Tag Archives: Kennebec River
Maine’s river herring making dramatic comeback
River herring – in the midst of a dramatic comeback in Maine’s rivers with the recent removal of dams that blocked their spawning runs for decades – had a banner spring run this year, with millions of fish traveling up the Kennebec and Penobscot and the best run in decades recorded on the St. Croix. This was despite heavy rains this spring that created extra challenges for the fish. The recovery of the small schooling fish is having dramatic secondary effects, as they represent a perfect food source for everything from bald eagles to Atlantic cod, and researchers anticipate future benefits as the herring’s numbers grow in the coming decade. click here to read the story 10:10
Thought to be the oldest Maine-built fishing vessel that’s still sailing, Schooner Mary E is coming home for good
A little more than 110 years after the schooner Mary E was launched here on the Kennebec River, the oldest Bath-built wooden vessel known to be still afloat will soon return home for good. The Maine Maritime Museum is set to acquire the Mary E, a two-masted clipper built by shipwright Thomas E. Hagan in 1906, later this month from its current owner, Matt Culen of Pelham, New York. The pending purchase of the Mary E – also thought to be the oldest Maine-built fishing vessel that’s still sailing – will fulfill the museum’s long-standing goal to acquire a large, locally built sailing ship to top its collection of more than 100 smaller vessels. It also will be the second time that the Mary E comes home for repairs – the first was after the boat sank during a Thanksgiving Day hurricane in 1963 in Lynn Harbor, Massachusetts. Read the story here 08:12
Deep freeze good news for Maine smelt fishing camps – Ice on rivers comes sooner than it has for quite a few years, allowing commercial operations to get the season started.
Commercial smelt camps that most years don’t typically open until mid-January had enough ice to open around Christmas. “We’ve probably got 16 inches of ice, if not more,” said Sonny Newton, owner of Sonny’s Smelt Fishing on the Kennebec River in Dresden. “We started cutting (through the ice) with a 14-inch bar, and we couldn’t get through it. It was 17 below yesterday. It’s making ice.” Read more@portlandpress 11:29
