A tale of two Maine dams (and the fish trying to pass through them)

Since 1981, during seasonal fish runs from the sea to inland spawning grounds, observers have kept weekly counts of the fish passing through the fishway at Milltown Dam on the St. Croix River between Calais and Canada — until now. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service issued its last-ever fish count for the dam in late June. Milltown, which is owned by New Brunswick Power, is being decommissioned. Its demolition began this month. Meanwhile, six dams on the Penobscot River around Millinocket owned by Great Lakes Hydro America, a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewables are the largest such relicensing effort currently underway in Maine. These dams have no fish passages built in. Environmental groups, anglers, rafters, local residents, and other observers see relicensing as a generational opportunity to open the books on a dam’s operations and seek important changes.