The Dennys River is aow open to Meddybemps Lake, The river 

 supports a small salmon nan and might possibly support a shad rvm if re- 

 stockedo It is entirely free from industrial pollution and there is a 

 niinimiffli of domestic pollution^ 



St„ Crcix River 



In i'os original condition the St. Croix river is said to have 

 abounded in salmonj shad, and alewrv-eso Atkins (I8685 p„ 69) states? 

 ='The nuDtber of shad were aiincst, inorediDle", The river vras completely 

 closed in 1825 "and the fisheries instantly fell off'^o (Atkins, 1868^ p, 70) o 

 The river is now completely cbgtructed by a series of impassable dams begin= 

 ning just above the head of tide at Calais to its source. 



PART II 



FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DECLINE OF SHAD IN MAINE 



It is evident from the accounts of shad runs and their decline as 

 given in Part I of this report that the principal factor which has operated 

 to extinguish shad runs from Maine streams has been the construction of im= 

 passable dams which barred the fish from their spawning grounds. The State 

 was settled along the coast, the sea providing a convenient highway to the 

 colonies to the southo The need for water power for grist=mills and the de- 

 velopment of lumber resources led to the early damming of the smaller streams 

 near their entrance to salt water, With growx.h and development of suitable 

 resourcesj it became possible to construct dams on the larger rivers, thus 

 completing the destruction of the runs of fish in them. Where daia construc- 

 tion excluded the shad from suitable spawning areas, the fishery for them 

 ceased alnost immediatelyo 



. The shad fishery of the Kennebec River persisted for many years 

 following the construction of the dam at Augusta in 1837 because a consider- 

 able area of fresh water and suitable spawrdng bottom remained below the dam, 

 including MerrvTneeting Bay and its tributaries. For pver 60 years, this area 

 produced several hundred thousand pounds of shad annually, with no noticeable 

 decline in catch until the early 1900's. Atkins, however, presents data which 

 indicate that the effect of the Augusta dam was to reduce the abundance in 

 the lower river, an effect which might well be expected since over half the 

 spawning area of the Kennebec was cut off by the August Dam, (See p, 9), 

 Greater exploitation and the "ose of more efficient gear (the seine weir, p, 9) 

 kept the catch at a high level, however, so that the reduction in abundance 

 was not obvious. The catch in the vicinity of Augusta, nevertheless, had be= 

 come practically nonexistent by 1867 (p. 9) • 



18 



