Fish Ladder Goods and Gear for Sale this Weekend

Fish ladder goods and gear, including 2023 t-shirts with a great new design, will be on sale at the Fish House this weekend from 10am to 3pm. Volunteers selling gear will also be happy to answer questions about the alewives, the progress of projects associated with the fish ladder restoration, and other related questions.  This is the first of many weekends in May when volunteers will be at the Fish House. As noted in other places, there will not be an Alewives Festival again this year—due, this year, to the poor condition of the footbridge over the fish ladder. The footbridge is scheduled to be replaced in August.

As of this writing, a very few alewives have come into the fish ladder in the past week or so. It is possible that the run will begin in earnest this weekend when the forecast is for warmer temps and sunshine. All the rain of the past week or so has raised water levels in Damariscotta Lake significantly, by more than a foot above where it’s supposed to be at this time of year. Water is being spilled down the Middle Stream to bring the lake level down but this weekend the lower section of the fish ladder may not be accessible due to water spilling over the boardwalk. Stay tuned—we hope the situation will be remedied by the weekend but—- we had a lot of rain!!!!