Damariscotta Mills

Damariscotta Mills, Maine | Click for larger view

Mainers are enduring a week long period of very cool and wet weather as a cold front wavers back and forth across the state bringing waves of low pressure with it. Today the mercury is having a very hard time reaching the mid 40′s, so I have built a fire in the fireplace to fend off the coolness brought on by the stiff easterly winds.

Last Sunday, Sharon and I took a ride to Damariscotta Mills to check the status of the Alewife run. Each year, it is a Womerlippi tradition to visit the alewives during their run in late May at Damariscotta Mills.  Alewives, also known as river herring or sawbellies, are anadramous.  They spend their life primarily at sea but return to freshwater en masse to spawn.

The photo above shows the pond where the fish congregate before heading up to Damariscotta Lake via the fish ladders. The entry way to the fish ladders is just behind the building. To help make the 42 foot vertical ascent from the Great Salt Bay to Damariscotta Lake as easy as possible for the alewives, members of the Friends of the Alewives, Damariscotta Lake Watershed Associationand the Damariscotta River Association joined together to restore the fish ladder. The original fish ladder was built in 1807.

Photographers staging to capture the action at Damariscotta Mills in 2008 | Click for larger view

Photographers from all over converge on this tiny community to capture images of Osprey and Bald Eagles fishing for the alewives. Gulls by the hundreds also partake the bounty that reach lengths of 12″, swallowing them whole so other Gulls don’t steal from them.

While we were visiting on Sunday, we did not see any alewives, but I am sure they are staging in the Great Salt Bay as Double-crested Cormorants were plenty and diving for fish.

A festival to help raise money for the fish ladder restoration project will be held over the Memorial day weekend. From the Damariscotta Mills Fishladder Restoration Project:

Join us on this amazing and fun journey as we restore the fish ladder to allow more efficient passage of Alewives into Damariscotta Lake. Since we are in year 1 of a minimum 5 year restoration effort and hundreds of thousands of dollars must be raised to accomplish our goals, our current major event fundraising schedule includes: a bean supper in March, Memorial Day weekend spring festival and Columbus Day weekend fall festival

The following is an interactive map of the area. The map can be zoomed, moved around, etc.

Maybe we will see you there!