June 10, 2024 — The fate of four dams in Maine that are hindering the migration of wild Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish has drawn international attention after federal regulators gave preliminary approval in March to relicense one dam and require all four to improve fish passages, moves that will allow the dams to operate for several more decades.
The stakes couldn’t be higher, pitting the potential survival of a species against business interests. Maine is the only U.S. state where wild Atlantic salmon have survived in a few rivers, including the Kennebec and Penobscot. That is forcing parties involved to weigh whether the dams are producing enough electricity to justify ongoing operations now that alternative energies including solar and wind are coming online.
Environmentalists and others are advocating for removal of the four dams on the Kennebec River to give the best chance for wild Atlantic salmon, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, to repopulate. Their numbers have dwindled from about 200,000 before the dams were built to fewer than 2,000 now.