The Maine Department of Marine Resources manages this pond for a commercial escapement of 35 fish per acre. The spawning escapement need for this system is 4,795 river herring passed upstream through the fishway during the three day closed periods per week during the fishery. The management plan has always achieved returns that meet the target escapement developed for this system or passed the total run upstream. The fishway leads from the tidal zone directly into a 137-acre lake. This fishery is typically the earliest of all Maine river herring runs, with river herring arriving as early as April 1. There is no spawning below the tidal fishway.
The commercial harvester catches blueback herring at this location toward the end of the commercial fishing season. These fish enter the lake with the last of the alewife run. It is unknown how well blueback spawn or survive in the lake. Blueback herring may drop out of the lake prior to spawning to look for suitable spawning habitat which in not available in the lake. Field staff has not observed and juvenile blueback herring in biological samples collected emigrating from the lake in the fall.
Phippsburg Fishery
Source: Maine ASMFC River Herring Sustainable Fishing Plan
The Maine Department of Marine Resources manages this pond for a commercial escapement of 35 fish per acre. The spawning escapement need for this system is 4,795 river herring passed upstream through the fishway during the three day closed periods per week during the fishery. The management plan has always achieved returns that meet the target escapement developed for this system or passed the total run upstream. The fishway leads from the tidal zone directly into a 137-acre lake. This fishery is typically the earliest of all Maine river herring runs, with river herring arriving as early as April 1. There is no spawning below the tidal fishway.
The commercial harvester catches blueback herring at this location toward the end of the commercial fishing season. These fish enter the lake with the last of the alewife run. It is unknown how well blueback spawn or survive in the lake. Blueback herring may drop out of the lake prior to spawning to look for suitable spawning habitat which in not available in the lake. Field staff has not observed and juvenile blueback herring in biological samples collected emigrating from the lake in the fall.
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