a major tributary to the Penobscot River. The Piscataquis, and its tributary the Pleasant River, have long been identified as a great Atlantic salmon habitat.
“A lot of that habitat has been largely inaccessible,” said John Burrows, ASF’s Vice-President of U.S. Operations. “So a major goal for ASF, for decades, has been getting Atlantic Salmon into the headwaters of the Pleasant and the Piscataquis.”
ASF approached the town about working together to remove the dam, but last year they voted against it. The town spent the last year assessing the site, and gathering numbers. The repairs and fish passage improvements project ended up being estimated at $9 million dollars, which would have had to be borrowed.
“That was pretty soundly defeated,” John said. “And what was also clear from the question on the ballot that a vote against borrowing that money would mean working with [ASF and The Nature Conservancy] on dam removal.”
The project will become part of the Headwaters program in the US, which is dedicated to removing barriers to fish passage, restoring stream ecology and natural habitat, and enhancing cold water refugia
“In terms of our Headwaters projects, this will be far and away the largest project that we take on under the Headwaters program, in the history of the program,” John said. “It’s incredibly exciting. And as I’ve said before, this is critically important for our salmon recovery program in the Penobscot.”
In this week’s edition of Rivernotes, read John’s report about this project, as well as other fish passage concerns in Maine, weekly updated fishway numbers, and a first-hand story about fishing for shad on the Kennebec. You’ll also find river updates from across the atlantic region, interesting research into potential salmon migration above the Mactaquac dam on the Saint John River, an update from the “Rock | Plastic | Salmon” film tour in Newfoundland and Labrador, and several photos of lucky anglers with the fish they found.
To start this week, John Burrows, ASF’s Vice-President of U.S. Operations, shares news about the Mayo Mill Dam:
“The big news coming out of Maine is the decision two weeks ago by the voters in the Town of Dover-Foxcroft not to borrow $9M to repair the Mayo Mill Dam on the Piscataquis River. The vote means that the Town will now work with ASF and our partners at The Nature Conservancy in Maine to remove the dam. It was just one year ago that the Town voted against dam removal, so this is a massive reversal by the community. Mayo Mill is one of three dams on the Piscataquis impeding access to several hundred miles of excellent salmon habitat in the upper watershed. The headwaters of the Piscataquis are in the Appalachian Mountains in central Maine and the river flows eastward to where it meets the Penobscot River at the Howland Bypass, constructed as part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project back in 2015.
Elsewhere in the state of Maine, people are also concerned about dams. Jeff Reardon, ASF’s Project Manager, has an update about a proposed fish passage project on the Kennebec that would still be detrimental to salmon populations. He also has a first-hand story about fishing for shad on the Kennebec to share. He writes:
“Fish Passage Fight Continues on the Kennebec—but the shad fishing is great!
ASF and our long list of partners in the Kennebec Coalition recently filed comments with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection regarding the state’s review of a Water Quality Certification for construction of a fishway at Brookfield’s four lowest dams on the Kennebec. We have long argued that the only path to restoration of Atlantic salmon, shad, river herring, alewives, eels, and lampreys upstream of the dams—especially in the Sandy River tributary that contains some of Maine’s coldest and highest quality habitat for salmon—can only be accomplished by dam removal. Instead, Brookfield has proposed, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved, a plan to build upstream and downstream fishways that, using Brookfield’s own analysis, would (if they performed as well as possible) still kill more than 25% of each generation of Kennebec salmon. Performance for the other species—especially shad—would be much worse. We are hoping the Maine DEP will find that this proposal will not meet Maine’s Water Quality Standards, which require that waters support habitat that is “unimpaired” for native fish and wildlife.
In the meantime, long-time Kennebec Valley Trout Unlimited volunteer Willie Grenier, a retired schoolteacher from Waterville, has been in his usual role as the Kennebec River’s master of the shad. In recent days Willie has had both me and Chuck Verrill, the president of Maine Rivers, a key partner, and a pro-bono attorney for the Kennebec Coalition’s advocacy, out chasing shad. Chuck’s photo speaks for itself, though I don’t know how his day of fishing compared to mine.”
Jeff continued:
“When Willie took me out, I hooked a shad on my first cast, and Willie didn’t hook up until his third, two minutes later. Five minutes after dropping anchor we’d landed two shad—equaling the SEASON’s catch of shad at the Lockwood Dam fish lift. Don’t tell Willie, but I marked our location on the GPS app on my phone—and we were fishing less than 600 feet below the fish lift entrance. We watched two wading anglers catch shad within 200’ of the lift. We didn’t fish very hard, and between us landed at least a dozen shad in about 2 hours. Willie ran the boat back to the launch in the dark through the sound of shad splashing on the surface as they spawned.”
