Session 3: Rivers and Their Fish
Session 3A – Rivers we hear little about: What’s their story?
Morning session – Howard Room (North Wing, 1st floor)
Moderator: Lloyd C. Irland
Presenters are indicated in bold type.
1 credit available for this session through APA AICP. Please check the APA website for details.
We hear regularly about the Kennebec, Penobscot, the East Branch. For good reasons. But there is so much to tell of many others. In this session, we will explore just a few of these, to draw out the issues and possibilities for water quality, fisheries restoration, and recreational values. The focus will be primarily on administrative, policy, economic, and political factors. These talks will give the audience a quick update on the situation, the water management and sustainability issues, and the outlook on these “rivers we hear little about”.
8:30AM – 8:55AM
The Mousam River: Past, Present and Future
Landis Hudson
Maine Rivers
9:00AM – 9:25AM
Restoring the Bagaduce River, Lower Penobscot Watershed
Ben Matthews1, Ciona Ulbricht2
1 The Nature Conservancy
2 Maine Coast Heritage Trust
This talk will report the ongoing work to restore the historic alewife runs in the Bagaduce River. Through an innovative partnership among multiple Federal Agencies, Environmental NGO’s and local municipalities, two dams on Wight and Pierce ponds were removed this past year, re-opening more than 300 acres of alewife spawning habitat to the ocean. Nature-like fish ways were designed to replace these dams, allowing all fish species to access the ponds while ensuring stable water levels so that the recreation, real estate and aesthetic values of the landscape were maintained, and strong community support for the effort was fostered. A three-town committee has been formed with a focus on restoring the entire Bagaduce River watershed, with an aim towards accomplishing that within ten years. Building on the initial success, we hope to remove enough passage barriers to fish migration to return alewife populations to sustain a commercial harvest in the future —reinvigorating the economy and ecology of this unique estuarine system.
9:30AM – 9:55AM
The Saco Watershed Collaborative: Working to sustain the Saco
Christine Feurt and Members of the Saco Watershed Collaborative
University of New England, Department of Environmental Studies
Members of the Saco Watershed Collaborative represent diverse organizations with shared goals for sustaining the ecosystem health and benefits of the Saco Watershed. The Saco Watershed with headwaters in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is the largest watershed in southern Maine. Like many Maine Rivers, the Saco is a working river serving industry, business, and recreation. The Saco plays an important role in the sense of place of people who live work and play in the watershed. A committed “Stewardship Network” of communities, governments, land trusts, watershed groups and organizations passionate about fish, wildlife, clean water, environmental quality and special places are actively engaged in sustaining the Saco. Creating synergies among this network is a goal of the Collaborative. Competition for the ecosystem services and benefits provided by the Saco creates challenges. Strategies to achieve goals related to fish passage, drinking water, energy production, recreational use, and ecosystem health must be balanced and negotiated. During 2017, the Collaborative sponsored field trips and meetings designed to educate participants about the different ways that organizations practice stewardship. The Saco River Corridor Commission protects vital riparian areas through land use regulation. Brookfield Energy works with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to improve fish passage across dams. The University of New England and Wells Reserve have documented over 60 species of fish in the estuary portion of the River, more species than any other Maine estuary. A collaboratively developed Action Plan will guide future work and measure the progress of the Collaborative.
9:30AM – 9:55AM
Shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon use of the Piscataqua River System
Micah Kieffer1, Ian Trefry2, James Sulikowski3, Sarah Hylton3, Gail Wippelhauser4
1 Conte Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory
2 Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
3 University of New England
4 Maine Department of Marine Resources
* Presentation not available. Please contact Micah Kieffer with any questions.
Identifying presence of endangered sturgeons is a crucial step towards effective protection and management. During remote acoustic tracking efforts in the Piscataqua River System, a system of water bodies where sturgeons were believed to be rare, we detected 19 adult shortnose sturgeon and 16 adult/sub-adult Atlantic sturgeon. All individuals detected here between 2010 and 2017 were initially captured and tagged in neighboring northeastern river/estuarine systems from Long Island Sound, New York to the Kennebec River System, Maine, by four independent research organizations. Durations of fish presence logged within the Piscataqua River System were brief; a maximum of 3.7 days (mean; 0.8 days) for shortnose sturgeon and a maximum of 3.9 days (mean; 0.7 days) for Atlantic sturgeon. Seasonal visits spanned late-April to early-November, with most shortnose sturgeon observations occurring in spring and most Atlantic sturgeon observations occurring in summer. Sturgeon detections ranged from the Piscataqua River mouth to reaches within the Great Bay system, New Hampshire and the Salmon Falls River. Many of these fish were known to be on broader coastal movements, particularly six (32%) of the shortnose sturgeon migrants known to be late-stage females migrating from Merrimack River winter sites to Kennebec River spawning sites. These findings indicate that other estuarine rivers where sturgeon presence is considered rare may also experience similar seasonal visits by pre- and non-spawning migrants. Regardless of the motivation for these behaviors, endangered sturgeons, particularly pre-spawning migrants, are deserving of protection and management consideration as defined by state and federal conservation laws.
Session 3B – Fish Passage: Where are we?
Afternoon session – Howard Room (North Wing, 1st floor)
Co-chairs: Adria Elskus, USGS; Karen Wilson, University of Southern Maine
Presenters are indicated in bold type.
1 credit available for this session through APA AICP. Please check the APA website for details.
