Maine Counts 20 Million River Herring in Historic Comeback

Maine's rivers are silver again. Over 20 million alewife fish just completed their annual migration upstream, the largest run in decades for a species that colonial settlers, Native Americans, and wildlife once depended on for survival.

The comeback story started with a problem that began in the 18th century. As dams blocked Maine's rivers, the alewife runs that once turned quiet streams into torrents of fish slowly disappeared. By 1840, fish stocks had already collapsed catastrophically in many areas.

Commercial offshore harvesting made things worse. Even rivers without dams lost their fish as ocean populations plummeted. By 1994, annual inland catches had crashed from 3 million pounds to just 150,000 pounds.

Then came the turnaround. Between 1999 and 2016, several major dams came down across Maine. In 2012, fishing moratoriums protected offshore populations. The Penobscot River alone saw two major dam removals that opened up historic spawning grounds.

"We've gone from losing the fish completely in a lot of river systems due to damming and pollution, and now we have some of the largest populations in the globe," said Rustin Taylor, executive director of the Alewife Harvesters of Maine.

The fish matter for more than nostalgia. The Passamaquoddy tribe calls them siqonomeq, meaning "the fish that feeds all." They carry ocean nutrients upstream in their bodies, feeding bears, eagles, otters, and countless other species. Through predator droppings, those nutrients eventually enrich the forest soil itself.

Fish channels now help alewives navigate around remaining dams. Some dedicated locals even spend migration season bucketing fish over smaller obstacles by hand.

The Ripple Effect

The restoration happened faster than scientists expected. Taylor called the Penobscot dam removals "probably one of the premier success stories of our time," as Atlantic salmon also benefit from the open waterways.

Maine communities that host annual alewife festivals finally have something substantial to celebrate after decades of somber gatherings watching trickles of fish. The festivals now mark genuine abundance returning to rivers that had been silent for generations.

Twenty million fish represents more than population recovery. It signals that large-scale environmental restoration can work when communities commit to undoing past damage and giving nature room to heal.