Link to Maine DMR “fish trap counts”—see Lockwood Dam, Kennebec: Trap Count Statistics | Department of Marine Resources“
In Maine, we also have updated numbers from the fishways.
Jason Valliere, a Marine Scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources writes about the Penobscot river:
“We had a push of shad at the trap this week; a couple of days we passed almost a thousand shad a day!
River herring are still trickling in a couple hundred a day… and sea lamprey numbers are tailing off.
As for our Salmon numbers, we’re lagging a bit behind previous years, however, so are our river temperatures, sea surface temperatures, and our summer weather… which looks like it might be changing with this coming week’s forecast. Fingers crossed that a slug of Salmon shows up when the river temperature spikes!
Until next week!”
Jennifer Noll, a Marine Resource Scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources tells us about the Lower Mainstem Androscoggin River:
“Brunswick fishway, located in Brunswick, ME on the mainstem Androscoggin River, was opened May 1st this year. Flow conditions in the lower Androscoggin River reached a low river discharge of 2,9840 cfs on two days: 6/18 and 6/23. It peaked at 5,110 cfs on June 21st and June 22nd. Currently, the river flow is at 3,200 cfs, which falls between the 25th percentile discharge level (2,860 cfs) and the median of 4,110 cfs (https://waterdata.usgs.gov, based on 96 years of data). The temperature currently ranges between 18.3°C and 21.6°C. The first Atlantic salmon at Brunswick in 2025 showed up on 6/13.”
Jennifer also has an update on the Lower Mainstem Kennebec River:
“Air temperatures have been escalating rapidly over the past week here in south/central Maine – the highs ranging from 70’s to 90’s (°F) and lows ranging from the 50’s to almost 70 (°F). Flow conditions in the lower Kennebec River were steady for the first half of the week, hovering around a river discharge of 3,900 cfs. A big peak in river discharge occurred on 6/21, reaching 13,200 cfs. Flows have been decreasing since June 21st . The low discharge for the week dipped to 3,670 cfs and the high peaked at 13,200 cfs. Currently the river flow is at 8,550 cfs, which falls between the mean percentile discharge level (7,390 cfs) and the 75th percentile (10,100 cfs) (https://waterdata.usgs.gov, based on 39 years of data).
Lockwood fish lift, located in Waterville, ME at the first dam on the mainstem Kennebec River, opened on May 1st for the 2025 season. The trap has been operational the entire week. Thirty-seven new Atlantic salmon have been captured to date; the first two arrived on 5/30. We’ve had a few special appearances so far this year – one wild female 3 sea-winter (89cm) on 6/8 and one wild female long absence repeat spawner (84.5cm) on 6/11. The water temperature remains cool for this time of year at 20°C; though it will likely escalate quickly this week with temperatures forecasted in the high 90’s (°F) for multiple days.”
We have a photo from Colby W. B. Bruchs, a Fisheries Scientist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources of a salmon on the Narraguagus River:
And finally, Cat Morse, ASF’s Habitat Restoration Project Manager, has a quick report from acall ASF staff members to Maine to take. She writes:
“In preparation for next spring, members of the Maine team traveled up to West Forks, Maine to participate in a two-day swiftwater rescue class. Val, Cat, and Jon learned techniques for swimming, wading in fast water, and rescue from foot entrapment. All these skills will be useful for safely deploying and operating smolt wheels in spring freshets. The Team also got to enjoy white water rafting some class III & IV rapids on the upper Kennebec.”
With lots of rain, things are looking good in Quebec. ASF’s Quebec Program Director, Charles Cusson has this report:
“Les conditions des rivières ont beaucoup changé pendant la dernière semaine, les débits et les niveaux de plusieurs rivières (Moisie et Natashquan dépasse le 800 m3 et 1 200 m3 par seconde respectivement) et dans le bas St-Laurent, les débits ont connu des hausses substantielles dans peu de temps depuis le 20 juin telles la Matane et la Sainte-Anne.
Sachant que nous en sommes presque dans la 4e semaine de la saison, la plupart des rivières de la Gaspésie, du Bas-Saint-Laurent et de la Côte-Nord ont bénéficié des précipitations récentes. D’entrée de jeux cette année, nous savions que la saison 2025 serait une saison charnière. Pendant la prochaine semaine, à la suite du coup d’eau, nous aurons une meilleure idée du dénouement de la montaison 2025.
