Merrymeeting Bay area at a later date, Stevenson (I898, p„ 265) states s 



"The greatest injury'' to shad in the Kennebec has been 

 the vast quantities of sai^ust run into the river from 

 numerous sawmills^ covering the river bottom in many places, 

 so that areas formerly eligible for spawning grounds are no 

 longer suitable. The fishermen state that this refuse is so 

 abundant in Merryineeting Bay that at times the bottom of the 

 weirs are covered several feet therewiths' 



At the present time, there is no evidence of sawdust pollution in the 

 Kennebec. There is no longer any e xtensive sawmill activity at or below 

 Augusta and, so far as is known^ no nill is dumping sawdust into the river at 

 present. Sawdust pollution may be considered a factor vriiich no longer exists 

 in the Kennebec. 



During the latter part of August and through September, 19^0, no evidence 

 of industrial pollution was cpparent in the tributaries of Merrymeeting Bay which 

 were examined. At South Gardiner on the Kennebec proper, a very thin oil layer 

 was observed and Mr. Moulton, a local sucker fisherman, complained that oil pol- 

 lution at this point was frequently very noticeable. He stated that it came 

 from oil tankers discharging their cargoes at Gardiner. No reports of oil pollu" 

 tion were heard in the Merrymeeting Bay area, so that apparently this oil pollu- 

 tion becomes dissipated before reaching the bay. The fishermen interviewed in 

 the Merrymeeting Bay area consider the Kennebec suitable for shad as far as pol- 

 lution is concerned. 



Mr, Mayers, a resident of the Eastern river area, considered the condi-=> 

 tions in that river to be not noticeably different from those conditions when 

 shad were abujidant. The fact that this river has maintained an alewife ruri 

 and is frequented by sturgeon and smelts indicates it to be comparatively less 

 polluted than other streams of the Kennebec system. 



The lower Gathance river was reported by Richard Dunham, Bowdoinham, to 

 be polluted by the Androscoggin. A heavy winter mortality of eels in 19hl was 

 reported by Mr, Dunham and he blamed it on pollution from that river carried 

 into the Gathance by tidal action. 



Gonclusions 



The disappearance of shad from the rivers and streams of Maine was al- 

 most entirely a result of their exclusion from spawning areas by dam construc- 

 tion. The major exception to this was the lower Kennebec river where a shad 

 fishery existed for many years following the closing of the river at Augusta in 

 1837. The eventual disappearance of shad below Augusta is believed to have 

 been caused by industrial pollution. This pollution appears to have been 

 principally sawdust pollution, resulting first in wiping out the fishery just 

 below Augusta and eventually extending to the Merrymeeting Bay area, the prin- 

 cipal shad=prcducing district of the river. Indxos trial pollution from the 

 Androscoggin, coming from textile and paper mills ^ has an extensive influence 



2C5 



