Around October 10-12, thousands of juvenile out-migrating alewives went through the turbines at Brookfield’s Brunswick-Topsham dam. As might be expected, they didn’t fare well and the result was a massive case of turbine mortality reminiscent of a similar fish kill in 2016. This pulse of young of the year fish originated in Sabattus Pond, best alewife spawning habitat in the lower Androscoggin watershed, where they are seasonally stocked by the Department of Marine Resources (DMR). This keeps the run alive and remembering where they want to return to spawn, hopefully one day without assistance, as Sabattus Stream dams are removed. The Sabattus Public Works Department alerted Brookfield that the flashboards atop the dam there had been removed to facilitate young fish leaving but Brookfield’s measures initially included only a partial shutdown of turbines and many thousands of fish died. The kill was further evidence that physical fish passage (upstream and downstream) at Brunswick is unacceptable as are Brookfield’s current protocols for minimizing or eliminating fish mortality. FOMB and Free the Andro promptly filed complaints with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) who licenses hydroelectric dams. The Brunswick dam is currently in the relicensing process which occurs only every 50 years or so and now is a once in a generation opportunity for the public to intercede and advocate for safe, effective and efficient migratory fish passage.
