After fish passage was fully restored on the Bagaduce River four years ago, one of the towns along it held its first commercial alewife harvest in more than a half-century this past spring.

But alewives have still struggled to make it upstream at one site along the river, and town officials in Penobscot hope that the recent reconstruction of a fishway — which they celebrated this month — could make it easier.

Alewives returning from the ocean to spawn will now be able to move easily upstream through 14 newly constructed weirs — stone arrangements that hold back water to create small pools — at Pierce Pond.

Once a common sight in Maine’s tidal rivers, the fish are a source of food and lobster bait , as well as income for towns and meals for wildlife .

Many of Maine’s rivers and trib

See Full Page