À ce jour, les bilans des rivières telles que la Matapédia, Causapscal, Cascapédia, Madeleine, York et la Grande-Rivière indiquent un certain regain de vie au niveau de la pêche sportive.
Au plaisir de se voir le long d’une rivière cet été et n’hésiter pas de partager vos expériences de pêches, vos observations et vos photos pendant la saison 2025.”
English:
“River conditions have changed significantly over the past week, with flows and levels on many rivers increasing significantly. Knowing that we are into the 4th week of the season, most of the rivers of the Gaspé, Lower St-Lawrence and the North Shore have more than benefited from recent precipitation. From the start this year, we knew that the 2025 season would be a pivotal season. During the next week, following the recent burst of water, we will have a better idea of the outcome of the 2025 run.
To date, the results of rivers such as the Matapedia, Causapscal, Cascapedia, Madeleine, York and the Grande-Rivière are reporting decent sport fishing.
I wish you Tight Lines and memorable experiences with Salmo this summer. Until then, I hope to meet you along a river this summer and please don’t hesitate to send me details of your fishing experiences and photos during the 2025 season.
We also had two great photo submissions from Quebec this week.
This week we have Dr. Ryan Hill as a guest author for New Brunswick’s Rivernotes with a mini-intro on his work on Atlantic salmon.
Ryan successfully defended his Ph.D. in the Department of Biology at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton earlier this year. Ryan’s research focused on evaluating the status of upstream fish passage at Mactaquac Dam – the largest and lowermost hydroelectric dam in the Wolastoq | Saint John River – where a trap-lift-and-truck operation is used to pass salmon and other species upstream. ASF is pleased to see that this important research on Atlantic salmon is being conducted in one of North America’s former largest Atlantic salmon rivers. Ryan writes:
“Atlantic salmon have declined to the point of near extinction in the Saint John River over the last decade, so access to effective and timely passage around existing barriers is critical for population recovery. For example, approximately 40% of salmon spawning habitat in the Saint John River is located upstream of Mactaquac Dam, so fishway performance may be closely tied to recovery potential. Although Mactaquac began hydropower and fish passage operations in 1968, fishway performance had not been formally evaluated prior to Ryan’s research. His study used a combination of PIT, radio, and acoustic telemetry to estimate the proportion and timing of passage by salmon that approached the dam. Ryan’s research was part of the Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study (MAES)- a collaboration between the Canadian Rivers Institute, New Brunswick Power, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Wolastoqiyik communities- and his findings will be published (open-access) in an upcoming issue of River Research and Applications. “
We are looking forward to hearing more about Ryan’s work in the future and have already convinced him to publish a more detailed summary of his findings in an upcoming issue of the Atlantic Salmon Journal.
We also received two photo submissions from the folks at Country Haven. They reported seeing salmon all weekend, and had clients land several.
ASF’s Program Director for Newfoundland and Labrador, Kim Thompson is once again on the road with “Rock | Plastic | Salmon” film tour. She reports on some of the screenings, but starts with an update on the rivers in Newfoundland and Labrador. She writes:
“From all reports in the province, it seems Atlantic salmon have begun to return to our rivers. With the opening of the recreational angling season in Labrador on June 15th, Pratt Falls Lodge on the Eagle River had their first salmon hook up on June 20th with lots of cold water to provide the salmon with easy access upstream. Meanwhile, rivers in central and western Newfoundland continue to see weekly increases in returning adults.
Kim continues with details from the film tour:
“We continue the “Rock | Plastic | Salmon” film tour, with Josh and Emily Murphy of Land and Sea for All, Kastine Coleman of Tightlines Tightloops and Neville Crabbe ASF VP of Communications joining our Q&A panel discussion.
The documentary by producers Emily and Josh Murphy tells a compelling story of salmon farming in Newfoundland and Labrador and the people trying to protect the coastline from aggressive industry expansion. It continues to tour the province, with an emotionally charged audience of visitors and residents in Woody Point, and a sold-out audience at the Rotary Arts Centre in Corner Brook.
The resonating questions and compelling reactions from audiences continue, with questions like “Why is this even allowed to happen?” and “Why isn’t industry being charged for their environmental mess?” along with the overwhelming consensus that “Rock | Plastic | Salmon” needs to be seen by everyone in the province so they can see how salmon farm companies are mistreating our coastal environment.”
