Please read and then click on the links at the end.
Damariscotta – Indian name for an abundance of fish.
Alewife – Alosa Pseuodoharengus – a salt water fish similar to herring that swing up from the coastal waters to fresh water lakes to spawn. Reaches maturity in 3 to 4 years and will only spawn where it was born.
Osprey - Pandion haliaetus is a medium-large raptor which is a specialist fish eater with a worldwide distribution.Kknown by other colloquial names such as fishhawk, seahawk or fish eagle.
With the advent of human occupation the path to the spawning lakes was disrupted. Legislation was passed and in 1807 and a fish ladder was constructed.. Usually beginning in May and lasting about a month, thousands and thousands of Alewives crowd the waterway trying to find the strongest current to swim against, which will hopefully get them to their ultimate destination of Damariscotta Lake where they will spawn.
The ascent from the Great Salt Bay to Damariscotta Lake is about 42 feet. The fish ladder is a combination of steps and resting pools where the Alewives gather to rest during their arduous climb.
Till the year 2005 at low tide, herring and black-back gulls waited at the edge of the channel's flowing waters snatching and gulping the occasional alewife. Ospreys circled overhead, searching the channel for a target. Then they tuck their wings and dive into the water and come up with a fish or two tightly gripped in their talons.
In this area Alewife are caught using mechanical dippers and the fish are then sold as lobster bail as well as smoked for human consumption. In 1950 there were 18,000 bushels harvested as compared to 1992 when only 300 were harvested – we are destroying our own environment.
For the past two years the gull population has escalated to huge proportions. The gulls will not let the osprey fish – they constantly chase them and even when the osprey dive the gull impede their lift off. The only opportunity the osprey has for catching fish is when the tide is higher – this requires them to dive deeper. This makes these raptors wet and heavy – reducing their ability to fly away with the fish. They either fall back into the water or have to drop the fish to lighten themselves.
The show tells only a part of this story.