Run and signing mark efforts to restore river

An 80-mile Alewife Relay Run, from Split Rock at Sipayik to Forest City on the east branch of the St. Croix River, was held on May 21 by the Schoodic Riverkeepers and Wabanaki REACH to bring awareness to the importance of alewives being allowed to migrate up the river and spawn as they have done for thousands of years and to celebrate the accomplishments made so far. The Schoodic Riverkeepers had sponsored their first alewife run in 2012, with the spiritual relay mirroring the indigenous alewife run up the St. Croix River, also known by the Passamaquoddy as the Skutik River. That run sought to help restore the sea-run fish to the river's watershed and to draw attention to the 17-year blockage of the fish run by the Maine Legislature, before it was opened the following year.
Along with the alewife run, on May 26 an amended Skutik River Statement of Cooperation was signed at a ceremony in Calais by representatives from five U.S. federal agencies, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The initial statement had been signed in June 2013 to affirm a mutual objective to cooperate in restoring sea-run fish and the St. Croix watershed. The signing in 2013 had marked the opening of the fishway at the Grand Falls dam and the return of alewives to their homeland. The amended statement includes additional signatories.
Chief Hugh Akagi of Peskotomuhkati at Skutik comments, "The statement is the latest in an effort to bring about cooperation and awareness to the St. Croix River watershed, which has suffered from being a river divided by a border running through it. This major complication prevented governments and their agencies from exercising the full limits of their authorities to protect and preserve, which were always available to other rivers throughout both Canada and the United States." He noted that the statement is "a moral commitment to work together to assure improved health of its waters, the environment and all the creatures dependent upon the system which sustained all for thousands of years."
Brian Altvater, founder and chair of the Schoodic Riverkeepers, says that, in order to fully restore the river, dams still need to be removed on both branches of the St. Croix, but if they aren't removed, then natural fishways should be constructed to allow the sea-run fish to pass around the dams. Natural fishways have a set of gradual rapids, with boulders and eddies, allowing the fish to swim upstream.
Altvater notes that, along with informing people about the importance of alewives to the ecosystem, the riverkeepers want Wabanaki youth to be involved, so that the sense of stewardship is passed onto the next generation. "Even when the watershed's fully restored, we need to make sure it stays that way."
Of the work accomplished so far, Altvater credits many for their efforts, in particular Chief Akagi and Schoodic Riverkeepers Ed Bassett and Paul Bisulca.

Restoration plan outlined
The restoration plan for the Skutik River was developed by the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik. The river is the heart of Passamaquoddy, or Peskotomuhkati, territory, and the plan seeks to restore all of the sea-run fish primarily through improvements to upstream and downstream passage. It aims to achieve the "maximum ecological production capacity" of the watershed so that the Skutik River "can once again be a significant 'food factory' sending trillions of juvenile herring to Passamaquoddy Bay and supplementing the food supply there sufficiently to increase the fisheries."
According to the restoration report, the Skutik River once supported one of the largest runs of alewives and other sea-run fish in Atlantic Canada and the northeastern U.S. and has the greatest production potential of any watershed probably in North America. "There were so many that long ago sailing ships from far away would anchor in the river and fill their hulls with barrels of alewife," the plan states.
The river is reported to be able to support 27 to 58 million alewives with dams in place and no fishing and perhaps up to 114 million without dams or harvesting. That would be more than both the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers combined. The restoration plan also seeks to restore Atlantic salmon to the watershed.
The report points to ecological, economic and social and cultural benefits of restoration. Alewives are a keystone species that provide food for a wide variety of fish and wildlife, from other fish to eagles and whales. Restoration of sea-run fish to the river would help "render meaningful the Passamaquoddy Tribe's federally recognized rights and reinvigorate impacted cultural, traditional and spiritual practices depending on a healthy river," the report states.
As for economic benefits, they include recreational fisheries for shad, striped bass, smelt or even possibly salmon some day. Alewives are valuable bait for the lobster industry, and a 2011 analysis estimated that a bait fishery for alewives on the St. Croix could generate $1.8 million a year in direct benefits and $1.2 to $4 million in indirect benefits due to a lower cost for bait. Restoration could also create new opportunities for community-based commercial fisheries for bait.
The birth of the restoration plan began in 2011, when the Schoodic Riverkeepers first met to address the long-term damage inflicted on the river and sea-run alewives by pollution, dams, lack of fishways, overfishing and destruction of the forests. The alewife run was as low as 900 fish, following the closure of the fishways at the Woodland and Grand Falls dams by the Maine Legislature in 1995, preventing the fish from reaching 98% of their spawning habitat. The Woodland dam was reopened in 2008. Then in 2012 Passamaquoddy chiefs declared a state of emergency in the river, and a Passamaquoddy Joint Tribal Council resolution adopted that year states that "sea-run alewife are a vital link in the food chain of the St. Croix River and are known as the 'fish that feeds all' and has sustained the Passamaquoddy for thousands of years." The following year, Passamaquoddy Rep. Madonna Soctomah pushed for Maine to open the fishways, and passage was reopened at the Grand Falls dam. The alewife run has since been increasing significantly, with over 600,000 fish in 2020.
In 2013 four U.S. federal trustee agencies joined the tribe in pledging their support to restore fish passage, and a collaborative effort to develop a restoration plan for the Skutik sea-run fish began in 2016.

Specific measures eyed
Dams are a major reason for the demise of sea-run fish in the river, as they significantly limit access to inland spawning and rearing habitats. That lack of access to habitat is the greatest impediment to a healthy and self-sustaining ecosystem, the report states.
There are eight major dams on the main stem and the east and west branches, including three hydropower dams: Milltown, which is slated for removal by the end of 2023, Woodland and Grand Falls. Three of the dams are on the west branch -- West Grand dam, Farm Cove dike and Sysladobsis dam -- and two dams are on the east branch -- Vanceboro and Forest City.
The six components of the restoration plan target different areas of the watershed. Tributaries in the lower area have barriers to sea-run fish migration, including dams and culverts, that could be considered for removal. The removal of the Milltown dam, which is planned by NB Power, is supported under the plan. At the Woodland and Grand Falls dams, the fishways have deteriorated and need to be replaced. The plan proposes alternative designs for fish passage, as the current fishways do not have the capacity or design to pass the number of fish desired. On the east branch of the river, the fishways at the Vanceboro and Forest City dams need to be upgraded to provide greater fish passage, and on the west branch the Sysladobsis dam's fishway needs improvement. In 2020 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered the removal of a migration barrier at the West Grand dam, which is operated by Woodland Pulp, and the company complied, so alewives can now pass upstream into the west branch.
Finally, the plan proposes stocking programs for Atlantic salmon. Those programs could include the raising of adult salmon in pens in Passamaquoddy Bay to be released and swim upriver to spawn; the stocking of fry or parr, as is done by the Downeast Salmon Federation in some Downeast rivers; or the planting of eggs in quality habitat, as is done in the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers. The restoring of shad and smelts runs is also proposed.