The final two fish passageway and alewife restoration projects along the Bagaduce Watershed are officially underway. The projects, a total of five, located in Sedgwick and Brooksville, are being led, organized, and funded by various organizations including, Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries (MCCF), Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and The Nature Conservancy. MCCF continues to work with the three-town Alewife Committee consisting of fishermen and community members from the towns of Brooksville, Penobscot, and Sedgwick to better understand the alewife fishery, policies, and provide the tools needed to lead with local management while working with state and federal agencies. The string of projects is just one example of MCCF's approach to collaborative management.

Those traveling on Route 15 in Sedgwick have recently had to use a detour to avoid construction work taking place at Snows Brook. The project is replacing the culvert to improve road safety and for alewives and other fish to easily make their way up and down stream. Read more about this effort and the current status of the project.

Community members will get the opportunity to experience a restored section and trailway along Meadow Brook in Brooksville later this year. According to a recent press release, the project will "create what is called a nature-like fishway on a section of the stream, designed and engineered to keep water levels upstream as they are, but allow for water and fish to travel over and through a so-called “rock ramp” section of the streambed." The project will also include a walking trail and interpretative signage, which will be managed by Blue Hill Heritage Trust.

Photo Credit: Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Ken Woisard Photography

We are sorry to inform you that regretfully, due to the lingering concerns about COVID, we have decided to cancel our "Tall Tales, Fish Tails & Damn Lies" event that was scheduled for Tuesday, August 17 at the Reach Performing Arts Center. This event would have been an important fundraiser for us, but the safety of our fishing community comes first.

Special thanks to the performers who were planning on providing entertainment, including: Frank Gotwals, Dennis Damon, Bob Quinn, Mike and Susie Fay, Leroy Weed Sr., Hank Whitsett and some members of the Church of the Morning After.

We also extend our sincere thanks to our event sponsors: Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Camden National Bank, First National Bank, Island Fishing Gear and NAPA Auto Parts, Island Fishermen's Wives, and Machias Savings Bank and to John Lincoln at The Reach Performing Arts Center for being so helpful and accommodating.

We know community members have enjoyed this event in past years and hope to be able to bring this to you next year. If you have purchased a ticket, staff will be connecting with you in the next few days to discuss a refund. Please know that you and your support are important to us and we hope if you hadn’t yet purchased your tickets that you might consider making an unrestricted donation at this time, or participating in our online auction in early October.

Thank you for your understanding. Stay safe and well.

Lifelong fisherman and scientist Ted Ames was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Sciences by Bowdoin College on August 14 at their delayed 2020 Commencement.

In presenting the degree Dr. John Lichter, colleague and friend of Ames at Bowdoin said that when groundfish stocks collapsed in the mid-1990s Ames “set out to understand the decline of fish stocks and what could be done about it.”

“Ted was uniquely qualified, being both a fisherman and a scientist.” He said Ames tapped into the knowledge fishermen have about groundfish populations and behavior that has seldom been appreciated by the scientific community.

Upon receiving the degree, Ames said, “I am so pleased to have this recognition for the work incorporating fishermen’s knowledge into understanding fisheries ecology and dynamics. This can only help future rebuilding and management efforts for our coastal communities.”

Read the full press release.

The MCCF team wants to thank our summer intern, Will Sturgeon, as he heads back to school for his senior year at Kenyon College in Ohio. Will spent the summer working inside Discovery Wharf assisting Leroy Weed and answering guests' questions about Maine's fisheries. He also joined various Sentinel Survey fishing trips where he learned about fishing for groundfish and data collection.

We would also like to welcome Sarah Dodge, a native of Deer Isle, who will be assisting visitors in Discovery Wharf for the remainder of the season. Sarah comes to MCCF with a wide-variety of experience working in commercial fisheries, including scalloping, elver fishing, working on a herring carrier, and gillnetting for pogies.

We're excited to share that we will continue accepting reservations to visit Discovery Wharf on Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays, through the middle of October. To complete your reservation, visit our online booking system.