Fish moving through rivers and streams encounter a number of challenges. This session will address all aspects of fish passage from technology to physiology to behavior to ecology. We invite presentations on the physiology and ecology of migration, fishway design, assessing fish passage success, and other aspects of fish passage!
1:30PM – 1:55PM
Diadromous Fish Passage: Advancing Passage Restoration in the Northeast Based on Target Species Needs
James Turek1, Bjorn Lake2, Matt Bernier3
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Habitat Conservation
1 Restoration Center, Narragansett, RI; james.g.turek@noaa.gov
2 Habitat Conservation Division, Gloucester, MA
3 Restoration Center, Orono, ME
A diverse assemblage of diadromous fishes utilizes East Coast rivers and streams including many Maine waterways for spawning, rearing and foraging. Each species is characterized by a body form and mode of locomotion, together with body length, that determine their swimming performance and in some species, their leaping capabilities. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for addressing diadromous fish passage restoration using species-specific, biometric, science-based information to help develop design plans and implement projects resulting in safe and timely passage for the target species. NMFS staff collaborates with a collective of dynamic, dedicated state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other federal agencies to implement dam removals, nature-like fishways, structural fishways, and other types of passage projects through NMFS’ Northeast Region. These fish passage projects include both pro-active restoration through our Community-Based and Coastal Resiliency Programs, and our participation in hydropower (re)licensing and requirements for mitigative measures providing safe and timely passage. Since 1992, NMFS together with our many project partners has advanced 314 passage restoration projects in the Northeast Region. The Penobscot River Habitat Focus Area is but one of NOAA’s programs for completing fish passage restoration in Maine’s rivers and streams.
2:00PM – 2:25PM
Fish Passage at MaineDOT – A New World
Charles Hebson, Eric Ham
Maine Department of Transportation, Augusta, Maine
Fifteen months ago MaineDOT, US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) concluded several years of negotiation over the development of a comprehensive Programmatic Agreement covering MaineDOT activities under the Endangered Species Act. The result is an agreement that delivers huge improvements in the permitting process while insuring a consistently high quality product from the perspective of endangered species protection. The Atlantic Salmon Distinct Population Segments are covered under the agreement. MaineDOT has committed to Habitat Connectivity Design (HCD), a variant of Stream Simulation, on all Tier 1 and Tier 2 crossings as designated by USFWS. Whereas in the past MaineDOT would undertake HCD only on an individual case-by-case basis, HCD is now the standard design approach in over one-third of the state that might host Atlantic Salmon. As a practical matter, MaineDOT’s commitment to HCD practices will likely impact all projects, state as well as local, where high quality fisheries habitat and populations are encountered. This is particularly relevant to the statewide Eastern Brook Trout fishery. This talk summarizes the agreement and lead-up negotiations, engineering issues, the challenge of creating capacity needed for getting these projects designed and built, and the experience of our first full year working under the agreement. The prospects for scaling up HCD will be discussed.
2:30PM – 3:00PM
Afternoon break – Auditorium
3:00PM – 3:25PM
Fish Passage at Hydropower Dams on the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers: A Content Analysis of the FERC eLibrary Database
Sarah Vogel (student)1, Jessica Jansujwicz1,2, Joesph Zydlewski1,3
1 Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine, Orono, ME
2 Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono, ME
3 U.S. Geological Survey, Maine Cooperative Fish, and Wildlife Research Unit, Orono, ME
Hydropower dams represent a significant challenge for the successful migration of diadromous fish, many species of which are in decline. Measures to assist migration through dams such as fishways can differ greatly in scope and performance and are often mandated on a case-by-case basis. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates most hydropower dams and grants 40-year default licenses to projects. Thus, the process of licensing represents the chief opportunity for resource agencies to influence fish passage. It is notable that nearly 25 percent of active hydropower projects will require relicensing in the next decade. Licensing involves a multitude of stakeholders, many working from differing timeframes, varying levels of authority, and within the bounds of a complex legal system. Understanding how decisions are made during this crucial time is important to informing future relicensing processes and ensuring the effective prescription of fish passage measures. We are studying the regulatory processes for projects in the Kennebec and Penobscot River watersheds to assess abiotic, biotic and social correlates with regulatory outcomes. Data from the FERC eLibrary Database provides detailed correspondences, comments, and official documents relating to hydropower energy projects. A targeted content analysis of these sources will be used to characterize the roles of resource agencies and tribal entities, entity participation, and agency decision-making behaviors. Knowledge of these patterns may inform future relicensing efforts.
3:30PM – 3:55PM
Understanding fish passage in a changing system- lessons from restoration efforts in the Penobscot River
Joseph Zydlewski1,2, Alejandro Molina-Moctezuma2
1 U.S. Geological Survey, Maine Cooperative FishWildlife Research Unit, Orono, ME
2 Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine, Orono, ME
The removal of two main-stem dams and building of a nature-like upstream bypass at the next dam upstream (40+ km) in the Penobscot River has fundamentally changed connectivity in the system. We have used PIT, radio and acoustic telemetry as critical tools for evaluating individual and population-level responses of multiple diadromous species. We draw on more than a decade of data collected on, Atlantic salmon, American shad, and American to assess species and life-stage specific behaviors and estimated survival of these migratory fishes through the gauntlet of obstacles they face. Specifically, we explore challenges we have encountered related to attribution motivation, handling effects and history-dependent mortality in providing both biological and legal assessment. We use specific research examples to inform the logistics, execution, analysis and interpretation of migration, and survival of diadromous fish related to multiple barriers.