A fishway was biiilt and was in operation in 1898 s "A fishway has been 

 placed in this dam at its eastern end but it does not appear to be used by 

 shad." (Stevenson^ 1898^ p. 265). At the present time there is no fishway 

 in the Augusta dam. 



. Ithough the closing of the Augusta dam had an immediate and drastic 

 effect on the fisheries of the Kennebec above Aug"asta, the only immediate effect 

 beloxi) Augusta was the disappearance of the salmon, there being no suitable 

 spa;jrilng areas for this species in the tidal river below Augusta, 



The decline and eventual disappearance of shad from the lower Kennebec 

 appears to have been a gradual process, the progress of which was not entirely 

 realized becaus3 the catch figures did not reflect the decline which was oc- 

 curring. The decline was noted in the Augusta area around l860s "In l822, 

 in one day a seine was known to take 700 shad. About l857 a seine took yearly 

 3^000 shad and 20,000 alewives. In I867 the shad fishery was a total failure," 

 (Atkins, 1868). 



The total catch figures, both for the Merrymeeting Bay area and for the 

 entire river, do not reflect the decline which was occurring, although Atkins 

 cites the catch of a single wei.r in this district which apparently shows a 

 decline in catch associated with the closing of the August dam: "Mr. Brown's 

 weir produced in the ten years ending in l835 an average of 5, 9^1 shad yearlyj 

 in the twelve years from l837 to I8I18 (iSUIt being omitted fro.n the record) the 

 average was 3,120 per year, a little more than half the former yield," 

 (Atkins, 1889, footnote, p. 720). 



Atkins (1868, p« Iili) estimated from records of fish inspected in the dis- 

 trict of Bowdoinham, Woolwich and Dresden (Meri^yraeeting Bay district) for the 

 years I83O-I836 that 1,000 barrels of 120,000 shad were caught in the district 

 each year. In I867, he estimated that the same district produced l80,000 shad 

 per year, while the estimated catch for the whole Kennebec in the sane year 

 was 225,000 (Atkins, I868, p. UO) . 



At a later date, Atkins (I889, p. 719) states s 



"The most productive shad weirs are those of the Merrjoneeting 

 Bay and its vicinity. Of the lUOjOOO shad taken in the Kennebec in 

 1880, 108.000 were taken in' the Merrymeeting Bay district, 5,800 above 

 Richmond, I6, 7hii between the bay and Bath, and only 10,000 below Bath, 

 including the Sasanca or eastward arm, between Woolwich and Arrowsic, 

 In the bay district, Uh weirs averaged 20li8 shad, below Bath 29 weirs 

 averaged 3U5 shad. All included in the above statement are breeding 

 shad, called by the fishermen 'river shad' or 'spawn' shad," 



As Atkins points out, the catch in I88O was "accomplished by the use of 

 a great number of far more efficient implements," The seine weirs were in- 

 troduced in l85l and 1852, entirely replacing the shoal-water weirs, 'Adhere 

 the construction of seine weirs was impossible, "the catch of shad has fallen 

 off remarkably since I83O". (Atkins, I889, p. 720), 



3 



