Chiefs declare emergency in St. Croix River

Prompted by a sacred run calling attention to the plight of the alewife in the St. Croix River, the three Passamaquoddy chiefs -- Clayton Cleaves of Sipayik, Joseph Socobasin of Indian Township and Hugh Akagi of the Schoodic Band -- have issued a declaration of a state of emergency in the river, the heart of the Passamaquoddy homeland. The declaration states, "For the past 17 years Maine has harmed the Passamaquoddy people by blocking anadromous fish from accessing its ancient and traditional spawning grounds in the upper St. Croix River. This action severely diminished a traditional food source and disturbed our cultural practices. We insist the State of Maine immediately remove this blockage and allow these fish to pass. Failing this, we urge the International Joint Commission to exercise its authority and open this blockage."
The nearly 100-mile spiritual run, held on June 9 and 10, traced the alewife run from Pleasant Point on Passamaquoddy Bay to Mud Lake Stream, a 4,000-year-old ancestral fishing site for the Passamaquoddy at the head of Spednic Lake. The run was organized by the Schoodic Riverkeepers, which has members from the three Passamaquoddy communities. The St. Croix has been known as the Schoodic or Passamaquoddy river. The group was formed following a Joint Tribal Council meeting in which the alewife was "demonized" by some of the bass fishing guides who support continuing to block the passage of the fish into the upper St. Croix River watershed, according to Brian Altvater, a member of the riverkeepers. Since the group was formed, Altvater says he has learned much about the river's history and the changes in the river bed caused by its dams.
Eleven people took part in the spiritual run on June 9 and seven on June 10. Chief Cleaves and Chief Akagi sent the first runner off from the shores of Passamaquoddy Bay early in the morning, and Chief Joseph Socobasin spoke with the runners at Indian Township. Altvater notes that over half of the runners are not tribal members and the event was "for all who are concerned with the rivers of the region."
During the run, a moose antler was carried by each runner and passed on to the next, from the start to the finish. The antler has been carried on all of the Passamaquoddy sacred runs, ranging from 100 to 535 miles.
"For runners who are spiritual in nature, the runs are all about connections," observes Ed Bassett, another member of the Schoodic Riverkeepers. "This run was a very deeply felt spiritual event to reconnect with the alewife and the river. I couldn't put into words the effect on me. Our work was not just to educate ourselves but to educate others. The education will reconnect people to the things that are important, so they can connect with the truth and deeper meaning."
Altvater adds that the moose antler is carried on runs to other Wabanaki communities and helps "us connect with the web of life for our people, to save the fish and restore the river. Whatever we do to the alewife and the river, we do to ourselves. We need to turn it around and get the rivers and ourselves healthy."
The runners also brought saltwater over 90 miles inland to Mud Lake and brought fresh water to Passamaquoddy Bay "to connect the two ecosystems," Bassett says. Noting that the alewife connects the ocean and the inland waters, transporting nutrients from the sea back into the river system, he says when the connection is broken that source of food and energy is lost. The alewife is considered a keystone species that transfers energy and life throughout the food chain. Vera Francis, also a member of the riverkeepers, observes, "Alewives did feed us, but the alewife is a fish that feeds all. It is king of the food chain. If there are no alewives, there is no river."
Good signs were observed along the run, including eagles, bear and foxes, and Passamaquoddy elders and youth were with the group for the entire two days. Altvater observes, "For me, that completed the ceremony and circle to have them there."
At the completion of the run, Wayne Newell of Indian Township sang an "alewife song," in which he used a traditional Passamaquoddy song with new words about the alewife struggling to survive, its future in question, and its need for help in order to survive.
The sacred run was the first one for Francis, who describes it as "a life-changing experience." She explains, "We were able to enter into places of ceremony. We all become one with others, and the alewife is part of the family, too."
Along with the run, about 70 people and a dozen boats took part in a rally on the St. Croix River between Calais and St. Stephen on the afternoon of June 9. Fundy Baykeeper Matthew Abbott says the rally gathered key people involved with the issue "to show support for restoration" of the alewife run. The rally "reached new people and fired up people committed to the issue. It reminded us that the status quo is not normal." Abbott used a megaphone to lead chants such as "Go, go, gaspereau," with children along the shoreline getting quite enthusiastic. Gaspereau is another name for the alewife.
The members of the Schoodic Riverkeepers believe the run and rally placed a great deal of attention on the issue, and Francis hopes that legislation will be proposed by the tribal representative in the Maine Legislature to open up the fishway at the Grand Falls dam and "give the legislators an opportunity to make something right that they made so wrong." In 1995 the legislature had voted to block the state's St. Croix fishways to alewife migration, preventing the fish from reaching 98% of its historic St. Croix spawning habitat. The action was taken at the request of local small-mouth bass guides who felt that the alewife posed a significant threat to their sport fishing industry and livelihoods. The alewife population in the St. Croix then declined from 2.6 million in 1987 to 900 in 2002. More recent studies have shown that the alewives and bass can coexist and that the alewives were not the reason for a decline in the bass population in Spednic Lake in the 1980s.
The group also hopes that the Passamaquoddy Joint Tribal Council will take another vote in favor of opening up the Grand Falls fishway. The council has made a series of decisions concerning the issue since 1997, with its most recent vote in July 2011 being in favor of reaffirming its 2010 decision that supported not allowing alewives past the Grand Falls dam. However, Chief Cleaves, in a May 24 letter to the International Joint Commission (IJC), urged them to provide passage to the alewives past the Grand Falls dam, and the Schoodic Riverkeepers at some point will seek a new vote by the joint council.
Bassett observes, "People rewrite history to their benefit" by stating that alewives never went past Grand Falls in the past. He points out that statement is not true, as historical evidence shows that the fish did go farther upstream. An 1870 report by Maine Fisheries Commissioner Charles Atkins noted that alewives were in the upper reaches of the St. Croix at Vanceboro. Also, an archaeological dig in the 1980s at Mud Lake, which is 80 miles inland from Passamaquoddy Bay, discovered 4,000-year-old fire pits with alewife bones. Although some have suggested that the fish might have been transported there, Bassett believes that suggestion is "asinine" and says that the site was a fishing village. "Native people didn't camp where there were no fish. They camped where there was food."
Francis says the International Joint Commission has the authority to open up the fishway, but "a small group of guides" has "had their way," leading to the "potential extinction of a species" from the watershed. She notes that the Atlantic salmon, shad and blueback herring are already believed to be extinct in the river. The past 17 years during which passage has been blocked "is more than enough time to wipe out a species," she says. "It raises the question for all of us: Have we done enough?"