The restored fish ladder at Damariscotta Mills welcomed more than 400,000 plus alewives during their annual spawning run this spring.
While the official count was 382,000, counters ceased their work two weeks ago. However, the fish roared back in and ran for another five days and the ladder was full, according to Nobleboro Fish Warden Stan Waltz.
Last year, observers counted 110,000 fish as returning to spawn.
The alewives, a relative of the herring, spend their lives in the ocean and return to the coast and up the rivers, especially the Damariscotta where they climb the fish ladder to Damariscotta Lake where they spawn.
About six to 14 days after they spawn, the adults go back down the falls to the river and back to the ocean.
Waltz said the large numbers of returning fish could be attributed to the restored ladder which made it easier for them to reach the lake.
“At the top, where the ladder was reconstructed, the pools were larger and deeper making it easier for the fish to rest on their way up to the lake,” Waltz said.
At times, observers counted more than 560 fish in a 10-minute period. This happened more than six times, Waltz said.
In addition to the fish that made it up the river, Waltz and his helpers harvested 1200 bushels of fish and sold them to lobstermen at $17.50 a bushel.
The total is down from the 2000 harvested last year because of bad weather, said the warden.
Biologists said many of the fish were larger than usual. Scale samples showed many of them were eight to nine years old.
“Usually we don’t get fish that old. Maybe it is due to the cutback in ocean trawling,” Waltz said.
Continuing a tradition, 12 neighborhood widows were awarded two bushels of fish each.
“Eight of the widows had their alewives smoked while four of them traded them to lobster fishermen in return for lobsters later in the summer,” Waltz said.