PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 27, 2025
Centuries ago, the Androscoggin River boasted an extraordinary abundance of fish. Atlantic salmon, river herring, shad, sturgeon and several other species migrated each year from the ocean to what was then Brunswick Falls, continuing upriver as far as Lewiston to spawn. By the early 1800s, dams built to power industries like grist, lumber, textiles and paper disrupted the river’s natural flow and blocked fish passage. While the construction of the new dam in 1983 included a fish ladder for migratory fish, it is limiting or blocking the passage of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fish each year. It’s not too late to restore healthy populations of migratory fish. The dam’s federal license is up for renewal in 2029, and we’re proposing a number of solutions to improve fish passage, from major fishway upgrades to redesigning or removing the dam. ~ Chip Spies, Free the Andro, a coalition advocating for changes to the Brunswick-Topsham Dam