{"id":508832,"date":"2026-03-02T05:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/508832\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T05:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:12:10","slug":"more-alewife-blueback-herring-returning-to-st-croix-river-after-dam-removal-group-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/508832\/","title":{"rendered":"More alewife, blueback herring returning to St. Croix River after dam removal, group says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Conservationists are reporting that more alewife and blueback herring are returning to the St. Croix River after the removal of a hydroelectric dam two years ago.<\/p>\n

The St. Croix River, also known as the Skutik, flows along the southwest New Brunswick town of St. Stephen, and was once home to the Milltown Dam.<\/p>\n

The dam was removed with the help of efforts led by conservationists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels alive again. It feels like its own entity again and it’s really beautiful,\u201d said Alexa Meyer of the Passamaquoddy Recognition Group, an Indigenous-led group representing the interests of the Peskotomuhkati Nation. <\/p>\n

Meyer said she believes there are more than one million fish in the river, up from about 800,000 since the last time the population was recorded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut really the amount of fish that should be in the river are estimated between 50 to 100 million,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"AlewifeAlexa Meyer says the number of alewife fish in the river has increased since the removal of the dam. (Submitted by Sean Landsman)<\/p>\n

\u201cMilltown Dam stood for 140-ish years but before that [the river] was really the heart of the Peskotomuhkati Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said this is where families would come together to fish.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the nation, it is so special to see that dam reopened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start of cultural restoration<\/p>\n

Matt Abbott of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick has been holding discussions at the river, where people can share its history and talk about their personal connection to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized that the damage to the fish and damage to the river also caused cultural and social damage,\u201d Abbott said of the dam’s impact.<\/p>\n

\"PeopleMatt Abbott of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick has been hosting storytelling sessions at the river also known as the Skutik to advance cultural restoration. (Ian Curran\/CBC)<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the fish were kept out of the river, as the river’s quality declined, people’s sense of connection to the river also declined,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peter Brown, a St. Stephen resident who attended a storytelling session on Saturday, shared his memories of paddling on the river in the summer.<\/p>\n

\"APeter Brown of St. Stephen shared stories Saturday about his time on the river. (Ian Curran\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Brown said he was always keen to know what the river would look like without the dam.<\/p>\n

But Abbott said some people were also concerned about the dam’s because it was one of the first power-generating dams in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard from people there was a concern that there was a loss of heritage,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n

He said the storytelling sessions can help show people that they still belong, and there is still a sense of connection without the dam.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that people continue to love this river and continue to fight for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-508832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}