May 16, 2012 – Alewives spawned in large numbers in the St. Croix River, before blockades in the 1990s all but eliminated the species. In 2008, Maine lawmakers blocked passage of the fish above Great Falls Dam, in a nod to sport fisherman and others who maintain large numbers of spawning alewives would hurt the lucrative small-mouth bass fishery. Now, a southern Maine environmental group and two individuals are seeking to overturn this law by threatening to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Part of the federal Clean Water Act requires the U.S. EPA to evaluate water quality on rivers when dams are put up. In an earlier lawsuit in U.S. District Court, the group Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, in partnership with two individual citizens, argued that that Maine law blockading the St. Croix above Great Falls Dam should be tossed out, that it was superceded by the Clean Water Act.
A federal judge dismissed that argument, but not without giving the parties another path to consider in their bid to restore the alewives to the St. Croix. Alewives are a member of the herring family and play a key role in the food chain that's vital to the health of river and marine ecosystems in Maine.
The U.S. EPA, the judge contended, does have some responsibility for resolving conflicts between federal laws like the Clean Water Act and state statutes.
"The EPA had already told us they were not especially interested in looking at the law," says Kathleen McGee, of the group Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, where she's the so-called healthy rivers, healthy Gulf of Maine coordinator. "We believe that it is in direct contradiction to what the Clean Water Act requires, which requires bioversity throughout our rivers. And that it was a downgrade of the water quality in Maine."
Read the full story at Maine Public Radio.