Brookfield acknowledges fish kills
In what has become all-too-predictable, Brookfield Renewable’s Ellsworth Dam has again killed hundreds, if not thousands of recently-spawned Union River baby alewives heading for the ocean at its Ellsworth Dam on the Union River. This recent incident was documented by the Downeast Salmon Federation on the afternoon of June 24th.
Union River Dam fish kill
Acknowledging these deaths, Brookfield has notified agency officials these turbine deaths will continue and that the public should accept that as many as 14,000 outmigrating alewives may be killed daily before Brookfield is prepared to alter its turbine operations.
DSF site visit confirms
“In a site visit to the river on June 24th I found hundreds of dead baby alewives scattered across the river bottom and along the shoreline below the dam” said Downeast Salmon Federations’s Restoration and Engagement Coordinator, Brett Ciccotelli. He continued, “there were Brookfield staff looking down at me from the river bank as these dead baby alewives flowed downstream from below the dam. Though I only saw baby alewives this time we know from the that other species native to the Union—like endangered Atlantic salmon, brook trout, and American eels—face the same deadly obstacle course when they try to move within this river.”