Removing Milltown dam brings boost for river ecology, coastal economy: Fundy Baykeeper

Our Fundy Baykeeper, Matt Abbott, told reporters this week that removing the Milltown dam would mean big benefits for the health of the river and local fisheries, along with providing an economic boost to the coastal region.

Abbott joined a press release this week with the Peskotomuhkati Nation and NGOs representing thousands of people in Maine and New Brunswick to mark the beginning of the spring fish run in the St. Croix.

NB Power announced plans to decommission the Milltown Generating Station, which produces less than one per cent of the utility’s power, in July 2019.

Abbott told CBC New Brunswick that if the first significant barrier is removed and other dams on the St. Croix River are worked on, then the dream of seeing fish numbers increase to the millions would be possible.

“We’ve got people in every square kilometre of the watershed making sure its the habitat the fish deserve,” Abbott said.

“We’re really looking at a whole river restoration. So gaspereaux (alewife) is a keystone species that’s really important to the health of the river and the coastal ecosystems. A species like salmon is really hard to restore, but… we’ve got a much better shot of doing that if we’re trying to restore salmon to a really healthy river with all the other species that coexists with salmon naturally in it.”

Read the full CBC story here.

Listen to Abbott’s interview with CBC Information Morning Saint John here.

Read Abbott’s comments to CHSJ Country 94.1 here.

Read coverage by Global New Brunswick here.

Share this Post

Scroll to Top